The United States redeemed their shock result to open the U-20 World Cup, a 3-0 defeat to a Germany, with a tour de force, 4-1 win over Cameroon. Cameroon is a talented team that had previous beat South Korea 2-0.

South Korea proved their own chops on Tuesday, drawing with Germany.

For catch-up on the U-20 World Cup, you can check out juanchogol's thoughts on the tournament's start and the United States' poor opening result.

This leaves Germany a the head of Group C with four points. The United States has three points and a goal differential advantage on Cameroon, who sits in third place with three points. Korea has the one point they earned against Germany.

With one round of group play left, teams are focusing on what it takes to advance to the knock-out stage. The top two teams in the group will automatically advance. Four of the six teams that finish third in their group will also advance, and with their win against Cameroon, the U.S. stands a great chance of qualifying should they happen to finish third.

There is a decent chance that they will not, however. The United States is a better team than Korea, but it would only be a mild upset if the Koreans got three points from the Yanks. Korea had many late opportunities to get three points from Germany, and if they give the same effort on Friday against the U.S., they could very well get a better result. If that were to happen, the United States could be the sacrificial lamb in the tournaments group of death.

Coupled with a U.S. loss, Cameroon would have to beat Germany. Then Cameroon would win the group with six points, Germany and Korea would finish with four, and the United States, despite their impressive win over Cameroon, would not be eligible for the second round, even though they would be better than a team like England or Uzbekistan (one of whom could advance as a third place team out of their group).

This disappointing scenario can be avoided with a win or a draw against Korea. If the U.S. team plays as they did against Cameroon on Tuesday, it's difficult to imagine them not getting at least a point. Should they advance, they have the talent to win one or two knock-out round matches and make it to the semifinals for the first time in twenty years, a goal made more obtainable by this being a relatively weak tournament.

That should not take anything away from this team, which posted a remarkable result on Tuesday. Their ability to regroup and adjust in the short span between the Germany and Cameroon matches is a notable achievement.

Should the team not get the beats and miss out on the knock out stage, it will be a disappointment, but as long as they show well against a good Korea team, the United States can be proud of their tournament.