U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team opens World Cup on Saturday

U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team vs. Paraguay
2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup
Prince Mohammed International Stadium; Al Zarqa, Jordan
Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016

(Via U.S. Soccer) – The U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team kicks off the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup on Oct. 1 against Paraguay at Prince Mohammed International Stadium in Al Zarqa, Jordan, in what will be one of the final games of the second match day of the tournament.

The match will air live on FOX Soccer Plus starting at 11:55 a.m. ET and fans can also watch on FOX Sports GO app, FOXSportsGo.com and FOXSoccer2GO.com (see below for more TV information). The U.S. team spent almost a week in Paphos, Cyprus during a highly productive pre-Women’s World Cup training camp before arriving in Jordan on Sept. 25 to make final preparations for the tournament.

+Read: All USA matches at FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup to air on FOX Sports

WATCH THE USA U-17 WNT ON FOX SPORTS; FOX PROVIDING FREE WEB STREAM OF 2016 FIFA U-17 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP: The U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team will televise all the matches at the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup across the networks of FOX Sports . The USA begins Group D play this Saturday, Oct. 1, when it faces Paraguay at 11:55 a.m. ET on FOX Soccer Plus with Mark Rogondino and 1999 U.S. Women’s World Cup champion Shannon MacMillan on the call. All matches are also available for live and on-demand streaming via the FOX Sports GO app and online at FOXSportsGO.com and on-demand at FOXSoccer2GO.com. The 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan, the first FIFA women’s competition to take place in the Middle East, will see FOX Sports televise all 32 tournament matches on FS1, FS2 and FOX Soccer Plus. Fans can enter a free promo code to watch the games on the FOXSoccer2Go.comregistration page when prompted. The promo code is “U17WNT” and can be activated from Sept. 30-Oct. 31.

2016 U.S. U-17 FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP SCHEDULE

Group D Schedule:

THE STADIUMS: Jordan, which encompasses roughly the same square miles as the state of Indiana, will host the tournament in four venues, two in Amman, one in Irbid, which is about 60 miles north of Amman, and one in Al Zarqa, which is just 15 miles northeast of Amman. The 12,000-seat Prince Mohammed International Stadium in Al Zarqa, where the USA opens the tournament, features an artificial surface while the other three stadiums have natural grass. Amman International Stadium, which seats 13,000, will host the Third Place match on Oct. 20 and World Cup Final onOct. 21. King Abdullah II International Stadium seats 12,000, as does the Al Hassan International Stadium in Irbid, the only venue the USA will not play in during group play.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT: The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup – which is staged every two years – features 16 nations divided into four groups of four teams each. The top two teams in each group advance to the quarterfinal stage on Oct. 12 and 13. The semifinals will take place Monday, Oct. 17, and the Final and third-place matches will be held on Friday, Oct. 21.

16 NATIONS, ONE TROPHY: Host Jordan, European champion Germany, defending champion Japan and Korea DPR, the 2008 U-17 Women’s World Cup winners and 2012 runners-up, earned the seeds across the four groups for the Final Draw that took place on May 30. In Group A, Jordan drew Spain, Mexico and New Zealand. Group B features Venezuela, Germany, Cameroon and Canada. Group C features Nigeria, Brazil, England and Kora DPR.

