Spain will be a good test, and assuming we both advance, Spain should be in the other half of the KO draw. Full draw: Group A: Colombia, Australia, Cameroon, Mexico Group B: France, Canada, Brazil, Fiji Group C: Spain, USA, Paraguay, Morocco Group D: Germany, Venezuela, Nigeria, Korea Republic Group E: Japan, New Zealand, Ghana, Austria Group F: Korea DPR, Argentina, Costa Rica, Netherlands
this could be the final squad for the upcoming u20 World Cup U-20 Women's Youth National Team | U.S. Soccer Official Website only 21 chesen(not sure if it's suppose to be 23?), but 8 NWSL players, 12 college & an ??? om first person on the list. Missing but age apporpriate NWSL; Olivia Moutlrie, Jackie Shaw, Mel Barcenas & Giselle big sis Alyssa T.. Sentnor is an great choice & excellent goal scorer, but don't know much of the offensive prowess of the other picks
I do not know why Moultrie is not on the roster, but it could be because she still is in the process of coming back from an injury.
They announced the U20 World Cup roster on August 8th: Ready to rep the 🔴, ⚪️ & 🔵!Here at the 21 players that will represent the 🇺🇸 at the U-20 @FIFAWWC in Colombia! » https://t.co/D6Xi1qYfnP pic.twitter.com/lt8CGdruVJ— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) August 8, 2024
Moultrie was not selected by YNT for this entire cycle. She is in the player pool of NT, and like Shaw, A. Thompson, players qualified for YNT are not selected if they are considered ready for potential NT selection.
The USSoccer tournament preview ... https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...up-usa-tournament-preview-five-things-to-know "This year marks just the second time the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup has been held in South America with Chile 2008 being the first, a tournament the USA won behind the goal-scoring of Alex Morgan and Sydney Leroux and the goalkeeping of Alyssa Naeher." Despite a relative lack of success in recent years ... "In 10 previous tournaments and 50 matches, the USA has lost just eight games in regulation, three to Germany, three to Japan, one to the Netherlands and one to China PR. Agonizingly, the U.S. was knocked out of this tournament in penalty kicks in 2006, 2010 and 2014." History shows the team is one to keep an eye on (for promotion to the WNT) ... 2022 (4 players): Midfielders Olivia Moultrie, Jaedyn Shaw and Korbin Albert and forward Alyssa Thompson. 2018 (6): Defenders Emily Fox and Naomi Girma, midfielders Jaelin Howell, Savannah DeMelo and Ashley Sanchez and forward Sophia Smith. 2016 (6): Goalkeeper Casey Murphy, Fox, Sanchez, DeMelo and forward Mallory Pugh (now Swanson). 2014 (6): Goalkeeper Jane Campbell, midfielders Rose Lavelle, Lindsey Horan and Andi Sullivan and forwards Pugh (now Swanson) and Midge Purce. 2012 (5): Defender Crystal Dunn, midfielders Morgan Brian (now Gautrat), Samantha Mewis and Julie Johnston (now Ertz) and forward Kealia Ohai (now Watt). 2010 (8): Goalkeeper Adrianna Franch, defenders Dunn, Casey Short (now Krueger) and Amber Brooks, midfielders S. Mewis, Kristie Mewis and Christine Nairn and forward Sydney Leroux. 2008 (5): Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, defender Meghan Klingenberg, midfielder Christine Nairn and forwards Leroux and Alex Morgan. 2006 (9): Defenders Stephanie Lopez (now Cox) and Kelley O’Hara, midfielders Lauren Cheney (now Holiday), Tina DiMartino and Allie Long and forwards Danesha Adams, Tobin Heath, Casey Noguiera and Amy Rodriguez. 2004 (8): Goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, defenders Rachel Buehler (now Van Hollebeke), Lopez and Becky Sauerbrunn, midfielders Angie Woznuk (now Kerr) and Yael Averbuch, and forwards Megan Rapinoe and Rodriguez. 2002 (12): Goalkeeper Harris, defenders Buehler (now Van Hollebeke), Kendall Fletcher, Amy Steadman and Jill Oakes, and midfielders Woznuk (now Kerr), Lori Chalupny (now Lawson), Leslie Osborne and Sarah Huffman, and forwards Heather O’Reilly, Kelly Wilson (now Schmedes) and Lindsay Tarpley (now Snow).
