After almost two years of build-up, 17 training camps and 31 international matches, the 2018 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup has finally arrived. All three of the USA’s group stage matches will be broadcast on FS2 and the Telemundo Deportes app. Fans can follow all of the action from Uruguay on U.S. Soccer’s official Facebook, Twitter (@ussoccer_ynt) and Instagram (@ussoccer_ynt) accounts.
As 16 of the world’s best teams in this age group come together in Uruguay to compete for the championship, here are five things to know about the tournament.
Played every two years, the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup determines a world champion for women’s soccer at the Under-17 age level. Sixteen teams from around the globe qualified through regional competitions to earn their spots in Uruguay.
The USA qualified from the Concacaf region along with Canada and Mexico. Japan, reigning champ Korea DPR and Korea Republic punched their tickets from Asia. Cameroon, Ghana and South Africa come from Africa. Finland, Germany and Spain earned their spots through Europe. New Zealand carries the banner for Oceania, while Brazil, Colombia and host Uruguay represent South America. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four.
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Group A |
Group B |
Group C |
Group D |
|
Finland |
Brazil |
Cameroon |
Canada |
|
Ghana |
Japan |
Germany |
Colombia |
|
New Zealand |
Mexico |
Korea DPR |
Korea Republic |
|
Uruguay |
South Africa |
USA |
Spain |
The top two finishers in each group advance to the quarterfinals. From that point on, it’s a win-or-go home elimination bracket to the tournament final. The competition will take place in three small venues across Uruguay, all located on the southern coast of the country.
Head coach Mark Carr has brought together a deeply-talented 21-player roster to represent the USA in Uruguay. Fourteen players took part in the USA’s run to the confederation title at the 2018 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship, where the U.S. clinched its World Cup berth.
Just one player returns from the 2016 U-17 WWC in Jordan: forward Jordan Canniff, who completed an impressive comeback from an ACL injury to earn a spot on the roster for Uruguay. Fellow forward Sunshine Fontes enters the tournament as the U-17 WNT program’s all-time leading goal-scorer with 22 career goals at this level. The Hawaii native has been on fire in 2018, tallying 20 times this year.
2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Roster by Position (College or Club; Hometown; U-20 Caps/Goals)
GOALKEEPERS (3): Angelina Anderson (Mustang SC; Danville, Calif.; 14/0), Julia Dohle (New York City FC; Scarsdale, N.Y.; 5/0), Lindsey Romig (IMG Academy; Midlothian, Va.; 9/0)
DEFENDERS (6): Michela Agresti (FC Stars; Swampscott, Mass.; 16/2), Talia DellaPeruta (NTH Tophat; Cumming, Ga.; 24/1), Samar Guidry (FC Dallas; McKinney, Texas; 4/0), Smith Hunter (Seattle Reign Academy; Seattle, Wash.; 15/0), Makenna Morris (Bethesda SC; Germantown, Md.; 18/3), Natalia Staude (NTH Tophat; Atlanta, Ga.; 18/0)
MIDFIELDERS (5): Hannah Bebar (Eclipse Select SC; Naperville, Ill.; 12/2), Maya Doms (Davis Legacy; Davis, Calif.; 26/11), Mia Fishel (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif.; 26/5), Sophia Jones (San Jose Earthquakes; Menlo Park, Calif.; 16/1), Astrid Wheeler (Concorde Fire; Atlanta, Ga.; 20/2)
FORWARDS (7): Trinity Byars (Solar SC; Richardson, Texas; 3/0), Jordan Canniff (Washington Spirit Maryland; California, Md.; 25/9), Isabella D’Aquila (So Cal Blues; Mission Viejo, Calif.; 14/9), Sunshine Fontes (Hawaii Rush; Wahiawa, Hawaii; 29/22), Payton Linnehan (FC Stars; Douglas, Mass.; 22/8), Samantha Meza (Solar SC; Dallas, Texas; 19/2); Trinity Rodman (So Cal Blues; Laguna Niguel, Calif.; 6/2)
The roster is made up of 12 high school seniors, eight juniors and one sophomore in forward Trinity Byars. Seventeen youth clubs and 10 different states are represented on the roster, led by two players each from FC Stars (Lancaster, Mass.), NTH Tophat (Atlanta, Ga.), So Cal Blues (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Solar Soccer Club (Dallas, Texas) as well as six players from California. Sixteen of the 21 players in Uruguay have spent time in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, now in its second season for girls.
