THE UNITED STATES under-20 men's national team fell flat in its effort to win Group A at the World Cup, losing 3-0 to a strong Ukrainian team that thoroughly outplayed Tab Ramos’ squad on Friday. Now the Americans must prepare to face a challenging Colombian squad in Wellington early Wednesday morning (3:30am ET, Fox Sports 1).

From a distance, the Americans' 2-1-0 record in group play and progression to the knockout stages may look impressive. But the Yanks have wins against two weak teams—and the Myanmar contest could have gone either way.

While Ramos is likely to make several changes to the starting lineup (Desevio Payne, Matt Miazga, and Rubio Rubin should help the U.S.), the Ukraine match revealed some flaws with the national side.

Ukraine Had a Smart Gameplan

You have to give the Ukrainian team tremendous credit. The coaching staff did its homework, shutting down the U.S. team’s attack. The Europeans knew that the central midfield combination of Emerson Hyndman and Gedion Zelalem would be the heart of the U.S. offense, and it took decisive action to halt their play.

Ukraine’s players defended as a unit and cut off service to both Zelalem and Hyndham. As a result both of the players were largely invisible and became frustrated as the game progressed. Without those two players active and involved, the team lost the possession game badly and struggled to create scoring opportunities.

Shakhtar Donetsk forward Viktor Kovalenko scored three goals against Ramos' men, leads all World Cup players with five goals in the tournament, and is a force to be reckoned with. But the Ukrainian defense looks like the true star of this team. The squad has not conceded a goal so far and it looks like a team that can make a serious run.

The U.S., on the other hand, has problems that need to be fixed. Yes, some key players were missing from the starting lineup but they won’t be much of a help if the team is so easy to figure out how to stop and it cannot make tactical adjustments if one particular way isn’t working.

Ukraine showed that the U.S. team is easy to figure out right now and that should be troubling to Tab Ramos.

The No. 6 role is a problem

Default defensive midfielder Marco Delgado has struggled in the role so far in New Zealand. Russell Canouse played that role for the Yanks during much of the qualifying cycle, and his late injury forced Ramos to try another player in front of the back four.

Further complicating matters, Delgado was injured in qualifying and missed a number of U-20 training camps. He looks out of synch, is struggling to help in possession, and hasn't done enough to help the U.S. transition from defense to offense.

It may be time to move Kellyn Acosta out of the fullback position and into the defensive midfield position. The FC Dallas player is accustomed to that role, and Desevio Payne and John Requejo are more than capable at the fullback position.

4-4-2 or Bust

When the United States came out in what appeared to be a 4-1-4-1 formation against Ukraine, it immediately spelled trouble. 

The U.S. roster simply does not include the sort of rugged target forward who excels in playing alone up top, retaining possession, and bringing his teammates into the attack. Without Andrija Novakovich and Ben Spencer on the roster, Ramos is pretty much limited to a two-striker setup.

Maybe the 4-1-4-1 formation was not how the team intended to play, but that is what happened. The slender Los Angeles Galaxy prospect Bradford Jamieson struggled to make a positive impact on the game. In the few occasions when the team was able to get the ball into the attacking third of the field, he was quickly and easily dispossessed by Ukrainian defenders.

Ramos needs to changes things up if the Americans are going to have a chance against Colombia.

Thoughts? Concerns? Predictions? Give us your take below.

Brian Sciaretta is an American Soccer Now columnist and an ASN 100 panelist. Follow him on Twitter.