CONCACAF 2012 U-20 WWC qualifiers are five weeks away (March 1st). There hasn't been too much news out about the team, though the groups and schedule has been set: Group A: Mexico, Canada, Haiti, Jamaica Group B: Panama, United States, Guatemala, Cuba The USA plays Guatemala first, then Cuba, and then the hosts, Panama, last. Three teams go to the U-20 WWC from CONCACAF, so as long as the USA advances out of the group, they have two chance to qualify (by either winning a semifinal or by winning the 3rd place match). U-20 Player Pool: The player pool on USSoccer.com is not up to date, so here's the roster from a training camp that finished last week (Jan. 5-19):Notes: (1) Player links go to bio pages. If I did not find a college or club bio, I then went with their old bio on USSoccer.com or a news article. (2) Players with bold names were members of the USA's 2010 U-20 WWC squad (which went out in the quarterfinals). (3) Players with italicized names were members of either the USA's 2010 U-17 WWC CONCACAF Qualifiers squad (which did not qualify for that WWC), or the USA 2008 U-17 WWC Squad (overtime loss in the final to Korea DPR). (4) Players with asterisks after their names were one of the 18 players on the roster for the 2011 Ten Nations Tournament in Spain. (This was the most recent event with a limited roster.) GOALKEEPERS (4): Bryane Heaberlin (Clearwater Chargers; St. Petersburg, Fla.) Jami Kranich (Villanova; Hamden, Conn.) Abby Smith* (Dallas Texans ECNL U18; Dallas, Texas) Abby Steele (Oregon; Santa Rosa, Calif.) DEFENDERS (10): Olivia Brannon (Virginia; Troy, Mich.) Kori Chapic (Penn State; Russell, Ohio) Abby Dahlkemper* (UCLA; Menlo Park, Calif.) Crystal Dunn (North Carolina; Rockville Centre, N.Y.) Jaelene Hinkle (Texas Tech; Denver, Colo.) Julie Johnston* (Santa Clara; Mesa, Ariz.) Kassey Kallman* (Florida State; Woodbury, Minn.) Casey Morrison (Boston College; York, Pa.) Mollie Pathman* (Duke; Durham, N.C.) Cari Roccaro (Albertson Fury; East Islip, N.Y.) MIDFIELDERS (7): Morgan Brian* (Virginia; St. Simmons Island, Ga.) Kaysie Clark (Missouri; Liberty, Mo.) Vanessa DiBernardo (Illinois; Naperville, Ill.) Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick (UC Berkeley; Pleasanton, Calif.) Sarah Killion* (UCLA; Fort Wayne, Ind.) Mandy Laddish* (Notre Dame; Lee’s Summit, Mo.) Sam Mewis* (UCLA; Hanson, Mass.) FORWARDS (9): Micaela Capelle (Portland; Gresham, Ore.) Maya Hayes (Penn State; West Orange, N.J.) Lindsey Horan* (Colorado Rush; Golden, Colo.) Sophia Huerta (Santa Clara; Boise, Idaho) Stephanie McCaffrey (Boston College; Winchester, Mass.) Kealia Ohai (North Carolina; Draper, Utah) Kate Schwindel (West Virginia; Livingston, N.J.) Katie Stengel* (Wake Forest; Melbourne, Fla.) Chi Ubogagu (Stanford; Coppell, Texas) Player Notes: Morgan Brian (2011) and Mollie Pathman (2010) are the two most recent Gatorade National Girls Soccer Players of the Year. (Other past winners of that award include Teresa Noyola, Melissa Henderson, Lauren Cheney, Amy Rodriguez, Heather O'Reilly, and Aly Wagner.) NCAA Stats: Maya Hayes had a break-out sophomore year at Penn State last fall, scoring 31 goals (at a rate of 1.192 goal per match), to lead the nation in goals scored. She also had 9 assists. Stengel had 19 goals (6th place tie) and 8 assists. Meanwhile, DiBernardo had 17 goals (tie for 11th place) and 5 assists. The trio had 25 game-winning goals between them. Ubogagu had 10 goals and 10 assists (24th overall). Pathman had 11 assists (tied for 17th overall) and 6 goals. Morgan Brian, Maya Hayes, Julie Johnston, and Katie Stengel were among the fifteen 2011 MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalists. Lindsey Horan led the U-17 team with 9 goals in the (disappointing) 2010 CONCACAF U17 WWC Qualifiers. Other players in the pool from that tournament