Daily Archives: May 27, 2012

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 →