U-20 USWNT – Women's Soccer Express

USWYNTs: Vanessa Mann hired as U-15 head coach; U-18, U-20, and U-23 positions expected to be “filled in the coming weeks”

On Monday, U.S. Soccer announced that former Utah Royals assistant coach Vanessa Mann is the new full-time head coach of the Under-15 Women’s Youth National Team.

In the same press release, U.S. Soccer also provided details about other women’s youth national team head coaching positions.

Most notably, the federation will switch to alternating head-coaching cycles for the Under-17 WYNT. After this year’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, Katie Schoepfer, who is the current head coach of the U-17s, will switch to the Under-16 WYNT and stay with that age group (2010 birth year) through the 2027 FIFA U-17 WWC. Meanwhile, Ciara Crinion, who is now the head coach for the U-16s, will move up with the 2009 birth years in the second half of this year to the Under-17 WYNT.

U.S. Soccer also announced that “full-time head coaching positions for the U.S. U-18 WNT, U.S. U-20 WNT and U.S. U-23 WNT [will] likely being filled in the coming weeks”. The other current youth head coach is Carrie Kveton, who is in charge of the Under-19 WYNT. The U-19s are preparing to qualify for the 2026 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup.

U-20 USWYNT: 20 players with 2005 birth years and four born in 2006 called into “Over-Age” Under-20 camp

In the before times, youth national team players who were born a year too late for the next FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup would be included solely in the pool for the Under-23 Women’s (Youth) National Team. However, with U.S. Soccer now using annual school-year cycles for its youth national teams, the potential for an “Over-Age” Under-20 USWYNT team is now possible. That possibility was likely made into reality by Michele Kang’s cash infusion to the women’s and youth’s programs of U.S. Soccer.

So, for the first time since the advent of the FIFA U-20 WWC, there is an Under-20 United States Women’s Youth National Team that is not directly focused on qualifying for or playing in the next FIFA U-20 WWC.

For this camp, which will be lead by San Diego Wave assistant coach Becki Tweed, most of the players selected were born in 2005.

U-19 USWYNT: Draw Results and Schedule for the 2025 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship

To qualify for the 2026 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup, the United States Under-19 Women’s Youth National Team will need to either finish first or second in a four-team round-robin group that also includes Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Guyana.

The USA’s qualifying path was confirmed on Wednesday, March 26, when Concacaf held its draw for the 2025 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship, which despite its name, will be an Under-19 event.

The full results of that draw:

Group A: United States, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Guyana
Group B: Mexico, Canada, Panama, Nicaragua

For reference, these were the pots for the draw (with Concacaf ranking points in parentheses):

Pot 1: USA (3683), Mexico (3536)
Pot 2: Canada (3417), Costa Rica (2261)
Pot 3: Puerto Rico (1620), Panama (1278)
Pot 4: Guyana (1221), Nicaragua (953)

In the draw, the USA avoided Canada but was grouped with the host, Costa Rica, which means that the USA will have one less rest day for their semifinal, compared to their opponent in that match.

2025 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship: Draw scheduled for March 26th, Costa Rica will host

The 2025 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship, which will determine the confederation’s four representatives for the 2026 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup, will be held from Thursday, May 29, to Sunday, June 8. Costa Rica will be the host, with all matches to be played at Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, the home stadium of L. D. Alajuelense.

The draw is scheduled for Wednesday, March 26, at 11:00 a.m. EDT.

The eight teams that will play in the Championship are the United States and Mexico, which both had byes for the preliminary qualifying stage, plus the six group winners from the preliminary round: Canada, Costa Rica, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, and Puerto Rico.

Notably absent is Jamaica, which, along with the United States and Mexico, had participated in all previous editions of this tournament, including when it was designated as an Under-19 event in 2002 and 2004.

Based on the updated Concacaf Women’s Under-20 ranking, the pots should be as follows (with ranking points in parentheses):

Pot 1: USA (3683), Mexico (3536)
Pot 2: Canada (3417), Costa Rica (2261)
Pot 3: Puerto Rico (1620), Panama (1278)
Pot 4: Guyana (1221), Nicaragua (953)

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-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.)

U-20 WWC 2024: The USA claims bronze with a 2:1 victory over the Netherlands in the third-place match

After falling to Korea DPR in the semifinals of the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup, the United States U-20 Women’s Youth National Team will leave Colombia on a positive note following their extra-time victory over the Netherlands in the third-place match.

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

The 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup concludes this weekend with the Third-Place Match, featuring the United States Under-20 Women’s Youth National Team and the Netherlands, on Saturday, September 21st, and then the final on Sunday, September 22nd, between Japan and Korea DPR. Both matches kick off at 5:00 p.m. EDT.

Update: The Third-Place Match is being shown by Universo. It can also be watched via the Telemundo Deportes live stream, which can be accessed through the NBC Sports app and the NBC.com website (direct link).

The Third-Place Match will also be shown live on FOX Soccer Plus, but that is a premium channel which is typically available either a la carte or bundled in a sports tier.

Sunday’s final will be shown live on both FOX Sports 2 and Universo.

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.