U-17 WWC FACTS

• Players born on or after January 1, 1999 are age-eligible for this tournament. The lower age limit for all players is at least 15 years of age, i.e. born on or before December 31, 2001.
• This is the fifth edition of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. The first was held in New Zealand in 2008, the second in Trinidad & Tobago in 2010, the third in Azerbaijan 2012 and the fourth in Costa Rica in 2014.
• A total of 29 countries have taken part in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup to date.
• At the U-17 level, each confederation (outside of the smallest Oceania) gets three berths to the World Cup tournament. Eleven countries return from the 2014 tournament, which includes defending champion Japan.
• Seven teams will notch their fifth appearance in this tournament, having never missed a FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup: Canada, Germany, Ghana, Japan, Korea DPR, New Zealand, and Nigeria.
• Jordan and Cameroon are the only newcomers for the 2016 competition – all other qualified teams have previously taken part in a FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
• Three out of the four U-17 WWC tournaments have been won by Asian teams – Korea DPR in 2008 in New Zealand, Korea Republic in Trinidad & Tobago in 2010 and Japan in the most recent event in 2014 in Costa Rica. France won in 2012 in Azerbaijan, but only after defeating Korea DPR in penalty kicks.
• In Azerbaijan in 2012, Ghana was the first African team to reach the semifinals and took third place.
• Teams from the same confederation have met in the final match just once, with Korea Republic playing Japan in the 2010 U-17 WWC Final.
• In Costa Rica in 2014 the final match was decided in regular time for the first time. Extra time was played in the final matches of both 2008 and 2010, the latter tournament also having to go to a penalty shoot-out.
• In the 2012 edition there was no extra time played as the rules changed to eliminate overtime for U-17 World Cups and a 1-1 stalemate the game was decided by penalty shoot-out.
• Since the inaugural tournament in New Zealand in 2008, 128 matches have been hosted in the U-17 WWC. Japan has scored the most goals with 79, an impressive average of 3.95 goals per game.
• Only one player has been present in three editions of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. Ghana’s Ellen Coleman played six matches in 2012, three matches in 2010 and in 2008 was part of Ghana’s roster but did not play a single minute.
• In all four previous editions the host nation teams have never managed to reach the second stage.
• The USA has three officials working the tournament . Referee Ekaterina (Katja) Koroleva will be joined by assistant referees Kathryn Nesbitt and Deleana Quan. Koroleva was one of three CONCACAF referees named while Nesbitt and Quan were among six assistant referees named from four different CONCACAF nations.
• FIFA will give out eight awards at the end of the tournament, awarding the gold, silver and bronze boots to the top scorers, the gold, silver and bronze balls to the top three players, as well as the Fair Play Award and Golden Glove to the best goalkeeper.
• More than 100 goals have been scored in total in all four tournaments held so far. In Costa Rica in 2014, teams scored 113 for an average of 3.53 per game. Azerbaijan 2012 featured 119 goals (3.72). Trinidad & Tobago 2010 was the highest scoring tournament so far with 125 (3.91). In New Zealand 2008, teams also scored 113 (3.53).
• U.S. forward Vicki DiMartino scored the 100th goal in tournament history, against the Korea Republic in 2008. Forward Darian Jenkins, who is currently playing at UCLA, scored the 300th against Korea DPR in 2012. Jenkins’ goal came just one minute and 49 seconds into the match.

USA NOTES

• The USA opens the tournament against South America third-place finisher Paraguay in what will be the second meeting between the nations in U-17 Women’s World Cup play. The two countries met in the second group match at the 2008 tournament in New Zealand with the USA prevailing 3-1 after going down a goal. It was a crucial three points as the USA lost (to Japan) and drew (with France) in its other group matches, but advanced second out of the group and made it to the championship game.
• The meeting with Ghana will be the first between these two countries in this tournament, but second against an African team for the USA in FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup play. The USA defeated Gambia, 6-0, in group play at the 2012 tournament. Ghana qualified by defeating Morocco 10-0 on aggregate over a two-leg series to earn one of Africa’s three berths to Jordan.
• The Americans will finish group play against Japan, which finished second behind Korea DPR in the 2015 AFC U-16 Women’s Championship. Japan won this tournament two years ago in Costa Rica, defeating Spain 2-0 in the title match. The USA and Japan met in the opening game of the 2008 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup with the USA falling, 3-2. The Americans rallied to make it to the championship game before losing 2-1 in overtime to North Korea.
• These will be the first matches by any U.S. Women’s National Team in Jordan and the first matches by any U.S. Women’s National Team in the Middle East.
• The USA won the 2016 CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship, defeating Mexico 2-1 in the championship game, but the Americans had already booked their place in the Women’s World Cup with a 5-0 victory against Canada in the semifinal. The USA out-scored its opposition 18-2 over the five matches of the tournament.
• The USA is 4-2-3 all-time in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, losing only to North Korea in the championship game in 2008 and to Japan in group play at the same tournament.
• The USA has scored 20 goals in the U-17 Women’s World Cup while allowing 11.
• In 2012, the USA drew with eventual finalists France and North Korea in group play, and defeated Gambia, but became the first team in history to earn five points and not advance out of group play in a FIFA Women’s World Cup. The USA lost out on goal difference.

THREE FOR FIVE: The USA missed the 2010 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup after falling in penalty kicks in the semifinal of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament to Canada despite out-scoring the opposition 38-0 over five games. The USA missed the 2014 U-17 Women’s World Cup after falling in penalty kicks to Mexico in semifinal of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament despite outscoring its opponents, 24-1. These were the two years in which the World Cup was being held in a CONCACAF country so only two berths were available from CONCACAF.

