PREVIEW: USA set to begin FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup against Spain

U.S. Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team
2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup
Santo Domingo and Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
Oct. 16-Nov. 3

The U.S. Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team will kick off the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup on Wednesday, Oct. 16 against reigning champions Spain in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (4 p.m. ET; FS2, Universo and Telemundo digital platforms).

This will be the final 16-team FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup as next year the tournament becomes an annual event and will feature 24 nations. The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will be held for the next five years in Morocco.

The USA returns to this tournament off an excellent performance two years ago in India. The USA won its group and dominated Nigeria in the quarterfinal, only to lose in penalty kicks. The young Americans will be looking to take it further this time around but faces a difficult Group B which includes European champions Spain, Asia third-place finishers Korea Republic and South American runners-up Colombia (which also finished second in this tournament in 2022), as well as the Concacaf champions United States.

This will actually be the first FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup held in the Concacaf region for which the USA has qualified. The Americans missed out on the 2010 tournament in Trinidad & Tobago and the 2014 tournament in Costa Rica after losing penalty kick shootouts in both qualifying tournaments that sent just the top two finishers to the World Cup. Thus, this will be the USA’s sixth FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.

After opening the tournament vs. Spain, the U.S. faces Colombia on Saturday, Oct. 14 19 (7 p.m.; FS2, Universo and Telemundo digital platforms) and closes the group stage vs. Korea Republic on Tuesday, Oct. 22 (4 p.m. ET; FS2, Telemundo digital platforms). 

2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup
USA Schedule – Group B

WATCH FIFA U-17 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP ON FOX & UNIVERSO: All three of the USA’s group stage matches will be broadcast on Fox Sports 2. All of the tournament’s 32 matches will be carried on FS2 or Fox Soccer Plus and will be available online at FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports App with corresponding authentication.

In addition, the USA’s group stage matches will be broadcast in Spanish on the Universo family of platforms. The first two games will be aired on Universo and the Telemundo digital platforms, while the third will be carried only on the Telemundo digital platforms.

PREPPING FOR THE DR: Unlike the last U-17 cycle, which was impacted by the global pandemic, this group of U-17s has had some time to work together. The team has compiled an 8W-0L-1D record since it began its cycle in the fall of 2023. Five of those matches came at the 2024 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship. Over the nine total matches, the USA scored 43 goals and allowed seven against seven different countries.

2007s AND 2008s TAKE CENTER STAGE: U-17 WYNT head coach Katie Schoepfer has assembled a talented, versatile 21-player roster for the World Cup in the Dominican Republic. Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2007, are age-eligible for this World Cup. Schoepfer chose 16 players born in 2007 and five born in 2008. Fifteen players will be 17 years old at the start of the World Cup and six will be 16.

2024 U.S. UNDER-17 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB; HOMETOWN; CAPS/GOALS)

Goalkeepers (3): 12-Wicki Dunlap (North Carolina Courage Academy; Raleigh, N.C.; 2), 21-Evan O’Steen (Solar SC; Grapevine, Texas; 2), 1-Molly Vapensky (Carolina Ascent; Evanston, Ill.; 6),

Defenders (6): 3-Trinity Armstrong (UNC; Frisco, Texas; 4/0), 5-Kiara Gilmore (FC Dallas; Allen, Texas; 8/0), 4-Jordyn Hardeman (Solar SC; Midlothian, Texas; 9/1), 18-Daya King (Legends FC; Moreno Valley, Calif.; 7/0), 15-Katie Scott (Penn State; Fairview, Penn.; 9/1), 2-Jocelyn Travers (FC Bay Area Surf; Santa Cruz, Calif.; 7/1)

Midfielders (7): 16-Scottie Antonucci (Legends FC; Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; 2/0), 7-Kimmi Ascanio (San Diego Wave; Doral, Fla.; 9/4), 13-Melanie Barcenas (San Diego Wave; San Diego, Calif.; 14/2), 10-Kennedy Fuller (Angel City FC; Southlake, Texas; 8/9), 6-Ainsley McCammon (Seattle Reign; Bedford, Texas; 5/1), 19-19-Jaiden Rodriguez (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif.; 2/0), 8-Y-Lan Nguyen (Virginia Development Academy; Fairfax, Va.; 4/1)

