After reaching the quarter-finals of the last four editions of the FIFA U-20 World Cup™, USA are ready to make a huge leap forward at Chile 2025.
The Americans have been drawn against New Caledonia, France and South Africa in Group E at the global showpiece, which will be staged from 27 September to 19 October. The top two finishers in each group, as well as the four best third-place teams, advance to the Round of 16.
The team’s best result in the international youth tournament came at Saudi Arabia 1989, when a team starring future USA goalkeeper Kasey Keller took fourth place.
After finishing runners-up at the 2024 Concacaf U-20 Championship to qualify for Chile 2025, Marko Mitrovic’s players are heading into the global showpiece full of confidence.
Since the Serbian-American took control of the team last October, the USA U-20s have registered impressive victories over Chile, Korea Republic, France and Mexico, and secured a draw with Japan. Most recently, they defeated Colombia 1-0 and lost to Norway by the same scoreline in June.
Mitrovic’s youngsters have a significant amount of international experience, including Nashville SC midfielder Matthew Corcoran, who was part of the USA squad at the FIFA U-17 World Cup Indonesia 2023™. Last week, the 19-year-old completed a loan move to USL Championship club Rhode Island FC to gain more playing time.
Ahead of Chile 2025, Corcoran spoke to FIFA about his international career to date and the experience of scoring against Premier League club Aston Villa in a recent friendly match.
Matthew Corcoran: It was definitely a great feeling for me. Also it was fun for me to get my first goal for Nashville even though it was an exhibition game. It was a good moment.
For our group, we have a very good squad and I think it’s a realistic goal for us to go there and win it. We’ve played high-level teams previously from around the world in camps and friendlies and have got good results. We will be heading in there looking to win the thing.
It’s a tough group. South Africa are good team, they did well at (the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations), and France and New Caledonia speak for themselves. We back ourselves against any team. We know it will be a tough group but these are the games we want to play in.
It’s very easy. There is a clear picture from top to bottom so it’s kind of seamless in terms of style of play and understanding what we want from each player in each role. It’s very similar throughout the age groups, so the transition is very easy.
You learn that there are so many different types of ways that people try to play. Some teams like to sit back, some like the ball, some counter… and in a tournament it’s a different type of football because you either win or you go home. So learning to play against different teams and styles was a cool experience.
It’s helped me a lot so far. Learning under (head coach BJ Callaghan) and learning under some good midfielders, I’ve been able to pick things out and add some things to my game to help me develop. Being there in that training environment is wonderful. It just gives me confidence to go out on the field and play.
As a player, you want to play as much as you can, and that’s what I’m excited about… being able to get some minutes, hopefully help Rhode Island win as well and when I return to the national team hopefully bring this experience with me to help elevate the squad.