U.S. U-17 Women’s World Cup Team Roster by Position – DETAILED
GOALKEEPERS (3): Hillary Beall (So Cal Blues; Laguna Beach, Calif.), Laurel Ivory (West Florida Flames; Surfside Fla.), Meagan McClelland (PDA; Kearny, N.J.)

DEFENDERS (7): Naomi Girma (Central Valley Crossfire; San Jose, Calif.), Kiara Pickett (Eagles; Santa Barbara, Calif.), Isabel Rodriguez (Michigan Hawks; Canton, Mich.), Karina Rodriguez (So Cal Blues; Torrance, Calif.) Emily Smith (De Anza Force; Los Gatos, Calif.), Kennedy Wesley (So Cal Blues; Rossmoor, Calif.), Kate Wiesner (Slammers FC; Monrovia, Calif.)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Jordan Canniff (Richmond United; California, Md.), Lia Godfrey (Jacksonville Armada; Fleming Island, Fla.), Jaelin Howell (Real Colorado; Windsor, Colo.), Brianna Pinto (CASL; Durham, N.C.), Alexa Spaanstra (Michigan Hawks; Brighton, Mich.), Frankie Tagliaferri (PDA; Colts Neck, N.J.), Sydney Zandi (Penn Fusion; West Chester, Penn.)

FORWARDS (4): Civana Kuhlmann (Colorado Rush; Littleton, Colo.), Adrienne Richardson (Minnesota Thunder Academy; Oakdale, Minn.), Ashley Sanchez (So Cal Blues; Monrovia, Calif.), Sophia Smith (Real Colorado; Windsor, Colo.)

LEAD UP TO THE WWC: The USA will head into the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup having compiled a record of 12-0-2 this year in international matches, with five of those coming in the CONCACAF qualifying tournament. The USA has played eight games this year against teams in the World Cup and has gone 6-0-2 in those games.

2016 U.S. U-17 WNT INTERNATIONAL RESULTS

U.S. ROSTER NOTES

• The U.S. U-17s have compiled a record of 12-0-2 in 2016 as 27 players have taken part in international matches.
• Twelve players have scored in an international match for the USA in 2016.
• Forward Civana Kuhlmann leads the USA in goals this year with 10, while Ashley Sanchez and Frankie Tagliaferri have seven each.
• The core of this U.S. team has risen through the ranks together in the U.S. youth national teams, with 10 of the 12 1999s on the roster attending U.S. Under-14 training camps in 2013.
• Lia Godfrey is the youngest player with a November of 2001 birthday while Tagliaferri is the oldest, having been born on Jan. 18, 1999.
• Fifteen different youth clubs from nine states are represented on the roster with the So Cal Blues out of Southern California having four players on the roster. Real Colorado, the Michigan Hawks and PDA out of New Jersey have two players each.
• The roster includes eight players from California (six from Southern, two from Northern), three players from Colorado and two each from Michigan, Florida and New Jersey.
• Every player on the roster has been capped at least once at the U-17 level, with 16 players having 11 or more caps. Tagliaferri has the most experience with 24 caps, followed by Alexa Spaanstra with 19, Sanchez and Jaelin Howell with 18 each and Brianna Pinto and Kuhlmann with 17 each. Sophia Smith has 16.
• The players on the World Cup roster span three birth years. Of the 21 named, 12 were born in 1999 which is the age cut-off year for this tournament and the year that USA won its historic Women’s World Cup title on home soil. Snow also named five players born in 2000 and four born in 2001. Three of the 2001s – defenders Kennedy Wesley and Kate Wiesner and forward Jordan Caniff — were also part of the U.S. team that won the CONCACAF championship last March while qualifying for the World Cup. The other, forward Lia Godfrey, who won’t turn 15 until November, made a late run to make the squad. The 2001s are age-eligible for the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
• Two players on the roster – Kuhlmann and Tagliaferri – are in their second U-17 cycle and were a part of the U.S. team that failed to qualify for this tournament two years ago in Jamaica despite out-scoring the opposition 24-1 in the tournament. The USA fell in penalty kicks to Mexico in the semifinal after drawing 1-1 in regulation during a cycle in which just two CONCACAF teams qualified due to the tournament being held in Costa Rica.
• Kuhlmann became one of the youngest players ever to score for the USA in an official international match when she tallied against T&T in the USA’s opening game of that qualifying tournament at the age of 14. She also scored against Jamaica in the third-place match.
• Snow selected two high school freshman (Canniff and Godfrey), two sophomores (Wiesner and Wesley), six juniors (Ivory, Sophie Smith, Girma, Pinto, McClelland and Howell), and 10 seniors (Karina Rodriguez, Emily Smith, Pickett, Sanchez, Isabel Rodriguez, Kuhlmann, Zandi, Richardson, Tagliaferri and Beall).