Forwards (5): 9-Anna Babcock (Crossfire Premier SC; Sedro-Woolley, Wash.; 2/0), 17-Micayla Johnson (Michigan Hawks, Troy, Mich.; 2/1), 20-Mary Long (Duke; Mission Hills, Kan.; 2/2), 11-Maddie Padelski (Alabama; Nolensville, Tenn.; 2/0), 14-Leena Powell (Tudela FC; Culver City, Calif.; 7/1)

PROS LEAD THE WAY: For the first time ever, a U.S. roster for the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup will feature professional players, those being Angel City FC midfielder Kennedy Fuller, San Diego Wave FC midfielders Melanie Barcenas and Kimmi Ascanio and Seattle Reign midfielder Ainsley McCammon. Of the four, Fuller has seen the most NWSL minutes, playing 975 over 19 matches with one goal. Ascanio has played 145 minutes in six matches while Barcenas, who is in her second professional season, has played 446 minutes in 10 matches and scored her first career NWSL goal on Sept. 28 against the Portland Thorns. McCammon made her NWSL debut on Sept. 6 vs. Angel City FC, playing the very end of the match, and earned her first start in her final match before joining the U-17s, playing 63 minutes.

ROSTER NOTES:

• The USA’s four college players, defender Trinity Armstrong, defender Katie Scott and forwards Maddie Padelski and Mary Long, all entered college early. Amstrong has started all 13 games for North Carolina thus far and played 1065 minutes. Scott has battled some minor injuries early in her freshman season at Penn State and has played in six matches, earning two assists, while Padelski has started 11 of her 13 matches for the Crimson Tide and scored two goals with two assists. Long has played 215 minutes for Duke in nine games off the bench and has scored twice.
• With nine career goals at this level, in just eight caps, Fuller enters this World Cup as the USA’s leading scorer. She won the Golden Ball as the top player at the 2024 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship.
• At that tournament, the USA handily won its group, defeating Panama, 13-0, Puerto Rico, 3-1, and Canada, 5-0, before downing Haiti, 7-1, in the semifinal to earn its World Cup berth.
• In the championship game, the USA rolled past host Mexico 4-0, on goals from Maya Townes, Ascanio, Alex Pfeiffer and an own goal.
• Pfeiffer, who will miss the World Cup due to an ACL injury suffered with her NWSL club Kansas City Current, scored six times while Ascanio had four goals.
• S. head coach Katie Schoepfer named 14 players to the World Cup Team who were part of the USA’s Concacaf championship team and seven players who made late runs to earn a World Cup roster spot, including four players born in 2008 who have seen the majority of their recent WYNT action with the U.S. U-16s.
• The seven players on the World Cup roster who were not a part of the U.S. team at the 2024 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship are goalkeeper Evan O’Steen, midfielders Scottie Antonucci and Jaiden Rodriguez and forwards Padelski, Micayla Johnson, Long and Anna Babcock, who can also play in the defense.
• Johnson scored against Brazil in July and Long scored twice against Brazil in July.
• Padelski was an alternate during the pre-tournament training camp in Guatemala ahead of the Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship.
• All 21 players on the roster have been capped at the U-17 level, led by Barcenas, who has 14 U-17 caps and was also a part of the 2022 cycle. Defenders Katie Scott and Jordyn Hardeman and Ascanio all have nine caps each.
• The roster features four professional players, goalkeeper Molly Vapensky, who is on the books of the Carolina Ascent in the USL Super League on an amateur contract, four players currently in college and 12 players from nine different youth clubs.
• The 5-foot-10 Vapensky played the lion’s share of the minutes in goal for the USA during the World Cup qualifying tournament.
• Six players hail from California and six come from Texas, meaning more than half the roster is from those two states.
• While there are current pros and college players on the World Cup Team, of the 21 players on the roster, 19 represent or represented ECNL clubs, one is from the Girls’ Academy and one is from the NPL.

CONCACAF CHAMPS IN THE DR: The USA qualified for the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup at the 2024 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship in Mexico. The USA handily won its group, defeating Panama, 13-0, Puerto Rico, 3-1, and Canada, 5-0, before downing Haiti, 7-1, in the semifinal to earn its berth. In the championship game, the USA rolled past host Mexico 4-0, on goals from Maya Townes, Kimmi Ascanio, Alex Pfeiffer and an own goal. Midfielder Kennedy Fuller led the USA with eight goals, including five in the opening game against Panama, and won the Golden Ball as the top player in the tournament. Pfeiffer, who will miss the World Cup due to an ACL injury suffered with her NWSL club Kansas City Current, scored six times while Townes scored five times and Ascanio had four.

