The U.S. Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team returns to international action this weekend at the 2022 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship as the young Americans start their pursuit of a World Cup berth.
This tournament represents the first international matches for this age group since Feb. 22, 2020, a 2-0 victory against England in Bradenton, Fla. Just over two weeks later, the sporting world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually the 2020 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship and 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup were cancelled. Thus, this group of players will all be playing in their first international matches when the whistle blows against Grenada in the first game of this tournament.
The U.S. U-17s returned to training last October and have had three training camps to prepare for World Cup qualifying. The Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship runs from April 23-May 8 and the USA is aiming to qualify for the 2022 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup while also playing for a fifth Concacaf title at this age level.
Here are five things to know about the USA’s World Cup qualifying quest in the Dominican Republic:
The biennial Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship will qualify three teams to the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India and crown a confederation champion for North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Twenty teams from across the Concacaf region will compete at the tournament. Sixteen have been drawn into four groups of four, while four – St. Kitts and Nevis, Curaçao, Honduras and Guyana -- advanced directly to the Round of 16 via a pre-qualifying tournament. All 40 tournament matches will take place at two stadiums in the Dominican Republic – Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez in Santo Domingo and Estadio Panamericano in San Cristobal.
|
Group E |
Group F |
Group G |
Group H |
|
Mexico (MEX) |
Canada (CAN) |
United States (USA) |
Haiti (HAI) |
|
Trinidad & Tobago (TRI) |
Jamaica (JAM) |
Costa Rica (CRC) |
Guatemala (GUA) |
|
Panama (PAN) |
Bermuda (BER) |
Puerto Rico (PUR) |
El Salvador (SLV) |
|
Nicaragua (NCA) |
Dominican Republic (DOM) |
Grenada (GRN) |
Cuba (CUB) |
The U-17 WYNT kicks off World Cup qualifying on Saturday, April 23 vs. Grenada, takes on Puerto Rico on Monday, April 25 and wraps up the group stage vs. Costa Rica on Wednesday, April 27. All three group stage matches kick off at 4 p.m. ET.
All tournament matches will be broadcast in English on Fox Soccer Plus or FS2 and on the Fox Sports app with corresponding authentication. All matches will be available in Spanish on TelevisaUnivision’s new streaming service ViX. Fans can download the app on their devices to watch all games.
Fans can follow all of the action from the Dominican Republic on ussoccer.com as well as U.S. Soccer Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
|
Date |
Match-up |
Kickoff (ET) / TV |
Venue |
|
Saturday, April 23 |
USA vs. Grenada |
4 p.m. / Fox Soccer Plus, ViX App in Spanish |
Estadio Panamericano |
|
Monday, April 25 |
USA vs. Puerto Rico |
4 p.m. / FS2, ViX App in Spanish |
Estadio Panamericano |
|
Wednesday, April 27 |
USA vs. Costa Rica |
4 p.m. / FS2, ViX App in Spanish |
Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez |
Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2005, are age-eligible for the 2022 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship. U.S. head coach Natalia Astrain selected 16 players born in 2005 and four born in 2006.
Fourteen-year-old Melanie Barcenas, who was born in 2007, was named to the initial 20-player roster, but due to an ankle injury, was replaced prior to the tournament by forward Taylor Suarez.
GOALKEEPERS (2): Abigail Gundry (NC Courage; Wake Forest, N.C.), Victoria Safradin (Internationals SC; Eastlake, Ohio)
DEFENDERS (7): Nicole Fraser (Real Colorado National; Highlands Ranch, Colo.), Alyssa Gonzalez (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif.), Savannah King (LAFC SoCal Youth; West Hills, Calif.), Cameron Roller (Solar SC; Sherman, Texas), Keegan Schmeiser (Chicago FC United; Bolingbrook, Ill.), Gisele Thompson (Total Futbol Academy; Studio City, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Mia Bhuta (Internationals SC; Pittsburgh, Pa.), Shae Harvey (Slammers FC HB Koge; Hermosa Beach, Calif.), Claire Hutton (World Class FC; Bethlehem, N.Y.), Riley Jackson (Concorde Fire; Roswell, Ga.), Charlotte Kohler (Mountain View Los Altos; Woodside, Calif.), Lauren Martinho (NC Courage; Cary, N.C.)
FORWARDS (5): Onyeka Gamero (Beach FC; Cerritos, Calif.), Nicollette Kiorpes (NEFC; Worcester, Mass.), Mia Oliaro (NC Courage; Chapel Hill, N.C.), Melina Rebimbas (PDA; Warren, N.J.), Taylor Suarez (Charlotte SA, Charlotte, N.C.), Amalia Villarreal (Michigan Jaguars FC; Lansing, Mich.)
The Concacaf Women’s U-17 championship has been a launching pad for many players who have gone on to represent the full USWNT and many more who have played professionally or gone on play at the U-20 level. From 2008-2016, an average of almost four players per U.S. U-17 qualifying team have gone on to represent the full USWNT.
Five players from the 2008 team: Morgan Brian, Crystal Dunn, Kristie Mewis, Samantha Mewis and Erika Tymrak.
Five players from the 2010 team: Brian, Abby Dahlkemper, Jaelene Hinkle, Lindsey Horan and Taylor Smith. Note: Havana Solaun would change associations and go on to score the first-ever World Cup goal for Jamaica.
Three players from the 2012 team: Jane Campbell, Margaret “Midge” Purce and Andi Sullivan. Note: Toni Payne would change associations and go on to represent Nigeria.
Two players from the 2014 team (which played in qualifying at the end of 2013): Tegan McGrady and Mallory Pugh.
Four players from the 2016 team: Naomi Girma, who earned her first cap on April 12 vs. Uzbekistan, Jaelin Howell, Ashley Sanchez and Sophia Smith.
The players on the 2018 qualifying team are perhaps a tad bit too young to have graduated to the full team just yet.
This year marks the seventh edition of the Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship, which began in 2008. The U.S. will be playing to win its fifth Concacaf U-17 Women’s Championship – and third in a row -- after winning the tournament in 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2018. The two Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championships at which the USA finished third – 2010 and 2014 – were both years in which the World Cup was held in Concacaf countries and thus only two berths from the region were up for grabs. The 2018 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship began in Nicaragua in April, but due to civil unrest, the tournament was postponed after the first two matchdays and restarted five weeks later in Florida.
Only four different teams have qualified out of Concacaf for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup: Canada (six times), Mexico (five times), the USA (four times) and Costa Rica (one time). Trinidad & Tobago hosted in 2010 and Costa Rica hosted in 2014, thus earning automatic berths.
The Dominican Republic is the eighth country to host the tournament after Trinidad & Tobago (2008), Costa Rica (2010), Guatemala (2012), Jamaica (2013), Grenada (2016) and Nicaragua and the USA (2018). Mexico was set to host in 2020 before the tournament was cancelled.
