The United States Under-17 national team returned to the FIFA U-17 World Cup by the skin of their teeth on Sunday, edging Jamaica 5-4 in a dramatic, six-round penalty-kick shootout at the CONCACAF U-17 Championship in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
With extra pressure on this age group because the US failed to qualify for the 2013 U-17 World Cup, the US were favorites to win their group and advance straight to the finals after winning their first three games and drawing Honduras.
They would have advanced with a tie against Jamaica on Wednesday, but a surprising 1-0 loss sent both teams to Sunday's playoff round and, eventually, pitted them against each other.
With LA Galaxy academy defender Hugo Arellano suspended due to yellow card accumulation, Danny Barbir started his second game of the tournament at center back. FC Dallas professional Alejandro Zendejas captained the US as one of three central midfielders.
With the US controlling much of the game, amassing a 17-4 shot advantage, their best chance came late in the first half on a free kick delivered by playmaker Christian Pulisic. His delivery created chances for Haji Wright, Tyler Adams and Josh Perez, but all were blocked ether by Jamaica goalkeeper Jahmali Waite or diving defenders.
In the 74th minute, Waite twice denied US winger Josh Perez, first on a long-distance blast and then backpedaling quickly to deal with an attempted lob.
In the shootout, Christian Pulisic stepped up first and saw his shot saved by Waite, but the US evened things up when Jahwani Hinds missed Jamaica's second shot. Joe Gallardo, Barbir, Zendejas, John Nelson and Alexis Velela all converted their shots, and when the unfortunate Jamaican Alex Marshall missed wide, the US were headed back to the U-17 World Cup.
Relieved and ecstatic, the US players celebrated with goalkeeper Will Pulisic and held up the crests on their jerseys in response to the fans of host Honduras and Mexico arriving for the tournament final.
For Jamaica, Orlando City academy forward Nathaniel Adamolekun played the full 90 minutes but did not take a penalty kick in the shootout.
Mexico beat Honduras 3-0 to win the CONCACAF U-17 Championship, with both teams advancing to the U-17 World Cup alongside the US and Costa Rica.
Williams now has seven months to fine-tune his squad and prepare his young charges for the 24-team event, which kicks off Oct. 17 in Chile. The US have not advanced past the Round of 16 since a quarterfinal appearance in 2005, while their best finish was fourth place in 1999 with a team that included DaMarcus Beasley, Kyle Beckerman, Bobby Convey, Landon Donovan and Oguchi Onyewu.
US: Will Pulisic; Matthew Olosunde, Alexis Velela, Danny Barbir, John Nelson; Tyler Adams; Josh Perez (Luca de la Torre 81), Alejandro Zendejas, Christian Pulisic, Joe Gallardo; Haji Wright.
