Mission accomplished.
It may not have been pretty, but the US Under-20s were professional, composed and efficient in dispatching El Salvador 2-0 in Saturday's CONCACAF playoff to qualify for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup. The result at the Montego Bay Sports Complex in Jamaica was the fourth straight shutout victory for the Americans, who sputtered in their first two matches with a draw against Guatemala and a loss to Panama.
"It's difficult to win four games in a row, especially having to eliminate an opponent every single game," Ramos said in a post-game flash zone interview. "The boys did a great job. I feel good for them because we pushed them really hard over the last week and a half especially for the last four games. And they did a great job. So I'm happy for them."
The turning point in Saturday's match was a second-half penalty kick save by US goalkeeper Zack Steffen, who dove to his right to block an attempt which would have equalized the match at 1-1.
"I actually thought that he might save it," Ramos said. "We practiced penalty kicks yesterday [Friday] and he did really well on them. We're fortunate that in the US that we always have excellent goalkeepers and I was actually counting on that one, so I'm glad he saved it."
While the US defense looked impenetrable for most of the night and Steffen had little to do, the US attack wasn't necessarily overwhelming. But they created just enough opportunities on the day and were especially dangerous on set pieces. It was a dead ball that led to Ben Spencer's opener in the 37th minute and a lucky deflection helped Paul Arriola's shot get past the Salvadoran 'keeper to seal the result in the 68th minute.
"We knew Salvador defended really well," Ramos said. "We knew it was going to take time to break them down. We ended up getting a couple of really good opportunities to score early on and we didn't put them away. And we kept them hanging in the game. We knew that eventually we would break them down and I was confident we would do well.
"We're happy we got a couple of goals. But as you know we're leading the tournament in shots," Ramos continued. "So we've created a lot. We actually have not scored enough and we have not been good in front of the goal in general. So at least today we got two and defensively we've been excellent. So I'm very happy with that."
Ramos will now likely look forward to rectify the the three-and-out his U-20s registered in Turkey in the last edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Back then they finished last in the Group of Death behind Spain (4-1 loss), Ghana (4-1 loss) and eventual tournament champions France (1-1 draw). FIFA will conduct the draw for the 2015 edition on February 10.
"At this point I'm very happy with the team," Ramos said. "I'm happy for them and I'm happy we're going to another World Cup."
