NAVI MUMBAI, India – The U.S. Under-17 men’s national team advanced to the Round of 16 at the FIFA U-17 World Cup as one of the tournament’s best third-place finishers in group play after a 3-1 loss to Colombia Thursday.

The U.S. will face either Group B winner Paraguay or the Group C winner in the next round, depending on the results of the final group play matches.

The Americans began the day atop Group A victories against World Cup host India, 3-0, and eventual group winner Ghana, 1-0, but slipped to third after Ghana beat India 4-0 and Colombia won the head-to-head tie-breaker with the U.S. after the two teams tied on points and goal differential.

After a slow start by the Americans, they gifted Colombia an early lead in the third minute via a long throw-in and missed clearance as Juan Vidal converted for a 1-0 advantage.

The U.S. equalized in the 24th minute as Andrew Carleton beat two defenders one-on-one to set up George Acosta.

After the break, Colombia’s attack and constant pressure disrupted the U.S. attck and eventually turned the game in Los Cafeteros’ favor.

Though goalkeeper Justin Garces made a few fine saves in the second half to keep the U.S. within sight of winning the group, there was little he could do to prevent Colombia’s go-ahead goal in the 67th minute – a sharp-angle free kick from Juan Peñaloza.

Deiber Caicedo then provided the 87th-minute goal – combined with Ghana’s win against India – which translated into the final score that pushed the U.S. into third place.

The U.S. will travel to play its Round of 16 encounter. Depending on results from other groups’ final matches, the the Americans could face Group B winner Paraguay in New Delhi Monday (10:30 a.m.; FS2, telemundo.com) or the winner of Group C in Goa Tuesday (7:30 a.m.; FOX Soccer Plus, Universo).

2017 CONCACAF U-17 Championship Classification Group D

Team

GP

W

L

D

Pts.

GF

GA

GD

Ghana

3

2

1

0

6

5

1

4

Colombia

3

2

1

0

6

5

3

2

USA

3

2

1

0

6

5

3

2

India

3

0

3

0

0

1

9

-8

 

Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA                          1 0 1
COL                          1 2 3

COL – Juan Vidal 3rd minute
USA – George Acosta (Andrew Carleton) 24
COL – Juan Penaloza (free kick) 67
COL – Deiber Caicedo (Juan Penaloza) 87

Lineups:
USA: 1-Justin Garces, 2-Jaylin Lindsey, 3-Chris Gloster, 4-James Sands, 6-Chris Durkin, 7-Ayo Akinola, 9-Josh Sargent (Capt.), 11-Andrew Carleton (19-Jacobo Reyes, 69), 13-Sergino Dest, 15-George Acosta (8-Blaine Ferri, 78), 20-Chris Goslin (10-Tim Weah, 87)
Subs Not Used: 5-Tyler Shaver, 12-CJ Dos Santos, 14-Akil Watts, 16-Taylor Booth, 17-Bryan Reynolds, 18-Indiana Vassilev, 21-Alex Budnik
Head Coach: John Hackworth

COL: 2-Andres Cifuentes, 3-Guillermo Tegue, 5-Thomas Gutierrez (Capt.), 6-Andres Perea, 7-Leandro Campaz (13-Robert Mejia, 46), 10-Brayan Gomez (14-Yadir Meneses, 56), 11-Juan Penaloza, 12-Kevin Mier, 17-Deiber Caicedo, 19-Juan Vidal, 20-Etilso Martinez
Subs Not Used: 1-Nicolas Gomez, 4-Christian Andrade, 8-Luis Lopez, 9-Santiago Barrero, 15-Gustavo Carvajal, 16-Fabian Angel, 18-Deyman Cortes, 21-Daniel Melo
Head Coach: Orlando Restrepo

Stats Summary: USA/COL
Shots: 8/10
Shots on Goal: 3/6
Saves: 3/2
Corner Kicks: 5/5
Fouls: 8/16
Offside: 2/1

Misconduct Summary:
None

Officials:
Referee: Artur Dias (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Rui Barbosa (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Paulo Alexandre Santos Soares (POR)
Fourth Official: Anna-Marie Keighley (NZL)

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.