This post is a collection of insightful news articles and videos from the last month or so on specific United States Under-20 Women’s National Team players. — Not including those on USSoccer.com and U.S. Soccer’s YouTube channel. Continue reading
Daily Archives: August 18, 2012
Under-20 Women’s World Cup: Preview Notes (Overview)
What do Lindsay Tarpley, Simone Laudehr, Jo Yun Mi, Alex Morgan, and Alexandra Popp have in common? Each of those players scored a game-winner in the final of an Under-20 or Under-19 Women’s World Cup.
What about Christine Sinclair, Marta, Sydney Leroux, and Popp? — Each of those players was named the tournament MVP of an Under-20 or Under-19 Women’s World Cup.
Yes, before Tarpley, Laudehr, Jo, Morgan, Popp, Sinclair, Marta, and Leroux were standouts on the senior international stage, they made their mark in this tournament. Continue reading
2012 Under-20 Women’s World Cup: Group A – Preview Notes (Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland)
In this year’s Under-20 Women’s World Cup, host Japan lucked out with a relatively easy draw in Group A. Two of their opponents, New Zealand and Switzerland, have yet to advance out of the group stage, while Mexico has only made it to the knock-out stage once: In 2010, partially at the expense of Japan.
As far as which teams should make it out of the group, only host Japan is an automatic pick. The second slot is a toss-up, although Mexico seems the most likely other team to get out of the group. New Zealand also has a chance, while Switzerland appears to be the long-shot. Continue reading
2012 Under-20 Women’s World Cup: Group B – Preview Notes (Brazil, Italy, Nigeria, South Korea)
Of the four groups in this year’s Under-20 Women’s World Cup, Group B is the biggest toss-up. Brazil, on paper, should dominate, but their usual lack of preparation may mean a repeat of 2010, when the South American champions failed to advance out of their group. 2010 Runners-Up Nigeria and Italy, who return to this tournament for the first time since 2004, are the other main contenders in this group. But the wild card is South Korea, who only qualified for this tournament after Uzbekistan was unable to host the tournament. Two years ago, the Koreans won the U-17 Women’s World Cup on penalties over Japan and finished third at the U-20 Women’s World Cup. Continue reading
2012 Under-20 Women’s World Cup: Group C – Preview Notes (Argentina, Canada, North Korea, Norway)
In this year’s Under-20 Women’s World Cup, Canada got a manageable grouping as their only tough opponent in Group C is North Korea. The least challenging team should be Argentina, who have never made it out of the group stage in its two prior U-20 Women’s World Cups, or in any senior FIFA tournaments. Norway will not be an easy opponent, but Canada should be up to the challenge. Continue reading
Under-20 Women’s World Cup: Group D – Preview Notes (USA, Ghana, China, Germany)
The United States and Germany both got a challenging draw in this year’s Under-20 Women’s World Cup, as the two favorites find themselves in the same group for the first time in any FIFA women’s tournament. The USA finds itself opening this tournament against Ghana for the second time in a row. Ghana got a surprising 1:1 draw with the USA last time around. The final Group D opponent is China, whom the USA played twice earlier this year, winning both friendlies.