I do not know how the fields will hold up but, right now, all the fields I have seen are MUCH better maintained that any we saw at the Copa America. Judging by the quality of fields I have seen out of virtually all South American tournaments we (USA) need to hire field maintenance people from South America as we clearly do not have the people needed to actually make fields good for tournament play. I remember heavy rain in Costa Rica (I know that is in Central America not South America) that would render every field with natural grass in the USA totally unplayable and the CR fields played like dry after only about 30 minutes of natural drying. Now please, don't anyone talk about the people of South and Central America being natural gardeners. The same quality exists in much of Europe and even in a lot of Asia but, economics wise the South and Central American countries are way behind the USA. It just shows in a lot of ways that the USA does not take as much pride in their work. We have money to throw at problems but money does not solve most problems like lack of quality in field quality.
Now the first half ends with Spain still up 1-0. So far the USA has looked about as dangerous as a three toed sloth. Although they are a bit faster, most of the time. Our U20s need a free kick taker that can actually hit a moderately accurate free kick. But so do virtually all other USA teams and sexes.
But having or not having a "target" player is meaningless when our free kick takers miss thir kicks by 20-30 yards. We had a free kick from about a yard outside the top of the box and it missed the goal by about 30 yards. That is the miss was by a greater amount than the distance to goal. I know U10s that can hit better free kicks than that. Before a "target player" matters the ball must actually be close to that target. We played a full half without even one shot on goal. (Are we sure Vlatko Andonovski is not coaching this bunch?) The only danger we have showed so far is the danger of injuring somebody. Our lack of skill is really being exposed by Spain. But it is still just 1-0 so there is a chance for the USA.
The announcers are blaming Dudley's injury on a Spanish player but, in reality, if a foul were called it would be on Dudley as she jumped into the Spanish player.
It is good for the USA that this is U20. In older age groups the way the USA is playing would have them down by at least 3 and probably 5.
In this match I am totally unimpressed by any USA player. There seems no one with the skill needed to play at this level. It could be that Spain is really that good but I have seen zero indication that the USA is in any real danger of scoring. But it is U20 so a simple mistake could make a difference. The referee has gifted a PK to the USA but, after review the call is reversed so no PK. Correct call.
With two fairly close to goal free kicks the USA still has zero shots on goal. It is said that "if you don't shoot you can't score but as bad as the USA is playing they should stop shooting from distance at all and only take shots within about 10 yards or so. This is another USA squad that is earning the nickname. "The gang that can't shoot straight."
A match is complete and it is still 1-0 and we have had zero shots on goal and did not look dangerous at all. It is possible that Spain is really that good but I did not see that either. What I saw in this match was a USA team playing poorly and stupidly and that is on the coach. In a 1-0 match there should be shots on goal and the USA had none. I would not be surprised if the USA fails to advance, again.
That did not look good. I guess this team would beat the top college teams, but I'm not sure about that at all. Spain just much better and that's almost completely down to player development. The US will continue to advance players with mediocre skill because they are a little faster or bigger at age 12, and Spain will know better. It's just a youth tournament, but the worst thing is, I don't see a player that looks likely to help the senior team. It's ok to falter at an age-group event, but usually the trade-off is seeing a couple of future contributors.
I only saw a couple 15-20 minute segments (I was watching NWSL games) but I wasn't nearly as down on the US as everyone else seems to be. I'll try to watch more later but since Spain is one of the gold-medal favorites, I'm reasonably encouraged that the US can make a deep run into the knockout stages. Advice to coach: give some rest to Claire Hutton. She's been great for KC Current in her rookie season but she looked like she hit a wall in her last match with KC a week ago.
This narrative is so tiring. Technique is not everything, and US loss today is not due to bad individual techniques. I cannot believe people are still believe in that individual skills are of utmost importance in the game after Spain lost to Brazil and Germany whose palyers are faster and larger but inferior in individual skills. People who do not view the game from a wholistic and technical perspective tend to over-focus on individual techniques.
Who cares about the lack of goalscoring opportunities, we had 55% possession against Spain and isn't that what's really important?
It's generally not a good idea for every level of the US national teams to aim for retain possession unless a new Wambach is in the roster. Speed, transition attack and overall better defensive players are the comparative strength of the US, not super technical midfield maestros. Without an effective target player and a group of technical midfielders, possession game is unlikely to work. People should cease to hold on to the belief that only a possession game is the correct way to play this sport.