U-19 WYNT: First camp of new cycle gets underway in Florida — Dash’s Zoe Matthews called in

With the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in the books and the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup nearing its conclusion, the focus for the 2006 and 2007 birth years transitions to qualifying for the next U-20 WWC, and so the new two-year cycle begins with a domestic camp in West Palm Beach, Florida, that began on Thursday, October 24th, and runs through October 30th.

Since NCAA soccer is nearing the end of its regular season, head coach Carrie Kveton, has not called in any current collegiate players, nor has she called any age-eligible NWSL players from the recent U-20 WWC roster. As most of the 24 players are still in high school, a majority of the players, 15 in all, have 2007 birth years, while just nine of the 24 players were born in 2006, the lower cut-off year for this current one-year U-19 cycle. The 2007 birth year is also the lower cut-off year for the present U-17 WWC, so between the unavailability of players presently competing in the Dominican Republic and current college players, the selection philosophy for this roster is much more about exploring and expanding the pool of players for the next U-20 WWC (and beyond), rather than focusing on a primary pool of players.

The most notable player called into this camp is Houston Dash’s recent U-18 signing, 6’2″ midfielder Zoe Matthews, who is listed as a defender on this roster. Matthews is the only NWSL player called in and one of three professionals. The other pro players are forward Miri O’Donnell, who joined Sporting Clube de Portugal in late September, and goalkeeper Charlotte Burge, who signed with Carolina Ascent of the new USL Super League.

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USWNT: Iceland’s Roster for the October 2024 Friendlies

For its two friendlies against the top-ranked United States Women’s National Team, 13th-ranked Iceland will be bringing 23 players, including four who played collegiately in the United States. Most notable among them is former Duke Blue Devil and Under-23 USWYNT defender Natasha Anasi, who acquired Icelandic citizenship in 2019.

Anasi, at the age of 33, is the oldest player on Iceland’s roster and the only one over the age of 30. When comparing median and average ages, the roster selected by head coach Thorsteinn Halldórsson is only slightly younger, by roughly a year, compared to the USWNT’s roster for the friendlies.

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USWNT: Roster Announced for October 2024 Friendlies — 6 Uncapped Players, No Trinity Rodman — Plus Match Schedule and TV/Streaming Details

Update (25-Oct-2024): Jane Campbell has been withdrawn due to a “muscle injury during training” and is replaced by Utah Royals goalkeeper Mandy Haught, who has U-20 USWYNT experience. (U.S. Soccer)

On Thursday, U.S. Soccer announced the United States Women’s National Team roster for its upcoming domestic friendlies against #13 Iceland and #33 Argentina. For the three matches, head coach Emma Hayes has called up 26 players, including six who are uncapped at the senior international level.

Among the players not called in are Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman, who is rehabilitating a back injury, and Catarina Macario, who was a late scratch from the USWNT’s Olympic roster. The reason given for Macario’s absence is that she is not back to being a regular starter at Chelsea (x.com post quoting Emma Hayes).

The six uncapped players include Olympic alternates Hal Hirshfelt and Emily Sams, defenders Alyssa Malonson and Eva Gaetino, plus forwards Yazmeen Ryan and Emma Sears.

Notable returnees include Kansas City Current outside-back Hailie Mace, who was last in camp with the USWNT back in January 2023, plus two members of the USWNT’s 2023 WWC roster: Angel City forward Alyssa Thompson and North Carolina Courage midfielder Ashley Sanchez.

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U-17 WYNT: Roster Announced for 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup

For the first time, the United States Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team will have currently enrolled NCAA players when it takes the field at this month’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in the Dominican Republic. That fact alone would make the roster announced by U.S. Soccer on Tuesday (ussoccer.com) groundbreaking. However, more remarkably, the roster selected by head coach Katie Schoepfer also includes current professionals who play for teams in the National Women’s Soccer League. In addition to the full professionals, the roster also includes players who are associated with USL Super League teams via amateur contracts.

The list of players not included is notable as well. Only one of the five forwards who were on the USA’s qualifying roster earlier this year for the Concacaf U-17 Women’s Championship has been named to the USA’s U-17 WWC roster. The four absent players were responsible for 13 of the USA’s 32 goals scored during that tournament.

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U-17 WYNT: A New Cycle Begins Before the Old Cycle Ends — September 2024 Camp Roster

With the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup transitioning to an annual tournament starting in 2025, the next cycle’s United States Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team is holding its first camp this week while the current cycle is in its final stages of preparation for the 2024 U-17 WWC, which begins in mid-October.

Twenty-four players, all with 2008 birth years, have been called into this camp, which runs from Sunday, September 22nd, to Saturday, September 28th, and will be held in Fayetteville, Georgia.

Of the 24 players, 17 are scheduled to graduate high school in 2026, while 6 players are set to graduate in 2027. One player, defender Pearl Cecil, will graduate a year ahead of schedule in 2025 and is a verbal commit for the University of Virginia.

In addition to Cecil, fourteen other players at this camp have known verbal commitments to play NCAA soccer. Four schools have a pair of verbal commits at this camp: Florida State, Notre Dame, Penn State, and Stanford.

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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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U-20 WYNT: Midfielder Sam Courtwright Is Out Due to Knee Injury, Will Be Replaced By Addison Halpern

On Thursday, August 15th, U.S. Soccer announced, through their @USYNT x.com account that midfielder Sam Courtwright, who had 8 youth international caps with the United States Under-20 Women’s Youth National Team will not be representing the USA at the upcoming FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia due to an ACL injury.

Halpern’s replacement will be midfielder Addison Halpern from New Jersey. Halpern, who plays for PDA, was one of the alternates named in last week’s roster announcement.

That announcement came a couple hours after Courtwright’s collegiate team, Texas Tech, posted on social media that Courtwright had suffered a season-ending knee injury (post on team’s X.com account). Courtwright’s injury came during a Texas Tech training session.

U-20 WYNT: Roster Announced for the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup

On Thursday, August 8th, U.S. Soccer announced its roster for the upcoming FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup, which will be hosted by Colombia.

Update (15-Aug-2024): Midfielder Sam Courtwright suffered an ACL injury while training with Texas Tech. She will be replaced by alternate midfielder Addison Halpern.

For the first time, a significant number of the players, who range in age from 18 to 20 years old, will be professionals, as eight out of the twenty-one players will represent NWSL teams at the tournament.

Up through the 2012 cycle, the USA’s final roster for the U-20 WWC consisted exclusively of collegiate and pre-collegiate players. Until this year, only two professionals have played for the USA at the U-20 WWC: Lindsey Horan (Wikipedia) in 2014 and Olivia Moultrie (Wikipedia) in 2022.

This year’s roster is also unusual in another respect, as multiple age-eligible professional players have not been included: Jaedyn Shaw, who is currently with the USWNT at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Olivia Moultrie, and Alyssa Thompson. All three have full senior caps with the USWNT and have essentially ‘graduated’ from the U-20 WYNT after competing for the USA at the last U-20 WWC in 2022.

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U-15 USGNT: 34 Players Called In For First Camp of 2020; Six ‘New’ Names

The Under-15 United States Girls’ National Team is currently holding its first camp of 2020.  For the camp, which runs from Monday, March 2nd, to Sunday, March 8th, 34 players, all born in 2005, have been called up.  All but six of those players previously attended last October’s talent identification camp.

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