are Smith, Heaberlin, Dahlkemper, Hinkle, Roccaro, Brian, and Clark. Chi Ubogagu was born in England (presumably to at least one parent who is a UK National) and moved to the USA when she was 3. Her grandfather (no name given in the Stanford bio) played for Tottenham Hotspurs and the Nigerian National Team, so it looks like she has some national team options beyond the USA. Huerta has a Mexican father, so she's another one that could do a Noyola. A possible roster? If I had to guess at an 21-player roster, I'd go with the following, which uses prior international experience (e.g., roster selections) as a primary factor. For the remaining slots, I'm using recent collegiate performance as the decider. GK (3): Heaberlin, Smith, Steele DEFENDERS (7): Brannon, Dahlkemper, Dunn, Johnston, Hinkle, Pathman, Roccaro MIDFIELDERS (6): Brian, Clark, DiBernardo, Fitzpatrick, Laddish, S. Mewis FORWARDS (5): Hayes, Huerta, Horan, Stengel, Ubogagu In this list, italicized names denote the last one in (e.g., on the bubble) for their position classification:GK: Steele seemed to have a better year than Kranich, though neither player's team had a winning record. Steele's Goals Allowed Per Game was 1.48 versus 1.78 for Kranich. DF: If Swanson goes with experience, then I expect either Chapic (3 goals, 5 assists) or Kallman (3 goals, 3 assists) being selected over Roccaro. Morrison had 2 goals (apparently both PKs) and 2 assists. MF: Fitzpatrick had 7 assists and 3 goals this year, compared to Killion's 2 assists. F: Of the other forwards, Huerta leads in the goal-scoring with 8, plus 2 assists (18 points). I went with Huerta over Schwindel (6 goals, 7 assists, 19 points) based on the Santa Clara factor. Ohai (6 goals, 6 assists, 18 points) had a relatively disappointing sophomore year, compared to her 14 goal freshman campaign. Capelle (5 goals, 7 assists, 17 points). McCaffrey (4 goals, 5 assists, 14 points). (All of the stats mentioned here are from the 2011 NCAA season.) This list does not take into account any particular formation or the player's normal playing position. Also, the coach (Swanson) is new to this team, so he may (hopefully) have different preferences than past coaches. Anyway, consider this a starting point for enlightened debate. *** News about the Team: Here's a TopDrawSoccer.com article about the training camp's two 60 minute scrimmages against Shanghai Women's FC. McCaffrey got the lone goal in the first scrimmage, which ended 1-0. Brian, Johnston, and Horan scored in the second scrimmage, which ended 3-0. Also, back in August, USSoccer.com post a Q&A with the team's new head coach, Steve Swanson. The team heads to Spain in February. I'm assuming it's for another La Manga Ten Nations Tournament (which is not a competitive tournament, the teams basically just play three friendlies and that's it).
Thanks for pointing out Cobb. I guess I had a bit of tunnel-vision when I typed up the first post. Hopefully Cobb's ankle will be 100% in time for her to be a viable option for the final U-20 WWC roster (assuming the USA qualifies). Notable* players not at the January camp include: Lindsay Elston (MF, U. of Washington) and Arin Gilliland (DF, U. of Kentucky). This is the first camp in the 2011-2012 cycle that each has missed. Kelly Cobb (FW, UNC) [as mentioned earlier]. Cobb had been on every roster since February 2011. Emily Oliver (GK, Stanford). Not on the last two rosters. *Based on previous roster frequency. These players have attended at least four U-20 camps this cycle and were on the 2011 Ten Nations Tournament roster. *** Here's a table of all the players who have been in camps for the U-20 WNT since the current cycle began (January 2011), along with which camps they were at (the G to A columns, see the key below for the dates and coach). U-20 Player Pool 2011-2012 (Any