Under-xx Teams – Page 3 – Women's Soccer Express

U-16 USWYNT: Concurrent camp with U-17s announced, 12 players return from last camp

On Monday, January 27th, the United States Under-16 Women’s Youth National Team will gather in Mesa, Arizona, for a camp that runs through Monday, February 3rd, and which will be held concurrently with a U-17 USWYNT camp.

Of the 24 players called into this camp, just 12 return from the first U-16 camp of this cycle, which was held last November. Among the 12 returning players are seven members of the USA’s squad for the 2024 Concacaf Girls’ Under-15 Championship, including forward KK Ream, who recently signed a professional contract with the Utah Royals.

Four additional players from U-15 championship squad, including 2024 Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year, Maddie DiMaria, are attending their first U-16 camp this cycle. Meanwhile, three members of the U-15 championship squad who attended the previous U-16 camp are not attending this present camp. Among those three is Gotham FC professional Mak Whitham, who has a 2010 birth year.

Five players will apparently be attending their first United States youth national team camp. Two other players have only attended a U-14 Talent ID mini-camp.

All but one player in this camp has a 2009 birth year. The lone exception is midfielder Loradana Paletta, who has a 2011 birth year and was the youngest member of the US U-15 USWYNT at the Concacaf Girls’ U-15 Championship in 2024.

U-23 USWYNT: Roster for 2025 “Futures Camp” Announced — 2024 MAC Hermann winner Kate Faasse gets first call-up since 2018

“A ros[t]e[r] by any other name…”

(Although U.S. Soccer does not publicly classify the January 2025 Futures Camp as an Under-23 Women’s Youth National Team camp, for all intents and purposes, it is.)

Update #2 (10-Jan-2025): Due to the Los Angeles wildfires, both the USWNT camp and the Futures camp will be moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Those camps will now run from January 17 to 23, which is a day shorter than the originally announced dates of January 14 to 21.

Update (9-Jan-2025): Midfielder Taylor Huff has signed with Bay FC (press release). The text below has been updated accordingly.

The “Futures” roster selected by USWNT head coach Emma Hayes features an intriguing mix of professional and collegiate players with numerous expected names and some unexpected selections as well as some head-scratching non-selections.

None of the players have senior USWNT caps, and only one player, Angel City outside-back Gisele Thompson, has previously trained with the senior USWNT.

Of the 25 players named, 12 played professionally in 2024. All but one of the 12, goalkeeper Neeku Purcell of USL Super League side Brooklyn FC, plied their trade in the National Women’s Soccer League.

Among the 2024 collegiate players, at least six have turned professional for the 2025 NWSL season. Those six include 2024 U-20 USWYNT forwards Maddie Dahlien of UNC and Pietra Tordin of Princeton, who both went pro with a year of NCAA eligibility left.

The Futures Camp is scheduled to take place from January 14th to the 21st at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, which is about 16 miles south of the Los Angeles wildfires. The camp will be concurrent with a USWNT camp that will feature seven uncapped players. All current USWYNT head coaches will be helping to run this camp, along with USWNT head coach Emma Hayes and her staff.

Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang pledges to give $30 million over five years to U.S. Soccer in support of women’s soccer development

On November 19th, in a joint press conference with U.S. Soccer, Michele Kang, majority owner of the NWSL’s Washington Spirit, announced that she has pledged to give a total of $30 million over the next five years to U.S. Soccer. Kang’s pledged gift has three stated purposes:

First, to double the number of youth women’s national team camps.
Second, to ramp up women’s youth talent identification by expanding U.S. Soccer’s digital talent identification platform.
Third, to double the number of licensed female coaches and female referees.

Beyond the stated purposes of the pledged gift, there were not much details about how the $30 million will be spent.

The first stated purpose of “doubl[ing] the number of” women’s youth “national team camps” from their current level is noteworthy because the number of WYNT camps held in 2024 is about half the number of camps compared to several years ago.

U-16 USWYNT: 24 Players called into first camp of new cycle, including several first-timers

On Thursday, November 14th, the first camp of the 2024-25 cycle for the Under-16 United States Women’s Youth National Team got underway in Chula Vista, California. The camp, which is being held concurrently with a U-15 USWYNT camp, runs from the 14th to Wednesday, November 20th.

Head coach Patchy Toledo has called in 24 players, including just 10 of the 18 on the roster for August’s Concacaf Girls’ Under-15 Championship. Three of the four named alternates for that tournament have been named to this camp’s roster.

All but two of the players named to the camp’s roster have 2009 birth years: NWSL professional Mak Whitham, who was born in 2010, and midfielder Loradana Paletta, who has a 2011 birth year.

Eight players called up are apparently attending their first United States youth national team camp.

With the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup becoming an annual tournament in 2025, some U-16 and U-15 players could be called up to the U-17 USWYNT this cycle.