U.S. U-17 WNT: USA VS. PARAGUAY PRE-GAME QUOTES

Head Coach B.J. Snow:
On managing the emotions of young players in their first World Cup:
“First and foremost, the emotion of the first game is a critical component of success for all the teams. We don’t hide from it. It’s important to throw it all out on the table and to evaluate it, acknowledge it and try put them into situations where they experience emotion so they learn how to deal with it. We talk about lot of recovery mechanisms which is critical in an event like this because we know there might be heavy legs or there might be a mistake. This is a game made of mistakes. How do you manage the game once there’s a mistake made? Hopefully they are doing all this with a smile on their face and they can sit back and enjoy it at the same time. But when it comes to the nerves, we don’t shy away from nerves. We accept them, we expect them and we use them, and that’s an important component for us.”

On facing Paraguay in the first match of the tournament:
“One of the unique parts of a youth World Cup is a lack of knowledge with an opponent you have in the first game, or maybe a lack of video, so a big part of that is concentrating on what we feel our strengths are and what we can control. What we do know about Paraguay is that they are an excellent team and they have excellent players. Their style of play is a little bit unique. That’s why we played Venezuela and Brazil (in the run up to the World Cup) to try to get a sense of that South American style of play and mentality that we are going to see (in the first game) and hopefully those (past friendly matches) have prepared us for this moment.”

On the excellent energy he’s seen from the team so far during the preparations in Cyprus and Jordan:
“I think it means they are prepared. There’s an emotional competent that you have to try to harness a little bit, but it’s evidence that they’ve done the preparation before we got here. I’ve been proud of the energy that they’ve brought to training, it’s allowed us to try to get better every day and take advantage of every opportunity we have to be out on the training field and I think it’s been an important quality that we’ve possessed since we arrived in Cyprus (for pre-World Cup training camp prior to travel to Jordan).”

Defender Kate Wiesner:
On the team’s preparation for the first match of the U-17 Women’s World Cup:
“We’re working hard and focusing on the little details to make sure we’re ready for the first game. I’m a little nervous for our first World Cup, but super excited about the opportunity to represent my country and I can’t wait to do it with my best friends.”

On how the training has gone in Jordan:
“It’s been great. The energy around the team has been really good. We’re all really excited and we can’t believe it’s finally here. We’re ready to get it started.”

Midfielder Frankie Tagliaferri
On the team’s preparation for the first match of the U-17 Women’s World Cup:
“We’ve always said it’s in 60 days or 20 days, but now it’s just a few days, so it doesn’t feel real yet, but I can’t wait for the first game. Everyone of course will be a bit nervous, which they should be, but I think everyone is super excited because we’ve been training for this for three years.”

BY THE NUMBERS
0 International games out of 17 in which the USA has been shut-out over 2015 and 2016
0.72 Goals allowed per international match by the U.S. U-17s this year
2.95 Goals scored per international match by the U.S. U-17s this year
4 Assists for Sophie Smith and Alexa Spaanstra this year, most on the team
5 Goals scored by Ashley Sanchez and Frankie Tagliaferri in CONCACAF qualifying to lead the team
10 Goals allowed by the USA in 14 international matches this year
24 Career U-17 caps for Frankie Tagliaferri, the most on this Women’s World Cup roster
27 Players to see action in a U.S. U-17 international match this year
41 Goals scored by the USA in 14 international matches this year (18 in CONCACAF qualifying)
1106 Minutes played in international matches this year by Naomi Girma, most on the team

IN FOCUS: PARAGUAY
Paraguayan Football Association
Head Coach: Nelson Basualdo
Best FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Finish: Group Play (2008, 2014)

USA vs. PARAGUAY SERIES
The USA and Paraguay met during group play at the 2008 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Hamilton, New Zealand with the USA coming away with a 3-1 win after going a goal down in the 32nd minute. Needing a win to advance, the USA forced Paraguay into an own goal from current Sky Blue FC player Elizabeth Eddy followed by a game-winner from Vicki DiMartino in the 77thminute. Courtney Verloo added a clinching goal in the 83rd minute. The USA out-shot Paraguay 19-9 in that match.

