Monthly Archives: May 2012

US Soccer To Make U-17 and U-20 WNT Head Coach Positions Full-Time

Somewhat out of the blue, US Soccer announced last weekend that the head coach positions for the two main youth women’s national teams, the Under-17s and the Under-20s will be full-time, starting after the two youth Women’s World Cups later this year.

Also, a “development coach” will be hired to focus “on enhancing the player development environment for young players” across the USA and to oversee the Under-15 Girls’ National Team program. In other words, this sounds as if the U-15 GNT head coach position will also be made a full-time job, but with broader duties.

Continue reading →

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: 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 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 →

Olympics: Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, and Others to Participate in a Friendly Tournament in Early July

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) released preliminary details of a friendly tournament that will take place from July 8th to the 17th in Savièse, Switzerland, between London-bound teams Brazil, Canada, and New Zealand, plus Russia and two other teams that have yet to be confirmed. The CBF news item uses the phrase “Copa Feminina da Suíça 2012″ which translates to “Swiss Women’s Cup 2012,” but there is no word on whether Switerland’s WNT will participate in this six team tournament.

Source: CBF.com.br

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 →

Olympics: Brazil’s June Training Camp Roster

Earlier today, Jorge Barcellos announced Brazil’s June training camp roster (CBF.com.br). From the 25 players called into the camp, 18 will make the official Olympic roster, while up to 4 will be included as alternates. The official roster should be announced at the end of June. Continue reading →

USWNT Olympic Opponent: France’s Semi-Official Final Roster, Plus Training Schedule

Earlier today, French WNT head coach Bruno Bini announced his team’s roster for the 2012 Summer Olympics, along with their training schedule. The most notable roster change from the 2011 Women’s World Cup is the inclusion of goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi, who is generally regarded as France’s best ‘keeper, but has had issues on and off the pitch , which led to her exclusion in 2011. Continue reading →

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 →