The U-17s have had to rally from a host of injuries throughout the cycle. Three of four potential returnees from the 2016 U-17 WWC were brought down by ACL tears. Canniff completed a focused comeback effort after her injury early in the cycle, but two team leaders and U-17 WWC vets in Kennedy Wesley and Kate Wiesner suffered injuries after helping the team to the trophy at World Cup qualifying. More leaders have stepped up in their absence to help guide the team in Uruguay.
The U-17 WNT is battle-tested heading into Uruguay, compiling a 23-2-6 international record. After kicking off the cycle in April 2017 with the tournament title at the Torneo delle Nazioni in Italy and Slovenia, the USA lost just once in 2017, a 5-4 barnburner against China in China at the 2017 U-16 CFA International Women’s Youth Football Tournament.
The U-17s travelled to South America earlier this year for their final international tournament before World Cup qualifying, taking home the 2018 Copa Provincia de Buenos Aires with three straight wins in Argentina this February.
At the 2018 Concacaf U-17 Women’s Championship, the USA rode a wild roller coaster ride to a World Cup berth and the regional title. The U-17s kicked off the competition with a 4-0 win over Bermuda in Managua, Nicaragua in April, but in the midst of preparation for the second group stage game, Concacaf announced that the tournament would be postponed due to civil unrest in the host country.
Play didn’t resume until 46 days later at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where the USA finished undefeated in group play to set-up a World Cup-clinching semifinal against Haiti. While the U-17s faced their first deficit of the tourney when Haiti struck first, they rallied for three unanswered goals to punch their ticket to Uruguay. In a back-and-forth championship match against Mexico, Maya Doms scored the game-winning goal off of a set-piece in the 76th minute.
Uruguay will serve as the first South American host for the FIFA U-17 WWC. The nation has a strong soccer history, hosting the first-ever FIFA World Cup in 1930, and U.S. Soccer also has a legacy of success in the small South American nation. The Men’s National Team finished third in that inaugural World Cup and fourth at the 1995 Copa America hosted in Uruguay.
The country is named after the Uruguay River, which translates to the “River of the Painted Birds” in one of the nation’s indigenous languages. It’s a standard-bearer for the continent in areas like democracy, peace, lack of corruption and quality of life as well as home to one of the world’s highest literacy rates. The country also gets over 95 percent of its electricity from renewable sources.
Half of the Uruguay’s population lives in the capital of Montevideo, and the total population is outnumbered three-to-one by cows. Instead of religious holidays like Christmas and Holy Week, Uruguay celebrates “Day of the Family” and “Tourist Week”.
This tournament marks the second appearance for the Uruguay U-17 Women’s National Team at the World Cup. It previously qualified for the 2012 tournament in Azerbaijan. Uruguay’s senior women’s team has never qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup,
The U.S. will open the tournament on Wed., Nov. 14 against Cameroon, take on reigning World Cup champ Korea DPR on Sat, Nov. 17 and finish the group stage on Wed., Nov. 21 against European runner-up Germany. All three matches will be broadcast in the U.S. on FS2 and Telemundo digital platforms.
U.S. Schedule – 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup
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Date |
Match |
Kickoff (ET) |
TV |
Venue |
|
Nov. 14 |
USA vs. Cameroon |
12:00 p.m. |
FS2, Universo |
Estadio Profesor Alberto Suppici; Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay |
|
Nov. 17 |
USA vs. Korea DPR |
12:00 p.m. |
FS2, Telemundo Deportes App and TelemundoDeportes.com
|
Estadio Profesor Alberto Suppici; Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay |
|
Nov. 21 |
USA vs. Germany |
3:00 p.m. |
FS2, Telemundo Deportes App and TelemundoDeportes.com
|
Estadio Charrua; Montevideo, Uruguay |
Fans can also follow all of the action from Uruguay on U.S. Soccer’s official Facebook, Twitter (@ussoccer_ynt) and Instagram (@ussoccer_ynt) accounts.