RD Welch

U-20 USWNT: Travel Roster For June Trip to Japan

In the USSoccer.com news item for the results of the Under-20 Women’s World Cup draw, US Soccer buried the U-20 USWNT’s roster for the June trip to Japan, where the team will play two friendlies versus Japan’s U-20 WNT, on June 17 and June 20th.

With less than three months to go until the tournament, this roster of 21 players will very likely be the team that travels to Japan in August. There is only one change from the CONCACAF Championship team: U-18 midfielder Ashley Meier got called-up in place of the presumably not-100% Micaela Capelle. As to the third goalkeeper, that appears to be Jami Kranich of Villanova. Continue reading “U-20 USWNT: Travel Roster For June Trip to Japan”

U-20 WWC: The Final Draw – The USA gets China, Ghana, and Germany (Yes, Really!)

The final draw for the Under-20 Women’s World Cup was held in Tokyo earlier today. In a bit of a surprise, reigning and two-time U-20 WWC champion Germany was not seeded as one of the top three teams. Instead, North Korea was placed into the first pot, along with host Japan, Brazil, and the United States. On the positive side for the USA, this meant that they avoided North Korea during the group stage. But, it also opened up the possibility that the USA and Germany could be grouped together. And, guess what happened…

Group A: Japan, Mexico, Switzerland, New Zealand
Group B: Brazil, Italy, Nigeria, South Korea
Group C: North Korea, Norway, Argentina, Canada
Group D: Ghana, United States, Germany, China

Also, the full schedule is available as a PDF file.

Continue reading “U-20 WWC: The Final Draw – The USA gets China, Ghana, and Germany (Yes, Really!)”

Olympics: Notes on the Latest FIFA Women’s World Rankings

On June 1st, the latest FIFA Women’s World Rankings were released. While there were no major shake-ups, the most notable rankings movement was by Brazil, whose series of losses to Canada, the USA, and Japan, caused them to drop 33 points and fall from fourth place to fifth place, behind Sweden. Meanwhile, the United States remains in the number one spot and was able to extend its points lead over Germany and the other top teams. Continue reading “Olympics: Notes on the Latest FIFA Women’s World Rankings”

Olympics: More Details on Brazil’s June Camp

On Friday, the CBF posted a short news item detailing the schedule for Brazil’s penultimate domestic training camp prior to the Olympics. As part of the camp, Brazil will play two scrimmages, one versus the Under-15 boys’ team of Fluminense (Wikipedia) and then one versus Brazil’s Under-20 Women’s National Team, who are preparing for the U-20 Women’s World Cup, which begins in late August. Also mentioned in the news item were the arrival dates for some of the European-based players, including Marta and Elaine, who both play for Tyresö in Sweden. Continue reading “Olympics: More Details on Brazil’s June Camp”

A Round-Up of Other Notable International Matches (Late May 2012)

Besideds the USA’s 4:1 win over China, three other notable matches occurred in the past week: Canada defeated China 1:0 at home, Germany defeated Romania 5:0 in a Women’s Euro qualifier, and Sweden beat Scotland 4:1 in an away friendly. Continue reading “A Round-Up of Other Notable International Matches (Late May 2012)”

U-20 WWC: Updated Thoughts on the Possible Draw Procedures

[Note #2 (4-June-2012): Here is the actual draw results for this year’s U-20 WWC. Germany was not seeded as one of the top three teams. Instead North Korea was placed into the first pot, along with host Japan, Brazil, and the USA.]

[Note: This is an update for an earlier post on the U-20 WWC draw procedure.]

While searching for information on the draw for the Under-20 Women’s World Cup, which will take place on Monday, June 4th, I eventually found my way to the Wikipedia page for the 2010 tournament, which had the four pots listed and a link to video of the 2010 draw (tv.dfb.de, skip to the -23:30 mark), which confirmed that the pot listing is accurate. The draw procedure for 2010 differs significantly from the typical draw procedures for the senior women’s tournament. In fact, it is much more similar to the procedures used on the men’s side.

Although FIFA may go with a procedure similar to the outlined in the earlier post, it is much more likely that they will go with something similar to the procedure used in 2010. (In other words, discount the earlier post.) Continue reading “U-20 WWC: Updated Thoughts on the Possible Draw Procedures”

US Soccer To Make U-17 and U-20 WNT Head Coach Positions Full-Time

Somewhat out of the blue, US Soccer announced last weekend that the head coach positions for the two main youth women’s national teams, the Under-17s and the Under-20s will be full-time, starting after the two youth Women’s World Cups later this year.

Also, a “development coach” will be hired to focus “on enhancing the player development environment for young players” across the USA and to oversee the Under-15 Girls’ National Team program. In other words, this sounds as if the U-15 GNT head coach position will also be made a full-time job, but with broader duties.

Continue reading “US Soccer To Make U-17 and U-20 WNT Head Coach Positions Full-Time”

U-20 USWNT: More on the June Trip to Japan (Courtesy of the JFA)

The details of the United States U-20 WNT’s trip to Japan have yet to be publicly released by US Soccer, but the Japan Football Association has released the full details of two friendlies between Japan’s U-20 WNT and the USA’s U-20 WNT, along with their camp roster.

And, there is some potential good news for USA fans: At least one of the team’s matches will be streamed live on JFA-TV, although the kick-off will be at 2:00 a.m. EDT on a weekday. The other match will air on Fuji-TV in Japan, at least in the Tokyo and Osaka areas. In any case, there should be a good chance that online highlights will be available, whether official or not. Continue reading “U-20 USWNT: More on the June Trip to Japan (Courtesy of the JFA)”

USWNT: Notes From Memorial Day Weekend

On Sunday, May 27th, the USWNT defeated China 4:1, with Alex Morgan scoring two goals and getting an assist via a throw-in. Earlier in the day, the Olympic roster was released.

Also, on Wednesday (May 23rd), the USWNT defeated China 3:0 in a closed-door scrimmage.

Continue reading “USWNT: Notes From Memorial Day Weekend”

U-20 USWNT: A Statistical Comparison to Past Cycles (Part 1)

The main inspiration for this post was a quote by German U-20 WNT head coach Maren Meinert on FIFA.com, from earlier this month:

Who are favourites to win?
We’re one of the favourites. As hosts, Japan are up there, as well as Brazil and USA, who have a very good U-20 team this year. In my opinion it’s one of the best USA U-20 teams I’ve ever seen.

Maybe Meinert is just being nice because she would like to be the USWNT’s head coach someday, or maybe she is trying to prop up her team’s case for being one of the seeded teams…

…But, in any case, at least by a few metrics, the facts back up her opinion. Continue reading “U-20 USWNT: A Statistical Comparison to Past Cycles (Part 1)”