The United States pulled off arguably the biggest upset of the U20 World Cup group stage, stunning one of the tournament's favorites in a 3-0 win over France. Real Salt Lake’s Zavier Gozo opened the scoring in the 85th minute, and Brooklyn Raines and Marcos Zambrano-Delgado followed with late goals to seal the victory for the U.S.
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It was the U.S. squad's first win against France at the U20 World Cup since 2019, where they beat Les Blues 3-2 in the Round of 16. After a tightly-contested first half, the U.S. got more aggressive in creating chances in the second half.
Parma midfielder Benjamin Cremaschi, who scored a hat-trick in the team's opening match against New Caledonia, had a chance blocked early in the second half, and from there, momentum continued to build toward Marko Mitrovic's team. Gozo got the breakthrough as he headed a cross from Luke Brennan.
Then three minutes later, Gozo would get an assist of his own, teeing up Raines for the team's second goal in the 88th minute. Zambrano-Delgado got the game's final goal, scoring off a rebound two minutes into extra-time.
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The win secured a place in the knockout stages for the Americans. In the 2023, 2019, 2017, and 2015 tournaments, the U.S. had their journeys end in the quarterfinals.
MLS influence
Both Gozo and Zambrano-Delgado are members of Real Salt Lake, while Brooklyn Raines plays for the Houston Dynamo. The trio scored their first goals of the 2025 FIFA U20 World Cup.
The U.S. now has nine different goal scorers through two matches, setting a team record for most goalscorers at the tournament. The previous mark was eight, achieved at the 2023 U20 World Cup in Argentina.
Having France's number
Despite France's track record of producing elite young stars, the Americans have a strong record against them in this tournament. The U.S. improved to 2W-0L-1D in three all-time meetings with France at the U20 World Cup.
