RD Welch

U-20 WWC 2024: Semifinals Highlights — USA falters, Japan advances

The dramatic run of the United States Under-20 Women’s Youth National team in the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup will not continue to the final, as they have been forced to take a detour to the third-place match, as a result of their 1-nil loss against Korea DPR on Wednesday.

In the other semifinal, Japan defeated the Netherlands 2-nil, with both goals scored by Japan’s lone NWSL player, Manaka Matsukubo of the North Carolina Courage.

Japan, who will return to the final for the third straight U-20 WWC, face Korea DPR on Sunday, September 22nd, while the USA will play the Netherlands in the third-place match on Saturday, September 21st. Both matches will kick-off at 5:00 p.m. EDT.

U-20 WWC 2024: Kick-Off Times, TV and Streaming Details for the Semifinals of the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup — USA vs. Korea DPR and Japan vs. Netherlands

For the first time since 2016, the USA are back in the semifinals of a FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup and will be looking to make their first final appearance since 2012, which is also the last time that the USA has won a U-20 WWC title. In the Americans’ way is the team from North Korea, who are officially known as “Korea DPR” in the context of international soccer.

Joining the USA and Korea DPR as semifinalists are Japan and Netherlands. None of the four teams are strangers to this stage of of a U-20 WWC, as each has made at least one prior semifinals appearance. Of the four, the USA leads in the hardware department, winning this tournament three times.

Both semifinals will take place on Wednesday, September 18th, starting at 5:30 p.m. EDT for the USA vs. Korea DPR match.

In the United States, the semifinals will be shown live on FOX Sports 2 and will be streamed live with Spanish-language commentary via Telemundo Deportes.

NWSL News of Note: Red Stars activate Rall and release Feller, McCutcheon signs with Wellington after being released by Courage

Here are the notable’s since last Friday:

Chicago Red Stars: Maxi Rall off 45-day injury list, Sami Feller released
North Carolina Courage: Maya McCutcheon released, signs with Wellington Phoenix of the A-League
San Diego Wave: Goalkeeper Mackenzie Rath signed as injury replacement player
U-20 WWC Players Update: USA and Japan advance to the semifinals

U-20 WWC 2024: Quarterfinals Highlights – The USA, Korea DPR, Japan, and Netherlands Advance

Full knockout bracket for the 2024 FIFA U-20 WWC

On Sunday, September 15th, the quarterfinals stage of the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup began with a rather pedestrian 1-nil victory for Korea DPR over Brazil and ended with the USA stunning Germany by scoring two goals in less than 90 seconds(!) during the last minutes of second-half added time and then besting Germany 3:1 in the penalty shootout.

The middle two matches of the day both went to extra time. In the earlier match, the Netherlands came back twice against host Colombia and then won the penalty shootout 3-nil. And, in the later match, Japan needed a stoppage time goal from Hiromi Yoneda to eliminate the defending champions, Spain.

Thus, on Wednesday, the USA will face Korea DPR in the first semifinal (5:30 p.m. EDT) while Japan will take on the Netherlands in the later semifinal (9:00 p.m. EDT). Both matches will be shown live on FOX Sports 2 and will stream live by Telemundo Deportes (including on NBC.com).

U-20 WWC 2024: Quarterfinals Schedule — USA-Germany Kick-Off Time Changed to 9:00 p.m. EDT

On Sunday, September 15th, the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup resumes with all four quarterfinal matches, but with a twist!

Due to a change in schedule that was only announced on Thursday, the USA’s quarterfinal match against Germany will now kick off at 9:00 p.m. EDT, which is two hours later than originally planned. The USA-Germany match will be shown live on FOX Sports 2 and can also be streamed via NBC.com (direct link) and the NBC Sports app.

One other match will also be bumped to a later start time: Netherlands-Colombia will now start at 5:30 p.m. EDT.

NWSL News of Note: Katie Stengel and Lily Woodham to Crystal Palace, Current sign goalkeeper Katie Fraine

Leading the notables for Friday is the transfer of Katie Stengel from Gotham FC to WSL debutante Crystal Palace FC. Palace also acquired another NWSL player, Welsh international Lily Woodham, from the Seattle Reign on a short loan.

The Kansas City Current bolstered their goalkeeper depth chart with the signing of Katie Fraine, who had a long career in Sweden following a stint with the Atlanta Beat of the now-defunct Women’s Professional Soccer.

Also, as rumored, former San Diego Wave forward Sofia Jakobsson signed with the London City Lionesses.

U-20 WWC 2024: Round of Sixteen, Day Two – Highlights

On the second day of the Round of Sixteen at the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup, the USA learned the name of its quarterfinal opponent: Germany, who cruised to a 5:1 victory over Argentina.

Only one match went to extra time on Thursday: The Netherlands defeated France on a 103rd minute goal from Fleur Stoit after a 1:1 scoreline in regulation.

In the other matches, Japan has earned a rematch with Spain following its 2:1 victory over Nigeria, and Korea DPR had an easier time against Austria than anticipated thanks to a first-half sending off of Nicole Ojukwu due to her receiving two yellow cards in the first 30 minutes.

Here are the video highlights for Wednesday’s matches, with some notes about each match.

NWSL News of Note: Huerta loaned to Lyon, Tarciane out with shoulder injury, Two Morgans extend, U-20 WWC update

Leading the mid-week notables is the news that the Seattle Reign will loan fullback Sofia Huerta to Olympique Lyonnais through June 2025. Also, Houston Dash center back Tarciane is out for an indefinite period due to a shoulder injury.

Also in this update:

San Diego Wave: Sofia Jakobsson released
Portland Thorns: Morgan Weaver extends through the 2028 season
Orlando Pride: Morgan Gautrat signs one-year extension, with option for 2026
U-20 WWC Players Update: The USA and Japan advance, Canada out

A 48-Team FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2031?

Update (9-May-2025): The 2031 FIFA WWC will have a field of 48-teams.

On Tuesday, two separate articles were published by British media about a push for FIFA to expand the final tournament of the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup to 48 teams, which would match the size of the next men’s World Cup in 2026 .

Absent a change in format, the expansion to 48 teams would introduce an additional knockout round, the Round of Thirty-Two, extend the length of the tournament by several days, and increase the number of matches from 64 (48 group, 16 knockout) to 104 (72 group, 32 knockout). (2026 men’s World Cup – Wikipedia) The expansion may also mean an increase in the roster size for each team.

Read on for the key quotes from each article, plus a discussion of the allocations by confederation for recent Women’s World Cups as well as a potential allocation scenario for a generic 48-team Women’s World Cup. For this specific scenario, a table of the potential pots is also presented.

Additionally, an alternative tournament format is discussed, which would preserve a traditional 32-team format for the final tournament but introduce an intermediate inter-confederation group stage.