U-15 USWYNT: Roster for second camp of cycle released, 14 players return, 3 apparent first-timers

On Thursday, November 14th, the second camp of the 2024-25 cycle for the Under-15 United States Women’s Youth National Team got underway in Chula Vista, California. The camp, which is being held concurrently with a U-16 USWYNT camp, runs from the 14th to Wednesday, November 20th.

Head coach Ciara Crinion has called in 24 players, including 14 players from the previous camp as well as three players who are apparently attending their first U.S. youth WNT camp. One of the players from the September U-15 camp, midfielder Loradana Paletta, who was named to the roster for the concurrent U-16 USWYNT camp.

For this cycle, the primary birth year for the U-15 USWYNT is 2010. One notable player with a 2010 birth date not at this camp is NJ/NY Gotham FC forward Mak Whitham, who was also called up to the concurrent U-16 USWYNT camp.

One of the players attending this camp, forward Stella Spitzer, currently plays for the Carolina Ascent of the new USL Super League on an academy contract.

U-17 WWC 2024: The USA claims Third, O’Steen wins Golden Glove, Fuller takes home the Silver Boot, Korea DPR triumphs again

On Sunday, the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup came to a close with the Third-Place Match and Final both being played on the same day. In the earlier match, the USA blanked England via a 3-nil scoreline that could have easily been more lopsided against the Young Lionesses.

Meanwhile, in the final, Spain looked to have the advantage over Korea DPR, at least in the first half. Spain briefly went ahead in the second half, but Korea DPR equalized a few minutes later. With the score level at the end of regulation, the match went straight to penalties, and Korea DPR prevailed 4:3.

As their Under-20 counterparts did in September, the Under-17 United States Women’s Youth National Team took home bronze medals. Two USA players also received individual tournament awards: Evan O’Steen was given the Golden Glove as the best goalkeeper, and Kennedy Fuller earned the Silver Boot as one of the top goalscorers.

Korea DPR won their third FIFA U-17 WWC title, after previously winning the inaugural edition in 2008 and again in 2016. This is also the second time that Korea DPR has won both the U-17 WWC and U-20 WWC in the same year, having previously done that feat in 2016, and was prevented from doing so in 2008 by the USA. Only one other country, Spain in 2022 has also won both FIFA women’s youth tournaments in the same year.

U-17 WWC 2024: The USA falls to Korea DPR, will play in the Third-Place Match

The United States Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team did what no other team has done at this year’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup: Hold Korea DPR scoreless in the first half. For three-quarters of the semifinal, the USA defense bent but did not break against a Korea DPR that had some threatening moments, but only registered two shots on goal the entire match.

U-19 WYNT: First camp of new cycle gets underway in Florida — Dash’s Zoe Matthews called in

With the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in the books and the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup nearing its conclusion, the focus for the 2006 and 2007 birth years transitions to qualifying for the next U-20 WWC, and so the new two-year cycle begins with a domestic camp in West Palm Beach, Florida, that began on Thursday, October 24th, and runs through October 30th.

Since NCAA soccer is nearing the end of its regular season, head coach Carrie Kveton, has not called in any current collegiate players, nor has she called any age-eligible NWSL players from the recent U-20 WWC roster. As most of the 24 players are still in high school, a majority of the players, 15 in all, have 2007 birth years, while just nine of the 24 players were born in 2006, the lower cut-off year for this current one-year U-19 cycle. The 2007 birth year is also the lower cut-off year for the present U-17 WWC, so between the unavailability of players presently competing in the Dominican Republic and current college players, the selection philosophy for this roster is much more about exploring and expanding the pool of players for the next U-20 WWC (and beyond), rather than focusing on a primary pool of players.

The most notable player called into this camp is Houston Dash’s recent U-18 signing, 6’2″ midfielder Zoe Matthews, who is listed as a defender on this roster. Matthews is the only NWSL player called in and one of three professionals. The other pro players are forward Miri O’Donnell, who joined Sporting Clube de Portugal in late September, and goalkeeper Charlotte Burge, who signed with Carolina Ascent of the new USL Super League.

U-17 WWC 2024: Quarterfinals, Day 2 — England reaches the semifinals for the first time, will face Spain

The Young Lionesses of England have advanced to the semifinals of a FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup for the first time after besting Japan on penalties. This is the third time in a row that Japan has exited at the quarterfinal stage of a U-17 WWC, after winning the tournament in 2014 and finishing as runner-up in 2016.

England will face Spain in their semifinal, which will be a rematch of the 2024 UEFA Women’s Under-17 Championship final that was won 4-nil by Spain.

In Sunday’s earlier quarterfinal, Ecuador held Spain scoreless for the first third of the match, but then Pau Comendador netted a straight hat trick and Celia Segura added a stoppage time brace to give the European champions a 5-nil victory.

U-17 WWC 2024: Quarterfinals, Day 1 — The USA advances on goals from Fuller and Ascanio; will face Korea DPR in semifinals

For the first time since the inaugural FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in 2008, the USA are back in the semifinals thanks to their 2-nil victory over Nigeria. The USA’s opponent will be Korea DPR who were held to only a lone goal by Poland in Saturday’s other quarterfinal.