PARAGUAY ROSTER:
GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Heidi Salas (Club Cerro Porteno), 12-Andrea Benkenstein (Unión de Caronay), 21-Natasha Martinez (Universidad Autonoma de Asuncion)

DEFENDERS (6): 2-Dirse Alcaraz (Club Olimpia), 3-Maria Martinez (CD Capiatá), 4-Daysy Bareiro (Club Cerro Porteno), 5-Limpia Fretes (Club Cerro Porteno), 14-Yessica Cabanas (Club Sportivo Limpeno), 16-Vanessa Arce (Club Cerro Porteno)

MIDFIELDERS (8): 6-Cinthia Arevalo (Club Atlético Ciudad Nueva), 7-Fabiola Sandoval (Club Sportivo Luqueno), 8-Rosa Mino (Club Cerro Porteno), 13-Deisy Ojeda (Club Olimpia), 15-Jennifer Gonzalez (Universidad Autonoma de Asuncion), 17-Graciela Martinez (Club Cerro Porteno), 18-Natalia Illasanti (Universidad Autonoma de Asuncion), 20-Katia Martinez (Club Derecho UNA)

FORWARDS (4): 9-Maria Segovia (Club Cerro Porteno), 10-Jessica Martinez Jessica (Club Olimpia), 11-Dahiana Bogarin (Club Cerro Porteno), 19-Lourdes Oliveira (Club Atlético Ciudad Nueva)

PARAGUAY ROSTER NOTES

• Jordan 2016 will be the third FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup for Paraguay.
• La Albirroja made their debut in the inaugural tournament in New Zealand 2008, where they failed to earn a point and finished bottom of their group.
• Paraguay also failed to advance in Costa Rica in 2014, but did at least manage to draw one of their three matches, tying New Zealand 1-1.
• Paraguay qualified for Jordan 2016 thanks to their third-place finish in the South American Championships in Venezuela. Victorious in their opening three games in Group A against Chile (3-0), Peru (4-1) and Argentina (5-1), the Paraguayans then lost to the hosts (3-1), advancing to the final phase as section runners-up. Following two losses, at the hands of Brazil (1-0) and the hosts once again (6-2), Paraguay took on Colombia for the third and final qualification slot at stake, coming from a goal down to win 2-1.
• Paraguay was the second-highest scorer in the competition behind Venezuela with 17 goals in all. Paraguay also had the second-most leading scoring in the qualifying tournament in forward Jessica Martinez, whose 10-goal haul included two hat-tricks.
• Martinez is one of three players from the squad that went to Costa Rica in 2014, the others being goalkeeper Natasha Martinez and midfielder Camila Gonzalez. Their experience could prove vital for a side that is hoping to reach the knockout phase for the first time.
• In its previous two U-17 Women’s World Cup tournament, Paraguay has a record of 0-1-5 while scoring seven goals and allowing 34.
• Head coach Nelson Basualdo took over the team in January.

LAST TIME

On the field for the USA in an international match:
International Friendly; Sept. 2, 2016 – Premier Soccer Campus; Lakewood Ranch, Fla.

USA 5 Kuhlmann 5; Tagliaferri 38; Canniff 76; Richardson 90; Smith 90+1
VEN 1 Own Goal

Lineups:
USA: 12-Laurel Ivory; 7-Kiara Pickett, 6-Karina Rodriguez, 9-Naomi Girma (20-Emily Smith, 72), 17-Kate Wiesner (23-Kennedy Wesley, 72), 3-Brianna Pinto, 15-Jaelin Howell (8-Sophia Smith, 79), 16-Frankie Tagliaferi (14-Sydney Zandi, 79), 11-Alexa Spaanstra (24-Jordan Canniff, 46), 5-Civana Kuhlmann (2-Lia Godfrey, 46), 21-Ashley Sanchez (capt.) (18-Adrienne Richardson, 72)
Subs not used: 1-Hillary Beall, 4-Izzy Rodriguez, 22-Meagan McClelland
Head Coach: BJ Snow

VEN : 12-Nayluisa Caceres; 14-Gladysmar Rojas, 4-Hilary Vergara, 3-Sandra Luzardo, 2-Veronica Herrera; 5-Iceis Briceno, 6-Nikol Gonzalez (capt.) (18-Nalyerlyn Ropero, 82), 8-Maria Garcia, 11-Dayana Rodriguez, 16-Olimar Castillo; 10-Yerliane Moreno, 15-Heliamar Alvarado (19-Nohelis Coronel, 46)
Subs not used: 1-Alexa Castro, 20- Javiela Liendo,
Head Coach: Kenneth Zseremeta