Player Brought into a Camp): Code: Name P. GFEDCBA Year Team Allen, Torri DF A 1992 U. of Georgia Bos, Lindsey MF E ???? U. of Washington Boysen, Haley FW F 1992 USC (Trojans) Brannon, Olivia DF GF 1993 U. of Virginia Brian, Morgan MF GFEDCBA 1993 U. of Virginia Capelle, Micaela FW GF 1992 U. of Portland Caroline, Stanley GK B 1993 U. of Missouri Castain, Micaela FW F 1992 Washington State Chapic, Kori DF GFED 1992 Penn State Church, Shelby GK F D 1992 USC (Trojans) Clark, Kaysie MF G ED B 1993 U. of Missouri Clarke, Rikki MF A 1993 SMU Cobb, Kelly FW FEDCB 1992 Duke U. Cruz, Michelle FW CBA 1992 U. of Portland Dahlkemper, Abby DF GFE CBA 1993 UCLA Dees, Erin GK F 1992 U. of Portland DiBernardo, Vanessa MF GFE 1992 U. of Illinois Doll, Alex MF CBA 1993 Stanford U. Dunn, Crystal DF GF A 1992 UNC Elston, Lindsay MF FEDCBA 1992 U. of Washington Erskine, Megan DF D 1992 San Diego State U. Fitzpatrick, Kaitlyn MF G 1992 UC-Berkeley (Cal) Fuller, Megan DF B 1993 Ohio State U. Gilliland, Arin DF FEDCBA 1992 U. of Kentucky Groom, Shea FW D 1993 Texas A&M Hayes, Maya FW GFE BA 1992 Penn State Heaberlin, Bryane GK G 1993 Clearwater Chargers [UNC] Hinkle, Jaelene DF G BA 1993 Texas Tech Horan, Lindsay FW G C 1994 Colorado Rush [UNC] Hovington, Briana DF BA 1992 Penn State Huerta, Sofia FW G 1992 Santa Clara Jeffrey, Juliann MF D 1992 Yale U. Johnston, Julie DF GF DCBA 1992 Santa Clara Kallman, Kassey DF G EDCB 1992 Florida State Killion, Sarah MF G EDCB 1992 UCLA Kranich, Jami GK G 1992 Villanova Laddish, Mandy MF G EDC A 1992 Notre Dame Lawson, Emi DF F 1992 UC-Berkeley (Cal) Lindstrom, Lauren DF F 1992 Fresno State Lutzenkirchen, Abby DF D 1993 N. Atlanta SA [Alabama] Martinez, Ariana FW BA 1992 UCLA Martino, Tawni FW B 1992 Loyola Marymount McCaffrey, Stephanie FW G ED 1993 Boston College McCarthy, Kylie FW D 1993 UCLA Mewis, Samantha MF GFEDCBA 1992 UCLA Morrison, Casey DF G 1993 Boston College Ohai, Kealia FW G E A 1992 UNC Oliver, Emily GK EDCBA 1992 Stanford U. Oyster, Megan DF E 1992 UCLA Pathman, Mollie DF GFEDCBA 1992 Duke U. Payne, Sydney FW F 1993 Stanford U. Ramirez, Taylor MF F 1993 UNC Richardson, Dominque DF ED 1992 U. of Missouri Roccaro, Cari DF G 1994 Albertson Fury [Notre Dame] Schneider, Taylor MF F 1993 Notre Dame Schwindel, Kate FW G 1993 West Virginia U. Sessions, Catie DF ED 1992 U. of Wisconsin (Badgers) Sieloff, Anna GK A 1992 UNC Smith, Abby GK GFE CB 1993 Dallas Texans ECNL U18 [Texas] Smith, Taylor FW DCBA 1993 Solar SC [UCLA] Steele, Abby GK G D 1993 U. of Oregon Stengel, Katie FW G EDCBA 1992 Wake Forest Truong, Quynh-Nhu MF F 1993 Rice U. Ubogagu, Chioma FW G D A 1992 Stanford U. Whigham, Carrie DF A 1992 U. of Oklahoma Key: G: January 2012 Camp (Swanson) F: July 2011 Camp (Heinrichs) E: June 2011 Camp (Heinrichs) D: April 2011 Camp (Heinrichs) C: 10 Nations Tournament, Spain, March 2011 (Heinrichs) B: February 2011 Camp (Chesler) A: January 2011 Camp (Chesler) Year: This is the player's birth year. For the 2012 U-20 WWC, all players must be born "on or after 1 January 1992." Not all bios listed the players birthday. For some, I had to do an educated guess. Positions are from US Soccer press releases. Team: For players who have yet to play collegiate soccer (e.g. either still in high school or just finished high school by graduating early), their last club team is listed, followed by the university to which they have committed, according to TopDrawSoccer. Edit: Apparently I didn't search hard enough last time. TopDrawerSoccer.com's take on a possible roster, based on the recent camp. S. Mewis and Dahlkemper "on the bubble?" I'd like to see his full argument for this, if he's got one.
Gilliland was injured in the SEC Tournament for Kentucky and won't be back for qualifiers. Cobb is coming off ankle surgery and won't be ready for qualifiers either.
