Re the bolded part of your comment: Asia has dominated this tournament historically having won it 5 out of 8 times, (DPR 3 times, Japan and ROK 1 each). Also they've been second 3 times (Japan 2, DPR 1). Spain is the second most successful nation having won it twice, been second and third twice and the most recent best competitor with DPR having won 2 of the last 3. The US has not been successful at all except last year's third and the first year (2008) second, and in between didn't even make the tournament in 2010 and 2014!
Not surprised, but channel has been banned. Next up...https://www.youtube.com/@MẹCủaKiênChổi17 And this one has some extended highlights, but looks to be focused on African teams. https://www.youtube.com/@ZedGambitSports/videos
And I didn't check, but turns out that Paraguay's leading striker at the Copa Feminina, Claudia Martinez, qualifies as a U17 player! Edit - Just watched the Paraguay v. New Zealand match. First half, Paraguay 0-1 New Zealand Second half, Claudia Martinez 3, Paraguay 1 (4 total) - 1 New Zealand. From the highlights, it looked like the 2nd half was the Claudia Martinez show.
Wouldn't surprise me if China and NoKo pushed the youth players hard and they ended up burning out by senior level. Short term glory over long term success. Speculation, mind, but might explain youth team success where at senior team success is not there.
Actually youth success does equal long term success in some ways. But you hit the nail on the head with burnout. I wonder how many budding players, male and female, we lose because there is too much emphasis placed on "winning" at the young ages? While winning is not unimportant it is, at the youth levels, a good deal less important than we so called adults make it. Kids, mostly, really ae happy "just playing the game" and, while they do keep score winning/losing for kids only matters as much as we adults make it. I do NOT think there should be important international tournaments before U20. "The only thing wrong with youth sports in this country are the adults."
Youth success doesn't equal long-term success. Youth development isn't linear, and there are a lot of countries that are good at youth tournaments but suck at senior team.
I am very curious to see what she will do in the last match of the group vs Japan, since this particular incarnation of the U-17 Nadeshiko Japan team, in my opinion, is significantly weaker than other selections from the recent past.
I'm a little surprised she's not back with her senior team, they are playing a pair of official Conmebol games this window, might be World Cup Qualifiers. May be she'll join next window. Paraguay's U17 can place well this U17 WC with her so they may want to see how far she can take them.
I guess then it's North Korea and Spain who are the co-favorites. you think? At least Fifa put them in separate sides of the bracket so they could only meet in the finals. Historically Japan does do better at the U20 level than U17 I don't know why. The Japan-Paraguay match should be interesting. Having Claudia Martinez could be a game-changer at this level, she might be so far advanced compared to the rest of the players her age, though it is a team game and Japan may be able to contain her enough to get a good result and win the group. Another game I'm interested in is Canada-France to see who wins Group D. Canada just needs a tie to win the group and that would pit France against Spain in the Round of 16. Of course if Canada lose they get Spain, or rather Spain gets Canada.
Pulling this up as R16 USA v Netherlands has just kicked off (11:30 AM Eastern). Edit: 0-1 Netherlands at just 3' ...
In the first 5 minutes the USA has looked absolutely horrible. No real ball control and no real dangerous attack while The Netherlands has already scored and seems able to prevent the USA from actually getting dangerous shots off even when they do manage to get near the box. I think the USA will turn things around but, now approaching the 15th minute, they are really not looking good at all.
I was obviously misled by results and highlights. This team is not very organized at all. Getting owned by the Dutch so far.
Well this was, by far, the poorest match the USA has played at the U17 WWC. They did manage to score fairly early in the 2nd half but they did nothing else and, in the shootout the USA GK was actually quite bad. The Netherlands scored all their shots but presented savable balls twice and the USA GK just looked sluggish and poorly prepared and saved nothing. Of course the Netherlands won the shootout and will advance and the USA goes home. I was not impressed by this match and it is clear that the USA really did not have a clue about how to handle a team that played solid defense and hustled all the time. In the shootout the Netherlands knew what they were doing and the USA, particularly the 'keeper," seemed like they had not practiced much at all. The Netherlands did not miss a single PK, but the USA 'keeper should have saved two, The USA shooters were not bad except for the last one that hit the ball like a U10 rec player. I am disappointed but not totally surprised as the USA is rarely any good at youth tournaments. I now hope that Japan wins the whole thing but whoever plays the Netherlands next will, probably, beat them as they really are not that good.
It was pretty shocking how the US failed to adjust to the solid Dutch tactics and how uncomposed the US was when they got in or around the box. Three horrible shots from close were the difference. Another lesson in how to win a soccer game delivered by the old world. Not that USSF ever learns.
This was all U17 and younger. I know we are used to female players developing early but that is not always or even usually the case. Most players, male or female, do not really show ability in the specialized positions like center forward until they reach mid 20s. It is a little more common for women to develop early than men but that is genetic as most women do not grow much past 16 or 17 while most men continue to grow into their 20s. The USA has virtually never been good at the youth ranks so nearly nothing can judged by youth team performance and this set of Uxs are no different.
That's pretty much were I am. I was looking at individual talent, not the overall team, and knowing that these players were just the ones that got called up for this tournament. And any particular player at U17 will not be as mature as they would be at national team level, and might have an average few matches if other things in their life cause a distraction. I would like to have seen them win, or at least reach the semis, but it's not that important in the bigger picture. The bigger picture appears in '27, and '28, and again in '31.
Dimaria had a great 2nd match. Johnson had a great strike v. Netherlands. They are both very young and have not been called into the any team other than the U17 team (as far as I'm aware). There are possibilities, but nobody that is, for example, starting in NWSL. To me, it is too early for to name anybody as a potential senior team call up. In comparison, the US squad doesn't have somebody like Claudia Martinez (PAR).
Would really like to have seen the France v. Netherlands match. The highlights looked really entertaining. And now I don't find the US loss so bad, as France fell apart. On YouTube, search sub17. Seems like a new channel gets banned every couple of days, and a new pops up to replace.
I saw it and you did not miss much. France played stupidly and basically kept giving The Netherlands chances to stay in the match. The matches today were all played like for, most of the time, the teams were afraid to lose but not willing to take real chances to win. It seemed like the kind of matches that give soccer a bad name in the USA. Very cagey and also, mostly, very slow. In each match the "better" team won but no team really asserted themselves and it has become very hard to see how, baring self destruction, that DPR will not repeat. They are the only team that has looked at least good in every part of every match.