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.

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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.

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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).

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

Full knockout bracket for the 2024 FIFA U-20 WWC.

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.

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

The first-ever Round of Sixteen at a FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup has not lacked for drama. Two matches went into extra time, including the USA’s drama-filled 3:2 victory over their southern neighbors, Mexico. Brazil also needed a full 120 minutes to defeat Cameroon, though the game-winning goal came less than 20 seconds into the first period of added time. Also, Spain needed a comeback victory over Canada, while host Colombia defeated Cameroon on just a single Linda Caicedo goal. And that was just the first day of Round of Sixteen matches.

Here are the video highlights for Wednesday’s matches, with a brief recap of the USA-Mexico match, plus the schedule for Thursday.

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U-20 WWC 2024: Round of Sixteen Schedule with TV and Streaming Details

Full bracket for the knockout phase of the 2024 U-20 WWC

On Wednesday, September 11th, for the first time, a Round of Sixteen will get underway at a FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup.

Among the teams still in contention are Concacaf foes USA and Mexico who will face off at 9:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. That match will be shown on FOX Sports 2 (with English-language commentary) and will be streamed by Telemundo Deportes (with Spanish-language commentary).

Also on Wednesday, Canada will take on defending champions Spain. That match kicks off at 5:30 p.m. EDT.

The Round of Sixteen concludes on Thursday with four more matches, including the only other same confederation clash: France versus Netherlands.

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U-15 WYNT: 24 Players Called In for First Camp of New Cycle

On Friday, U.S. Soccer announced that the next cycle of the United States Under-15 Women’s Youth National Team will get underway with a domestic camp that starts on Sunday, September 8th, and runs through Friday, September 13th. The camp will be held in Fayetteville, Georgia.

Of the 24 players named by head coach Ciara Crinion, all but one have 2010 birth years. The lone exception is midfielder Loradana Paletta, who was born in 2011 and was a member of the USA’s squad that won last month’s Concacaf Girls’ Under-15 Championship.

One of the players, forward Stella Spitzer, is currently with a USL Super League team, Carolina Ascent FC. All of the remaining players are on youth club teams, with most (19, according to U.S. Soccer) associated with the ECNL.

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U-20 WWC 2024: Full Schedule with USA TV and Streaming Details for the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup

On Saturday, August 31st, the 2024 edition of the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup kicks off in Colombia. Viewers in the United States will be able to watch all of the USA’s group matches live on FOX Sports 2. Also, all of the tournament’s matches will be streamed live with Spanish-language commentary through the NBC Sports app and NBC.com.

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U-20 WWC 2024: Official Squad Lists Released + Summary Stats and Notables

Earlier this week, FIFA released the official squad lists for this year’s Under-20 Women’s World Cup, which is hosted by Colombia and kicks off on August 31st.

Here is a Google Sheets version of the squad lists, which is converted from the original PDF file (FIFA.com). (Update, 30-Aug-2024: Brazil, Colombia, and Japan have each replaced a player. See the “Notes” page of the spreadsheet for more details.)

Of the 24 teams in this year’s tournament, the United States Under-20 Women’s Youth National Team is the 4th oldest, based on median age, and the 2nd tallest team, based on median height. Only the Netherlands has a higher median height.

Out of 504 total players, 71 are based in the United States, with 47 currently playing for NCAA Division I teams. In all, 14 teams have at least one USA-based player.

Eleven of the US-based players are full professionals who compete in the NWSL: In addition to the 8 USA players, the other NWSL pros are forward Amanda Allen of the Orlando Pride, forward Milly Clegg of Racing Louisville, and midfielder Manaka Matsukubo of the North Carolina Courage, who play for Canada, New Zealand, and Japan, respectively.

For the complete tables of comparative age and height statistics, keep reading…

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U-17 WYNT: 24 Players Called In For Last Camp Before U-17 WWC Roster Selection

From August 18th to the 23rd, the United States Under-17 Women’s Youth National team is holding their final training camp before head coach Katie Schoepfer selects the USA’s roster for the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in the Dominican Republic, which runs from October 16th to November 3rd.

For this camp, which is being held in Chula Vista, California, 24 players were called in, of which 20 have 2007 birth years, while the remaining 4 players were born in 2008.

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