Japan U17 WNT – Women's Soccer Express

U-17 USWYNT: The USA should be in Pot 1 for the draw of the 2025 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup

Last weekend, the United States, along with Mexico, Canada, and Costa Rica, all qualified for this year’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup. Those four Concacaf teams joined seven other teams that have already qualified, including the host of this year’s FIFA U-17 WWC, Morocco. Thirteen more slots remain to be filled from three confederations: CAF (Africa), CONMEBOL (South America), and UEFA (Europe).

Assuming that FIFA continues to use the same ranking methodology for this year’s tournament as it has for the past few U-17 WWCs, the USA should have either the fourth-highest or third-highest seeding coefficient, which would put the USA in the first pot of the draw that will determine the groups for this year’s FIFA U-17 WWC. Only one of the 26 teams that are still alive in qualifying, Spain, will have a higher seeding coefficient for the draw than the USA.

The primary advantage of being in Pot 1 is that the USA will not face any of the other Pot 1 teams, such as Korea DPR and Spain, until at least the Round of Sixteen, should the USA advance out of its group. However, the USA could still end up with a difficult group due to the nature of the ranking system and the distribution of teams from each confederation.

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: 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 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 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.

Under-17 Women’s World Cup: How the Teams Qualified and Quick Thoughts Ahead of the Draw

On Friday, July 6th the draw for the Under-17 Women’s World Cup (U-17 WWC) will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, at 10:00 am EDT (19:00 local time). (FIFA.com) Once the draw is complete, the sixteen teams that qualified for the tournament, including the United States, Canada, and Mexico, will learn their opening round group opponents.

The bulk of this post reviews how the sixteen teams qualified, with scorelines for all official matches, along with the results of international friendlies, which are useful for cross-confederation comparisons. In addition, there are sections with thoughts on the possible pots and other notes. Continue reading “Under-17 Women’s World Cup: How the Teams Qualified and Quick Thoughts Ahead of the Draw”