Korea DPR 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: 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-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.

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.

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.