SIXTEEN TEAMS, ONE CHAMPION: This year, the 16 teams that will compete in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup are host Dominican Republic, the USA and Mexico from Concacaf; Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil from South America; Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia from Africa; defending champions Spain, England and Poland from Europe; Korea Republic, Korea DPR and Japan from Asia and New Zealand from Oceania. The first-time participants in this tournament are the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Kenya and Poland while eight teams return from the 2022 edition.

The 16 participating nations were drawn into four groups of four teams. The top two finishers in each group will advance to the Quarterfinals to be played on Saturday, Oct. 26 and Sunday, Oct. 27, from which the winners will advance to the Semifinals on Wednesday, Oct. 30 and Thursday, Oct. 31. The Third-Place Match and World Cup Final will be held on Sunday, Nov. 3 in Santo Domingo.

Matches will take place at just two stadiums: Felix Sanchez Stadium in Santo Domingo and CFC Stadium in Santiago de los Caballeros. The stadiums are about 105 miles apart.

2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Groups

U-17 WWC HISTORY: Led by future senior USWNT stars Morgan Brian, Crystal Dunn, Kristie Mewis and Samantha Mewis, the USA finished runner-up at the inaugural 2008 tournament, its best-ever finish. The U.S. was just 14 minutes away from winning the World Cup 1-0 before Korea DPR equalized to send things to overtime and then scored a 113th-minute game-winner to take home the first U-17 WWC title. Remarkably, the USA didn’t make it out of the group stage again until 2022, when it won the group, but lost in penalty kicks in the quarterfinals to Nigeria. In 2012, despite drawing eventual finalists France and Korea DPR in the group stage, the USA became the first team to finish with five points in pool play and not advance to the knockout round of a FIFA WWC.

FROM THE U-17S TO THE SENIOR TEAM: In addition to the quartet from 2008, several current full USWNT pool players have participated in this tournament. Midge Purce and Andi Sullivan represented the U.S. at Azerbaijan 2012, Naomi Girma, Jaelin Howell, Ashley Sanchez and Sophia Smith participated in Jordan 2016 and Trinity Rodman took the field at Uruguay 2018. The players from the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup are perhaps a bit too young for USWNT call-ups at this moment, but some may be coming soon. Six players from that team in India were part of the USA’s 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Team that recently finished third in Colombia.

HEAD COACH KATIE SCHOEPFER: This will be the first World Cup as U.S. head coach for Katie Schoepfer, who took over the program in May of 2023 after previously coaching the U.S. U-15s, meaning she has been with many of these players for three years. Schoepfer is the first NWSL player to coach a U.S. team in a FIFA Women’s World Cup. As a player, Schoepfer was in the U.S. Youth National Team player pools from the U-17 to U-23 and started all four years for Penn State University, twice earning All-American honors while scoring 48 career goals. In her professional career, the forward made 100 appearances with the Boston Breakers in two leagues — Women’s Professional Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League. She played the NWSL’s first four seasons, and her 100 games for the Breakers are the third-most in club history. The Connecticut native was inducted into the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame in 2019.

U-17 WWC TEAM CONTENT REWIND:

• Kimmi Ascanio Video Feature 
• Leena Powell Video Feature
• Trinity Amstrong Mic’d Up
• Jordyn Hardeman Mic’d Up
• Jocelyn Travers Mic’d Up
• U-17 WWC Roster Release
• Concacaf Preview Video, Road to U17WWC
• Concacaf Semifinal Preview Video
• Kimmi Ascanio hat trick at Concacaf qualifying
• Melanie Barcenas First NWSL Goal
• Kennedy Fuller First NWSL goal
• Ainsley McCammon Signs with Reign FC
• Kimmi Ascanio Signs with San Diego Wave
• We’re Goalkeepers
• Do a dance or a burpee
• Underrated Favs

U-17 WYNT VS. SPAIN

• The USA has never faced Spain in a FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup even though Spain and the USA will each be playing in their sixth U-17 WWC.
• Spain has won the last two FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup tournaments and will be going for a record third and a remarkable three in a row.
• Spain head coach Kenio Gonzalo was also in charge of Sain when it won the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. He was also part of the coaching staff for the Spanish women’s senior national team that won the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
• Spain features 13 players from the country’s two biggest clubs: FC Barcelona (seven players) and Real Madrid (six players).
• Spain won the 2024 UEFA Women’s U-17 Championship played in Sweden in May of this year, earning its fifth European title at this age level, and doing so in impressive fashion.
• Spain easily won its group, scoring nine goals and allowing zero against Poland, Portugal and Belgium, trounced France in the semifinals, 6-1, and ran roughshod over England, 4-0, in the title game to finish the tournament unscored upon.
• Alba Cerrato led her team with seven goals while Celia Segura had five and Lua Calo and Ainoa Gómez had two each.
• The USA and Spain also met in the opening game of the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia, with the USA losing, 1-0, but the Americans would eventually finish third while Spain lost in the quarterfinal to Japan.

