Game report

Spain played a cautious defensive game with virtually no midfield moving as support fort their forwards. The defensive posture made it difficult for the U.S. to break though but also lowered their chances of the equalizer they needed to stay in the tournament.

Post match quote

U.S. U-19 Head Coach Mark Krikorian

Spain gave us all we could handle tonight. We were a bit fortunate to hang on for the 1-0 win. The Spanish team was very well coached, very organized, beautifully technical and their defending was good. I have a lot of respect for their staff and their players.

We said to our team back when we selected the roster that we felt it would take 21 players to be successful in this tournament. One of the strengths we believe we have is that we have pretty good depth on our team so some players that hadn't had a chance to play got a chance to play today. It's good for the team and it's good to keep our players involved.

I think at times we played very attractive soccer and were able to attack in a lot of different ways. Our defending was pretty solid throughout most of the three games. I think the competition pushed us and made us have to perform at a high level, because if we didn't, we were punished for it. I'm happy that we are sitting here on top of the group with nine points. We know that we have to tighten it up a little bit to limit opponent's chances and be a little cleaner on finishing our chances as well.

The world of women's soccer has grown tremendously. You look at Spain, Korea and Russia in our group alone, and there are so many talented players who play attractive soccer. It's a great statement to the world that these youth players can play at this level. The next generation will be even better than the last generation so the United States will have to continue to work hard to be successful, but it's good for soccer.

I thought again today Ashlyn Harris came up huge for us. For the most part, our defending was solid, but there were a couple of times where we had breakdowns and she came through when we needed her to. She showed why she is arguably the best goalkeeper in the world in this age group.

Rachel Buehler

It was a challenge in the second half, but we had some pretty good team defending and Ashlyn came up huge a few times. We didn't allow any goals and that was our goal so all-in-all you have to say it was a good performance.

Ashlyn Harris

It was definitely a good game. They sat in the first half and we had some trouble getting behind them. We had our chances to score during game, but in the second half they were all over us and had plenty of opportunities. It probably wasn't one of our best games, but our defense played very well and it's the mark of a good team to win close games.

We're thrilled to be in the quarterfinals. We've been training for this for a long time. We know we have Australia and they are a very tough team, so we are focusing on them. We know we have some things to work on and tweak here and there, but we are confident that we will be prepared.