Opposition Research – Page 3 – Women's Soccer Express

U-17 WWC 2024: Match Day 3B — Highlights and Final Group Standings

With all the group stage matches in the books at the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, the field for the quarterfinal is set.

In Group D, debutante Poland advanced to the knockout stage by wringing out a scoreless draw against Brazil in a rain-soaked match. Meanwhile, Japan claimed the top spot in the group with a 4:1 victory over Zambia.

Over in Group C, Mexico is going home with zero points after a 1:2 loss to Kenya in a match where both teams were already eliminated, while Korea DPR had a comfortable 4-nil win over England to finish first in the group.

U-17 WWC 2024: Match Day 3A — Highlights and Final Group Standings

With all three of its group stage matches in the books, the USA are through to the quarterfinals of the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup following a 5-nil victory over Korea Republic.

In the other Group B match, Colombia took an early lead over Spain when Isabella Diaz collected a loose ball from a Spain player who slipped on a worn section of the pitch, dribbled toward goal and sent a low shot beyond goalkeeper Ziara Vega who could only partially deflect the ball with an outstretched hand. Spain would equalize in the second half from the penalty spot. Then, with about 30 minutes to go in regulation, Diaz slapped a Spain player on her upper chest and was sent off following a video support review. The match remain tied until about 15 seconds before the clock hit 90:00.

In Group A action, Nigeria, who like Spain, were already guaranteed to advance, struggled to score against the host, Dominican Republic. Of Nigeria’s 36 shots, just 3 were on target. Their breakthrough came just before the end of regulation when Shakirat Moshood’s long-range effort sailed beyond the reach of goalkeeper Jaylene Rondon.

Meanwhile, in Ecuador’s 4-nil victory over New Zealand, Caprice Chiuchiolo, who is a verbal commit for Grand Canyon University, notched a brace.

In the quarterfinals, the USA will face Nigeria for the second time in a row. In 2022, the USA fell on penalties to Nigeria, who ended up finishing third. The USA-Nigeria quarterfinal match will be on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Spain will play Ecuador on Sunday. That match will also kick off at 3:30 p.m. EDT

U-17 WWC 2024: Match Day 2B — Highlights and Group Standings Plus Advancement Scenarios

On the fourth day of matches at the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, both of the marquee match-ups, Brazil versus Japan and England versus Mexico, featured comeback victories.

In Group D’s Brazil-Japan match, a sluggish looking Japan defense gave up an early goal, but two second-half goals, including an equalizer from UCLA-bound Momo Saruang Ueki Sato, means that Japan now only needs a draw in their final group stage match against eliminated Zambia, who fell nil-2 to Poland.

Mexico’s hopes of staying alive were dashed by two late goals conceded against ten-player England. The Young Lionesses played the final 40 minutes of the match, included 12 minutes of added time, down a player yet scored three goals in that time.

For Group C, both England and Korea DPR, who defeated Kenya 3-nil, now know that they have secured a spot in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Mexico and Kenya are eliminated.

In Group D, only Zambia is out of the running for the quarterfinals, while none of the other three teams — Poland, Japan, and Brazil — have locked up a spot in the knockout stage.

U-17 WWC 2024: Match Day 2A — Highlights and Group Standings Plus Advancement Scenarios

On the third day of group stage matches as the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, the USA defeated Colombia 2-nil via goals from Micayla Johnson and Kennedy Fuller. Two teams, Spain and Nigeria, secured their spots in the quarterfinals round. In Group A, the hosts, Dominican Republic, kept their hopes alive with a salvaged draw against New Zealand.

Spain will be without two players for their third group stage match. In Spain’s 5-nil victory over Korea Republci, forward Alba Cerrato earned a straight red card in the final minutes of the match, after a video support review. Meanwhile, defender Irune Dorado, who was carrying a yellow card from her match against the USA, was given another yellow card just before halftime.

U-17 WWC 2024: Match Day 1B — Highlights and Group Standings

On the second day of matches at the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, the most eye-opening result was the nil-nil draw between Japan and debutantes Poland, while the least surprising one was Korea DPR’s 4:1 victory over Mexico. Meanwhile, Brazil and England both earned wins against their African opponents.

As with the opening day, three USA-based players found the back of the net: Mexico’s Citlalli Reyes, Brazil’s Juju Harris, and England’s Lauryn Thompson.

U-17 WWC 2024: Match Day 1A — Highlights and Group Standings

On Wednesday, October 16th, the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup kicked off in the Dominican Republic with four group stage matches.

In Group B, the USA lost 1:3 to the defending champions, Spain, but are in good shape to advance as the other Group B match, between Colombia and Korea Republic, ended in a draw, which eliminated the possibility of three teams each finishing on six points.

The hosts, Dominican Republic, which has 10 USA-based players, opened its campaign with a respectable 0:2 loss to Ecuador.

In all, three USA-based players scored on Wednesday, including two NWSL professionals: Mel Barcenas of the San Diego Wave for the USA and Casey Phair of Angel City for Korea Republic. The third goal-scorer was Colombia’s Ella Martinez, who is an academy player for USL Super League side Tampa Bay Sun and is a verbal commit for Duke University.

