U16 USGNT – Women's Soccer Express

U-16 USWYNT: 24 Players called up for a pair of friendlies against Spain

For its third camp of the current cycle, the Under-16 United States Women’s Youth National Team will play two friendlies in Spain against its Spanish counterpart.

From the last U-16 camp, which was held in late January and early February, 15 players return. Among the returning players is Utah Royals forward KK Ream, who is the only professional named to the roster.

Two players who attended the first camp of the cycle return after not being named to the last camp: Forward Deus Stanislaus and defender Anaiah Williams. In late January, Stanislaus verbally committed to play collegiate soccer for the University of North Carolina (Instagram). A few months earlier, she changed her expected high school graduation year to 2026 (Instagram).

Five of the 24 players are apparently attending their first proper youth national team camp. Among those five is defender Marin Kotschau, whose younger sister, Reagan Kotschau, was called into the recent “overage” U-20 USWYNT camp”. Their father, Ritchie Kotschau (Wikipedia bio), is a retired Major League Soccer player who had one cap for the senior United States Men’s National Team (2024 USMNT Media Guide, page 122).

Carolina Reyna, who is also the daughter of both a former USMNT player, Claudio Reyna, as well as a former United States Women’s National Team player, Danielle Reyna (née Egan), has attended both of the previous camps this cycle. For this camp, Reyna is listed as a midfielder, which is a change from all previous youth national team rosters, where she was solely listed as a forward.

U-16 USWYNT: Concurrent camp with U-17s announced, 12 players return from last camp

On Monday, January 27th, the United States Under-16 Women’s Youth National Team will gather in Mesa, Arizona, for a camp that runs through Monday, February 3rd, and which will be held concurrently with a U-17 USWYNT camp.

Of the 24 players called into this camp, just 12 return from the first U-16 camp of this cycle, which was held last November. Among the 12 returning players are seven members of the USA’s squad for the 2024 Concacaf Girls’ Under-15 Championship, including forward KK Ream, who recently signed a professional contract with the Utah Royals.

Four additional players from U-15 championship squad, including 2024 Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year, Maddie DiMaria, are attending their first U-16 camp this cycle. Meanwhile, three members of the U-15 championship squad who attended the previous U-16 camp are not attending this present camp. Among those three is Gotham FC professional Mak Whitham, who has a 2010 birth year.

Five players will apparently be attending their first United States youth national team camp. Two other players have only attended a U-14 Talent ID mini-camp.

All but one player in this camp has a 2009 birth year. The lone exception is midfielder Loradana Paletta, who has a 2011 birth year and was the youngest member of the US U-15 USWYNT at the Concacaf Girls’ U-15 Championship in 2024.

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-16 USWYNT: 24 Players called into first camp of new cycle, including several first-timers

On Thursday, November 14th, the first camp of the 2024-25 cycle for the Under-16 United States Women’s Youth National Team got underway in Chula Vista, California. The camp, which is being held concurrently with a U-15 USWYNT camp, runs from the 14th to Wednesday, November 20th.

Head coach Patchy Toledo has called in 24 players, including just 10 of the 18 on the roster for August’s Concacaf Girls’ Under-15 Championship. Three of the four named alternates for that tournament have been named to this camp’s roster.

All but two of the players named to the camp’s roster have 2009 birth years: NWSL professional Mak Whitham, who was born in 2010, and midfielder Loradana Paletta, who has a 2011 birth year.

Eight players called up are apparently attending their first United States youth national team camp.

With the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup becoming an annual tournament in 2025, some U-16 and U-15 players could be called up to the U-17 USWYNT this cycle.

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

u16-2020-eng-uefa

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”

Youth USWNTs: 2020 Calendar Update – Camps, Trips, and Tournaments

Updates:

05-Feb-2020: U-17 USWNT – Added details for CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Championship
11-Feb-2020: U-23 USWNT – Added details for Portland Thorns Spring Invitational
17-Feb-2020: Minor updates/clarifications
02-Mar-2020: Added March U-15 USGNT camp entry
13-MAR-2020: U.S. SOCCER HAS CANCELLED MOST YNT CAMPS THROUGH THE END OF APRIL, DUE TO COVID-19 CONCERNS. (U.S. SOCCER)
- NO NEWS ABOUT THE CONCACAF WOMEN’S UNDER-17 CHAMPIONSHIP, WHICH IS SCHEDULED TO START ON APRIL 18TH IN MEXICO.

While U.S. Soccer’s dysfunctional website* does not often include much information about future youth team camps and/or matches, that is not the case with a number of other associations’ websites. In addition, youth USWNTs regular participate in annual friendly tournaments at the La Manga Club in Spain, which regularly publishes online its upcoming schedule of hosted matches.

*A subject for a future post. Or three…

So, after much browsing and searching…

…Here are some things that were news to me:

Confirmation that a USA team is scheduled to participate in the April U-23 WNT friendly tournament at La Manga Club in Spain.
News that the USA will be sending a GNT to the annual soccer tournament in Montaigu, France. The USA will be in a four-team U-16 GNT mini-tournament with France, Japan, and Norway.
A June U-15 USGNT camp or trip involving the U-15 GNTs of Germany and the Netherlands.
The host and dates of this year’s U-23 WNT Nordic Tournament: Norway, September 14th to the 22nd. (USA participation not confirmed.)
Also, the CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship, which was originally scheduled to start on Saturday, February 15th, was quietly pushed back to February 22nd.

(Update 02-Feb-2020): Clarified the descriptions of the U-14 events.

In addition, a U-14 Girls identification regional mini-camp roster with dates for two more regional mini-camps plus a ~~normal~~ national U-14 USGNT identification camp was published on Thursday, which gives a good picture of what that age group is doing up through late May.

Continue reading “Youth USWNTs: 2020 Calendar Update – Camps, Trips, and Tournaments”

U-16 USGNT: 28 Players Called Up For First Camp of 2020

The Under-16 United States Girls’ National Team is holding its first camp of 2020. That, in itself, is news. Last year, the U-16 USGNT held its first (and only published) camp in June 2019. This camp, which runs from Friday, January 24th to Wednesday, January 29th, features a roster of 28 players, mostly from the 2004 birth year, with two 2005’s. Continue reading “U-16 USGNT: 28 Players Called Up For First Camp of 2020”