Via USSoccer.com: U.S. Under-20 Women Head to Spain For Three Matches Match Schedule: 09 Feb - Switzerland 11 Feb - Germany 13 Feb - Norway Roster: This looks to be Stephanie Amack's first U-20 roster. She was at the U-18 camp this month, which was concurrent with the U-20 camp.
Re, the Swiss match: No article up at US Soccer's website, yet. The Swiss FA has an article up about the match (in German), though there's no information about the US squad (roster, subs, goal-scorers, etc.) Apparently, the Swiss are missing a few players due to injuries and club commitments, though their coach admitted that having those players would not have made a difference. And, there is an insightful quote from their coach regarding the USA's squad: A rough translation with the help of Google Translate (see note afterward): "Today, we have received a lesson," U-20 coach Yannick Schwery put it very simply, following the sharp defeat. The Americans were in better physical condition compared to several of their past squads. "They were all one, two heads taller and yet played near-perfect football -- something I have rarely seen," said Schwery. "I cannot deny that my team had the will, but today, we did not have anything athletic to oppose (the USA)." Note: The second sentence seems a bit tricky to translate. This is the raw Google Translate version: "The Americans were better physical conditions of their several classes." I think he's comparing this US squad to past US squads, but it might be a general comparison (E.g. "The Americans are in better physical condition than most of their peers.") *** The matches are at the La Manga Club in Murcia, Spain. This page has a photo of its football pitches. Quite a step up from staying in hostels. The USA's next match is on Saturday against Germany. Also, Japan has been officially confirmed by FIFA as the latest host for this year's U-20 WWC.
I know a bit of German, and I think the second sentence is merely comparing the two teams. The word 'classes' is moved to the end in the automatic translation, which confuses the issue, but essentially the report is saying that the two teams played in different leagues.
I think you're right. I went back and checked the Swiss website, which also has the article in French and Italian. Here's the Italian version of that sentence: Which Google translated as "The American had an edge over the physical point of view." So, not really comparing this squad to past USA squads, but noting the differences between the Siss and USA sides.
Sometimes, the US Soccer site is just pitiful. We're now several hours after the match has been finished and they still don't even have a score up. Meanwhile, the Swiss lost badly, but at least their site had a score with their lineups, substitutions, and a couple of quotes.
And, not even a tweet on Twitter (twitter.com/ussoccer_ynt or twitter.com/ussoccer). Then again,US Soccer rarely posts any Women's YNT news on the YNT blog (last month there was one post about Leroux going first in the WPS draft, and last year, nothing -- 300+ posts, all about the Men's YNTeams). For whoever handles the PR for the Women's youth teams, it must be a really low priority. Also, the German and Norwegian FA websites have posts up about their match in La Manga.
While still awaiting a story on Thursday match on the US Soccer website, checking the German site and found that US beat Germany 1-0 on a goal by Lindsey Horan in the 82nd minute. Congrats to the U-20 team. One match left against Norway. Sorry, tried to copy the link from DFB site, but it didn't seem to be working.
USSOCCER.COM hasn't reported on any of these u20 matches. That's really unfortunate and pathetic. thanks for finding out cville....
Here's a colorful Swiss write-up on the USA-Swiss match, with some photos. (Thanks to Micol for finding this.) And, more photos (from the same site).
USA 2:0 Norway http://results-sport.blogspot.com/2012/02/norway-u20-usa-u20-1322012.html Both goals in the first half.
Articles are now trickling in to the USSoccer site. No surprise that this U-20 team is an offensive juggernaut, loaded as they are with players who are already stars of the American college game, Hayes, Stengel, Brian, DiBernardo, etc. I expect that CONCACAF qualifying will be much like Olympic qualifying for the senior women. While the senior women wanted to revenge a loss to Mexico the U-20s are looking forward to make amends for the setback to Canada in the 2010 U-17s.
The goals were in the first three minutes by Ohai and Ubogagu. Another Nat Coach is impressed by the size, speed and fitness. This one added passing skill. http://translate.google.com/transla.../search?q=norway+fa&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=d U20's unscored upon this year? Here is the google translate version, if, like for me, the formatting is off the screen.
Jumping in to let those that don't already know the games for this tourney will be streamed on the CONCACAF site: http://www.concacaftv.premiumtv.co.uk/page/LiveSchedule The service is free. You simply have to register with the site.
We're watching! So far 2-0 USA. I didn't see who scored the first goal but Julie Johnston rocketed the second one in. That had to be satisfying... Guatemala is decent so it's a pretty fun game to watch.