Tag: roster

U-20 Neighbor Watch: Mexico Announces Squad For 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship

While Mexico’s squad for this year’s CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship is younger, on average, then the United States’ roster, they are not inexperienced.  Nine players from the team that finished second at the 2018 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup are on this roster, including Canadian-born Silvana Flores, who plays for Arsenal FC’s Under-21 team.

In addition, the coach of that history-making squad, retired Mexican international Mónica Vergara, now leads this team.  Vergara, who was Mexico’s youngest player at the 1999 Women’s World Cup, was also a member of Mexico’s squad at the 2004 Olympics and their Under-19 team at the 2002 FIFA Under-19 Women’s World Championship.

With Mexico is in Group D and the United States in Group C, a potential knockout round match-up could not happen until… the final. Continue reading “U-20 Neighbor Watch: Mexico Announces Squad For 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship”

U-16 USGNT: Roster For UEFA Development Tournament in England Announced

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On Friday, U.S. Soccer announced the Under-16 United States Girls’ National Team roster for this month’s Under-16 UEFA Development Tournament that will be hosted by England.  During the tournament the USA will also play their counterparts from Spain and Denmark.

All players called up for this trip were on the January’s camp 28-player roster.

Leading the U-16 USGNT will once again be Katie Schoepfer, who oversaw last month’s camp.  Assisting Schoepfer will be USWNT alumna Jen Lalor, who was a member of the USA’s 1995 Women’s World Cup squad and later played in the WUSA. Continue reading “U-16 USGNT: Roster For UEFA Development Tournament in England Announced”

U-20 USWNT: Roster for 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship Announced

Prologue:  This has not been a normal U-20 cycle.

* * *

With Laura Harvey taking the helm of the Under-20 United States Women’s National Team, some change in player selection was to be expected, but… Continue reading “U-20 USWNT: Roster for 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship Announced”

U-17 USWNT: Roster For Final Training Camp Before U-17 WWC Qualifying Announced

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Later this month, the Under-17 United States Women’s National Team will hold their second camp of the year and “its final training camp before the 2020 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship.”  Head coach Tracey Kevins has called in 24 players for this camp, which will run from Saturday, February 15th to Sunday, February 23rd.  During the camp, the U-17 USWNT will play their counterparts from England in a pair of friendlies, giving Kevins two last competitive opportunities to evaluate players for the 20-slot qualifying roster. Continue reading “U-17 USWNT: Roster For Final Training Camp Before U-17 WWC Qualifying Announced”

Opponent Watch: Japan Calls In 25 Players Ahead of the SheBelieves Cup

Update (15-Feb-2020):  Midfielder Hasegawa Yui (age 23, 42 caps) and Hayashi Honoka (age 21, 1 cap) were withdrawn before the camp started due to unspecified injuries. No replacement players will be called in. (jfa.jp)

Update (25-Feb-2020):  Hasegawa’s injury was quite minor, as she has been named to Japan’s SheBelieves Cup squad. All but three players, defender Seike Kiko, midfielder Hayashi Honoka, and forward Ueki Riko, from this original camp roster have been named to Japan’s SheBelieves Cup squad.  As expected, Kumagai Saki, who plays for Olympique Lyonnais in France has also been named to Japan’s roster for the tournament. (jfa.jp)

Update (01-Mar-2020):  Forward Kobayashi Rikako has been withdrawn due to injury.  Ueki Riko has been recalled as Kobayashi’s replacement. (jfa.jp)

(This article follows Japanese name customs:  Family names are listed first, followed by the given name.)

Ahead of next month’s SheBelieves Cup, Japan has called in 25 domestic-based players for a six-day training camp that runs from Friday, February 14th to Wednesday, February 19th.  As this camp is outside of a FIFA window, team captain Kumagai Saki, who plays for Olympique Lyonnais in France, has not been included, but is expected to be on the roster for the SheBelieves Cup.

