Tag: U20 Women’s World Cup

U-20 WWC: Germany Fact File (2012, Vol. 1)

When Germany and the United States meet in their third group match at the 2012 Under-20 Women’s World Cup, it will be the first group stage meeting between the two nations at any FIFA women’s tournament, let alone a U-19/20 Women’s World Cup.  Both Germany (2004, 2010) and the USA (2002, 2008) are the only two-time winners of this age-group tournament.

The rest of this post looks at Germany’s U-20 pool, playing time during qualification and later friendlies, formations used and positions of players, a discussion of key players, and Germany’s  upcoming schedule, including known friendlies. Continue reading “U-20 WWC: Germany Fact File (2012, Vol. 1)”

U-20 USWNT: Travel Roster For June Trip to Japan

In the USSoccer.com news item for the results of the Under-20 Women’s World Cup draw, US Soccer buried the U-20 USWNT’s roster for the June trip to Japan, where the team will play two friendlies versus Japan’s U-20 WNT, on June 17 and June 20th.

With less than three months to go until the tournament, this roster of 21 players will very likely be the team that travels to Japan in August. There is only one change from the CONCACAF Championship team: U-18 midfielder Ashley Meier got called-up in place of the presumably not-100% Micaela Capelle. As to the third goalkeeper, that appears to be Jami Kranich of Villanova. Continue reading “U-20 USWNT: Travel Roster For June Trip to Japan”

U-20 WWC: The Final Draw – The USA gets China, Ghana, and Germany (Yes, Really!)

The final draw for the Under-20 Women’s World Cup was held in Tokyo earlier today. In a bit of a surprise, reigning and two-time U-20 WWC champion Germany was not seeded as one of the top three teams. Instead, North Korea was placed into the first pot, along with host Japan, Brazil, and the United States. On the positive side for the USA, this meant that they avoided North Korea during the group stage. But, it also opened up the possibility that the USA and Germany could be grouped together. And, guess what happened…

Group A: Japan, Mexico, Switzerland, New Zealand
Group B: Brazil, Italy, Nigeria, South Korea
Group C: North Korea, Norway, Argentina, Canada
Group D: Ghana, United States, Germany, China

Also, the full schedule is available as a PDF file.

Continue reading “U-20 WWC: The Final Draw – The USA gets China, Ghana, and Germany (Yes, Really!)”

U-20 WWC: Updated Thoughts on the Possible Draw Procedures

[Note #2 (4-June-2012): Here is the actual draw results for this year’s U-20 WWC. Germany was not seeded as one of the top three teams. Instead North Korea was placed into the first pot, along with host Japan, Brazil, and the USA.]

[Note: This is an update for an earlier post on the U-20 WWC draw procedure.]

While searching for information on the draw for the Under-20 Women’s World Cup, which will take place on Monday, June 4th, I eventually found my way to the Wikipedia page for the 2010 tournament, which had the four pots listed and a link to video of the 2010 draw (tv.dfb.de, skip to the -23:30 mark), which confirmed that the pot listing is accurate. The draw procedure for 2010 differs significantly from the typical draw procedures for the senior women’s tournament. In fact, it is much more similar to the procedures used on the men’s side.

Although FIFA may go with a procedure similar to the outlined in the earlier post, it is much more likely that they will go with something similar to the procedure used in 2010. (In other words, discount the earlier post.) Continue reading “U-20 WWC: Updated Thoughts on the Possible Draw Procedures”

U-20 USWNT: More on the June Trip to Japan (Courtesy of the JFA)

The details of the United States U-20 WNT’s trip to Japan have yet to be publicly released by US Soccer, but the Japan Football Association has released the full details of two friendlies between Japan’s U-20 WNT and the USA’s U-20 WNT, along with their camp roster.

And, there is some potential good news for USA fans: At least one of the team’s matches will be streamed live on JFA-TV, although the kick-off will be at 2:00 a.m. EDT on a weekday. The other match will air on Fuji-TV in Japan, at least in the Tokyo and Osaka areas. In any case, there should be a good chance that online highlights will be available, whether official or not. Continue reading “U-20 USWNT: More on the June Trip to Japan (Courtesy of the JFA)”

U-20 USWNT: A Statistical Comparison to Past Cycles (Part 1)

The main inspiration for this post was a quote by German U-20 WNT head coach Maren Meinert on FIFA.com, from earlier this month:

Who are favourites to win?
We’re one of the favourites. As hosts, Japan are up there, as well as Brazil and USA, who have a very good U-20 team this year. In my opinion it’s one of the best USA U-20 teams I’ve ever seen.

Maybe Meinert is just being nice because she would like to be the USWNT’s head coach someday, or maybe she is trying to prop up her team’s case for being one of the seeded teams…

…But, in any case, at least by a few metrics, the facts back up her opinion. Continue reading “U-20 USWNT: A Statistical Comparison to Past Cycles (Part 1)”

U-20 USWNT: A Review of their May 2012 Camp

On May 19th, the United States Under-20 Women’s National Team wrapped up its latest camp with a solid 5:0 win over New Zealand. Also, during this camp, the team scrimmaged the U-23 USWNT twice, resulting in a 4:4 draw and a 3:1 win.

During the camp, Vanessa DiBernardo and newcomer Makenzy Doniak had standout performances, while Julie Johnston played as a centerback for two additional matches, which seems to signify that a position switch is in the works for her. Continue reading “U-20 USWNT: A Review of their May 2012 Camp”

Slot Allocations for the 2015 Women’s World Cup and 2014 Youth WWCs Announced

Today or yesterday, FIFA uploaded a circular (PDF) with the details of the slot allocations per confederation for the 2015 Women’s World Cup, the 2014 Under-17 Women’s World Cup, and the 2014 Under-20 Women’s World Cup.

As the 2015 WWC will be the first with 24 teams, up from 16 teams, that allocation decision was of extra interest. CONCACAF had the biggest relative gain, going from 2.5 slots up to 4.5 slots (including host Canada), which means that the USA should have a lot less trouble qualifying this time around. Continue reading “Slot Allocations for the 2015 Women’s World Cup and 2014 Youth WWCs Announced”

U-20 WWC: Thoughts on the Probable Draw Procedure

[Edit, 1-June-2012: Based on new information, the below predicted procedure will probably not be used. Please see this newer post for a more likely procedure.]

With the Under-20 Women’s World Cup field of sixteen teams fully settled, it is time to look at the draw procedure, which will determine how the four groups in the group stage of the tournament are populated. The actual draw procedure will most likely not be announced until the day before the draw is held. As the draw is scheduled for Monday, June 4th* in Tokyo, Japan, that leaves two weeks of speculation. However, based on past U-20 WWC draws and other draws conducted by FIFA, the most likely draw procedure can be reasonably predicted. Continue reading “U-20 WWC: Thoughts on the Probable Draw Procedure”

U-20 USWNT: May 2012 Camp Roster Includes Kelly Cobb, Plus Other Updates

With just over 100 days left until the kick-off of the 2012 Under-20 Women’s World Cup, US Soccer has released the roster for its next camp, which runs from May 13th to the 20th. Twenty-six players were called up, including nineteen of the twenty players who competed in the CONCACAF Championship in Panama, earlier this year. And, returning to the team is Duke forward Kelly Cobb, who has been recovering from ankle surgery. Continue reading “U-20 USWNT: May 2012 Camp Roster Includes Kelly Cobb, Plus Other Updates”