U-17 WWC 2024: Official Squad Lists for All 16 Teams — Plus Superlatives and Known NCAA Verbal Commits for USA-Based Players

Edit (22-Oct-2024): Added verbal commit details for Caprice Chiuchiolo (Ecuador).

Last week, FIFA released the official squad lists for all sixteen teams participating in the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup.

I have converted those lists into a Google Sheets spreadsheets, adding columns for a player’s age and a player’s height in inches. Also, for USA-based players that are not currently a professional or not already playing collegiately, their announced verbal commits have been added.

Downloads:

Official FIFA Document: FU17WWC-2024-Squad-Lists-English.pdf
Google Sheets version: U-17 WWC 2024 – Squad Lists

At least five non-USA players have attended U.S. Soccer youth camps. Among those is England’s Lauryn Thompson, who is a Florida State verbal commit.

Three players from the recently concluded U-20 WWC have been named to their country’s rosters for this tournament. Most notably, Choe Il Son, who won the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot in Colombia, is set to play for Korea DPR in this tournament.

USWNT: The USA Will Play the Netherlands in December

On Wednesday, U.S. Soccer and the KNVB announced that the United States Women’s National Team will face the Netherlands WNT on Tuesday, December 3rd, in The Hague, Netherlands. The match will take place at ADO Den Haag Stadium, which opened in 2007 and has a capacity of 15,000 (Wikipedia).

The Netherlands friendly is scheduled to kick off at 2:45 p.m. Eastern and will be televised on TNT and truTV with English-language commentary. The match will also be shown on Universo with Spanish-language commentary. Streaming options include Max (subscription required) and NBC.com (Spanish-language; requires linking one’s TV service provider account).

This will be the final match for the USWNT in 2024 and will be the second friendly of the year’s last international window. A few days earlier, on November 30th, the USWNT will take on the Lionesses of England at Wembley Stadium.

The Netherlands and England are two of the nine teams that have already qualified for the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, which will be hosted by Switzerland. Twenty-eight teams are still in the hunt for the remaining seven slots. (Wikipedia)

Trivia: The Hague, Netherlands, is the birthplace of current England head coach Sarina Wiegman, who managed ADO Den Haag’s women’s team for seven seasons. (Wikipedia)

U.S. Soccer Press Release: U.S. Women’s National Team Will Face The Netherlands in The Hague on Dec. 3 to Finish 2024 Schedule

KNVB Press Release: Oranje sluit jaar af met oefenwedstrijden tegen China en USA

Concacaf takes step backward with qualifying format for the 2027 Women’s World Cup and 2028 Olympics

In mid-September, Concacaf published their plans for how women’s national teams in the region will qualify for the next FIFA Women’s World Cup and Summer Olympics. Instead of a traditional tournament with round-robin groups and a knockout phase, the final phase of qualifying will consist only of a knockout competition for the eight qualified teams. The four losing teams from the opening quarterfinals will then compete for Concacaf’s play-in spot(s).

The format change means that for the final eight teams, just one game will decide whether each gets an automatic slot into the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which will be hosted by Brazil. A single loss in the quarterfinal stage also means elimination from qualifying for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The two highest-ranked teams in Concacaf, which will almost certainly be the United States and Canada, will have direct entry to the quarterfinal stage, so those two teams will only need to win a single match in order to qualify for the 2027 WWC. This is ridiculously lower than the minimum number of matches that the highest-ranked teams in Concacaf have traditionally been required to play. It is also embarrassingly lower than the number of qualifying matches that top teams in other confederations are required to play in order to earn a WWC slot.

Additionally, the simplified format reduces the likelihood that the best teams from Concacaf will qualify for the next WWC and Olympics. Although a loss in the quarterfinals does not eliminate a team from qualifying for the WWC, the best team(s) from the repechage have the additional burden of competing in an inter-confederation play-in tournament, which could see them face competitive teams from Europe and Asia.

U-20 WWC 2024: Korea DPR wins third title, Bronze Ball goes to USA’s Ally Sentnor, Silver Ball awarded to Japan’s Manaka Matsukubo

On Sunday, Korea DPR joined the USA and Germany in the three-time winners’ club of the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup by winning the final of the 2024 edition. Korea DPR won the match 1-nil on a goal from Choe Il Son, who also took home the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot.

Individual awards summary:

Korea DPR’s Choe Il Son won both the Golden Ball, as the overall best player, and the Golden Boot, as the player with the most goals scored (6 total).
Two NWSL players won the other ‘Ball’ trophies: The USA’s Ally Sentnor was awarded the Bronze Ball, and Japan’s Manaka Matsukubo received the Silver Ball.
Goalkeeper Femke Liefting of the Netherlands was given the Golden Glove.
Brazil’s Vendito received the Silver Boot, edging out Japan’s Maya Hijikata, who took home the Bronze Boot. Both players had 5 goals and 1 assist, but Hijikata played more minutes. (Brazil was eliminated in the quarterfinals.)