Continue reading “Opponent Watch: Japan Calls In 25 Players Ahead of the SheBelieves Cup”

U-20 USWNT: Provisional Roster for 2020 CONCACAF Championship Released

On Monday, February 3rd, CONCACAF released the provisional rosters (PDF) for all teams participating in the final stages of the 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship, giving us clues as to which players are still in the mix for new head coach Laura Harvey’s final 20-player roster, including #1 NWSL College Draft pick Sophia Smith.

The tournament, which will be hosted by the Dominican Republic and runs from February 22nd to March 8th (full schedule), will be used to decide the two – yes, just 2 – at-large qualification slots from CONCACAF for this year’s FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica and Panama.

Continue reading “U-20 USWNT: Provisional Roster for 2020 CONCACAF Championship Released”

U-14 USGNT TIP: 2020 West Region Mini-Camp Roster Announced

The Under-14 United States Girls’ National Team is back for 2020 and back to being an annual program, after having been active only in even years since 2015.

Following changes introduced on the boys’ side in 2019 (U.S. Soccer), the new Girls’ “Under-14 Talent Identification Program” now features three regional “mini-camps” of 60 players each, for a total of 180, from which just 60 players will be called back for a national identification camp.  This change will more-than double the total number of players brought into a U-14 camp, compared to recent cycles, which had around 80 total players maximum per year. Continue reading “U-14 USGNT TIP: 2020 West Region Mini-Camp Roster Announced”

NOTES: Jamaica’s Roster For CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying 2020

In this post:  Jamaica’s roster for the 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship, with collegiate profile links and player ages, plus some additional facts and details about Jamaica.

Jamaica, who finished third in the last senior CONCACAF women’s tournament, thus earning a spot in their first FIFA Women’s World Cup, are hoping for a better finish this time, in order to earn one of two tickets to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

However, they will be without the coach who guided them into the WWC, Hue Menzies, resigned in December amid a “pay dispute” with the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), as the JFF owes Menzies six months of unpaid  salary and other compensation.  (Jamaica-Star.com) Continue reading “NOTES: Jamaica’s Roster For CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying 2020”

NOTES: And, Introducing… The Saint Kitts and Nevis WNT

Debuting today in their first senior CONCACAF women’s tournament is tiny Saint Kitts & Nevis (SKN), who finished first in their five-team qualifying group, which was hosted by Trinidad & Tobago.

Saint Kitts & Nevis has a population of roughly 55,000 and is the smallest independent country in the Western hemisphere (Wikipedia).

SKN’s WNT is coached by (Deborah) Jené Baclawski (Twitter profile) who is the Technical Director for the South Texas Youth Soccer Association.

The Canadian Press wire service recently published a short article on the team, with quotes from Baclawski:  Underdog St. Kitts prepares to face Canada at Olympic women’s soccer qualifier (via theglobeandmail.com).

Continue reading “NOTES: And, Introducing… The Saint Kitts and Nevis WNT”

Opponent Watch: Haiti’s Roster For CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying 2020

After a six year absence from senior women’s CONCACAF final tournaments, Haiti is back, better and younger than ever.

Update (31-Jan-2020):  Haiti made late changes to their final roster, just after this article was published (Twitter):

  • Unavailable: Angeline Gustave (right knee), center back Tabita Joseph (right ankle)
  • Replaced by Gaëlle Dumas and Maudeline Moryl (both born in 2003)

The rest of this article has not been updated.

Regarding Haiti’s youth, not only does their team have the youngest average age of any squad at this year’s CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship, at just 20.38 years-old, they also have the youngest “oldest player”, Johane LaForte, who does not turn 24 until late February.

The most striking age-related factoid is that every player on Haiti’s roster is younger than the youngest player on the United States Women’s National Team’s roster, Andi Sullivan, who is 24.11 year-old. Continue reading “Opponent Watch: Haiti’s Roster For CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying 2020”