U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team Falls to Japan 3-0 in Kansas City on the Road to the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (June 28, 2025) – The U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team fell 3-0 to a talented Japan side in a match played at CPKC Stadium, home to the Kansas City Current of the National Women’s Soccer League and the first purpose-built stadium for women’s soccer.

The match served as important World Cup preparation for both teams as the USA and Japan will be competing in the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup later this fall in Morocco. The match was broadcast on MAX and Telemundo Deportes on YouTube, a rarity for youth Women’s National Team games. The scheduling and broadcast of the match is part of the continuing focus on the U.S. Way philosophy which emphasizes increased programming for Youth National Teams to create more opportunities for young players to advance through the pathway to the senior National Team with the goal of representing their country at a world championship.

Japan started the game on the front foot and kept the USA pinned inside its own half for the opening part of the match. That pressure paid off in the 10th minute when Japan scored off a corner kick as the USA couldn’t clear and the ball rolled out to Manami Sato, who bent her first-time shot from 15 yards out into the upper left corner past flying U.S. goalkeeper Hannah Folliard.

The USA came right back down the field and a cross from right wing by Kate Fuller had to be cleared over the end line by a Japanese defender for a corner kick.

Japan was certainly the stronger team on the night, dominating possession and the shot stats. The Asian nation doubled its lead in the 32nd minute as Noa Fukushima got free down the left side, beat two defenders to the inside while dribbling into the penalty area and struck her shot under Folliard from 17 yards out.

In the 45th minute, U.S. forward Ella Kral got free attacking from the right side and raced at the last defender but hesitated on shooting and got run down by another retreating Japanese player inside the penalty area.

Japan put the game away just three minutes into the second half as Rinka Iwata rode a tackle to burst free near the top of the box, then played a pass to her left to Fukushima, who then played Yuna Takahashi into the box on the left side. Takahashi bent her shot into the lower right corner from a stiff angle to make it 3-0.

Substitute goalkeeper Payeton Trayer, who came on in the 58th minute, made a world-class save in the 66th minute, deflecting a point-blank shot to keep the scoreat3-0.

In the 89th minute, halftime substituteMak Whitham had a chance inside the penalty area off a cross from KK Ream from the left but skied her shot over the bar.

The teams will play again on July 1 in a closed-door match at the University of Kansas Health System Training Center in Riverside, Mo., the training facility for the Kansas City Current.

Additional Notes:

• The USA qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup for the seventh time —and the fifth in a row – by winning Group C of the Final Round of Concacaf Women’s U-17 Qualifiers last April. The World Cup will be held in Morocco from October 17 to November 8, 2025.
• This match marked the first U-17 international caps for goalkeeper Hannah Folliard, defender Claire Kessenger, midfielders Addison Feldman, Paige Pasinki, Brooke Bunton and 14-year-old Mak Whitham, and forwards Ella Kral, Kate Fuller, Marlee Raymond, KK Ream and Samantha Rich. 
• All four of the USA’s NWSL players saw action in Kimmi Ascanio (San Diego Wave), Micayla Johnson (Chicago Stars), Whitham (Gotham FC) and Ream (Utah Royals).
• Ascanio is the most experienced player on the roster and earned her 18th U-17 cap today.
• Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2008, are age-eligible for the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. Eighteen of the players on the roster were born in 2008 while Ream was born in 2009 and Whitham was born in 2010.
• At the 2025 FIFA U-17 WWC, the USA was drawn into Group C and will face Ecuador (9 a.m. ET / 2 p.m. local time) in its first match on Saturday, Oct. 18. The USA will then face China PR on Tuesday, October 21 (Noon ET / 5 p.m. local) and finish group play against Norway on Friday, October 24 (9 a.m. ET / 2 p.m. local). All three of the USA’s Group C games will be played at the Football Academy Mohammed VI (Pitch 3) in Sale, which is just outside of the capital of Rabat.
• The players from this roster helped the USA qualify for the World Cup are M Kimmi Ascanio, D Pearl Cecil, D Natalie Chudowsky, F Micayla Johnson, D Grace Milam, M Chloe Sadler, D Sydney Schmidt, M Charlee Siria and GK Payton Trayer.

-U.S. UNDER-17 WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT- 

Match: U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team vs. Norway

Date: June 6, 2025

Competition: International Friendly Match

Venue: 30 June Stadium; Cairo, Egypt

Weather: 76 degrees, sunny

Attendance: 60

Lineups:

USA: 12-Hannah Folliard (1-Peyton Trayer, 58); 3-Sydney Schmidt, 4-Pearl Cecil, 5-Natalie Chudowsky (14-Claire Kessenger, 68), 2-Gracie Milam (17-Marlee Raymond, 46); 6-Charlee Siria (16-Brooke Bunton, 58), 7-Kimmi Ascanio (8-Paige Pasinski, 79), 10-Chloe Sadler (13-Addison Feldman, 68); 11-Micayla Johnson (18-Samantha Rich, 79), 9-Ella Kral (19-Mak Whitham, 46) 15-Kate Fuller (20-KK Ream, 58)

Subs not used: None.

Head Coach: Katie Schoepfer

JPN: 12-Rena Yamauchi; 4-Tsugumi Miyatake (18-Ema Matsuoka, 87), 4-Tsugumi Miyatake, 6-Ena Koizumi (3-Mone Sato, 46), 21-Yuna Aoki (Capt.) (9-Sawa Ito, 87), 5-Kelly Nerei (7-Yuna Miyazaki ); 19-Honoka Sunaga, 2-Noa Fukushima (20-Sawa Shinden, 67), 15-Hina Hirakawa (14-Iro Sato, 73), 11-Manami Sato (8-Rinka Iwata, 46) 16-Yuna Takahashi, 10-Ua Ohno (22-Momoka Sano, 67),

Subs not used: 1-Asuka Sekiguchi, 13-Akari Hoshino, 17-Nanami Taira, 23-Ruka Kanda

Head Coach: Sadayoshi Shirai

Stats Summary: USA / JPN

Shots: 3 / 16

Shots on Goal: 0 / 13

Saves: 10 / 0

Corner Kicks: 3 / 7

Fouls: 2 / 2

Offside: 0 / 1

Misconduct Summary:

None

Officials:

Referee: Anthony Sobolevsky (USA)

Assistant Referee 1: Anna Wawrzyniak (USA)

Assistant Referee 2: Michelle Cheung (USA)

Fourth Official: Velimir Stefanovic (USA)