FRISCO - Brandon Servania scored the lone goal and Paxton Pomykal wore the captain's armband as the U.S. U-20s opened their U-20 World Cup schedule on Friday with a 2-1 loss to Ukraine. Edwin Cerrillo was available as a substitute, but did not see action.
After falling behind in the 26th minute, it was an FC Dallas-centric equalizer for the Americans in the 32nd. In a strong build up to the tally, Pomykal took a pass on the top corner of the 18 before curling to the middle of the field and finding Sergino Dest, who quickly relayed to Tim Weah inside the box. The forward worked towards the end line before finding the late trailer in Servania, who tapped home the equalizer before celebrating with a little archery.
Servania played 66 minutes in the match, while the captain Pomykal went the full 90 and played a multitude of roles from each wing, to a small spell at striker and then more centrally in the midfield.
The opening loss for the U.S. sets up a must-win game against Nigeria (4-0 winners in their opener over Qatar in their opener) on Monday at 1:30PM CT on FS1.