2024 SPAIN FIFA U-17 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB)

GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Laia López (Real Madrid), 13-Ziara Varga (Athletic Club), 21-Amor Martin (Deportivo La Coruña)

DEFENDERS (6): 2-Martina González (Barcelona), 3-Elena Vázquez (Deportivo La Coruña), 4-Claudia de la Cuerda (Real Madrid), 5-Amaya Garcia (Real Madrid), 12-Aiara Agirrezabala (Real Sociedad), 15-Nerea Carmona (Levante)

MIDFIELDERS (7): 6-Lorena Cubo (Barcelona), 8-Ainoa Gómez (Barcelona), 11-Irune Dorado (Real Madrid), 14-Celia Gómez (Atlético Madrid), 16-Clara Serrajordi (Barcelona), 17-Emma Moreno (Atlético Madrid), 20-Natalia Escot (Barcelona)

FORWARDS (5): 7-Noa Ortega (Barcelona), 9-Celia Segura (Barcelona), 10-Paula Comendador (Real Madrid), 18-Iris Santiago (Real Madrid), 19-Alba Cerrato (Sevilla)

IT’S NEW TO THE U-17 WWC – FOOTBALL VIDEO SUPPORT: A new system to review decisions on goals, penalty kicks, red card incidents and cases of mistaken identity was unveiled during the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia and will also be used at the 2024 FIFA U-17 WWC in the Dominican Republic. There will be no Video Assistant Referee automatically checking incidents/decisions. In fact, nothing is automatically checked by a VAR. Instead, each head coach will have two chances to request a review, e.g. “challenge” the call, in any of the above instances should they choose to do so.

The coach will indicate the desire to have an incident/decision checked by twirling their finger in the air and then giving a “review card” to the fourth official, followed by an explanation of what the coach wants reviewed. Players may recommend the head coach to request a review, but the head coach has the final responsibility to do so. Once a “review card” is given to the fourth official, the request cannot be withdrawn. The request to review an incident/decision must be made before play is restarted once the game is stopped or the ball is out of play for the first time after the incident/decision. A player can inform the referee that they want to recommend to the head coach to request a review, and the referee will delay the restart of the game until the player can inform the head coach and the head coach has the chance to make a decision. The referee will then go to the video monitor on the sideline to review the video footage and make a decision if there was a “clear and obvious” error. If the coach “wins the challenge” they will keep that “challenge.” If they lose, they will lose that “challenge.” After a goal is scored, the fourth official will check the replay footage and inform the referee in the case of a clear and obvious offense committed by the attacking team, e.g., handball, offside, or ball out of play. Regardless of the outcome of the fourth officials check on goals, the coach is entitled to request a review.

BUT WHAT ABOUT OFFSIDE? Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT) will be used during the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup which means there will be 12 dedicated EPTS (Electronic Performance and Tracking System) cameras for each match that can track 29 relevant points for each player on the field and data is sent to the system 50 times per second. The system will process the data in real-time and send an automated alert to the review operator when a player is deemed offside. This theoretically leads to faster and more accurate offside decisions and improved visualization of offside incidents.

TOURNAMENT NOTES:

• Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2007, are age-eligible for the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
• Two cautions received during two different matches will result in suspension for the following match.
• If a player is sent off as a result of a direct or indirect red card, she will be suspended for the following match.
• Single yellow cards will be wiped clean after the quarterfinal round.
• Should teams be tied on points at the end of the group stage, the tiebreakers are as follows:
  • Goal difference in all matches
  • Greatest number of goals scored
  • If two or more teams are still tied on the basis of the first three criteria, the ranking will be determined as follows:
  • Greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned
  • Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned
  • Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned
  • FIFA Fair Play points
  • Drawing of lots
• At the end of the tournament, FIFA will present several awards. The Golden, Silver and Bronze Boot will be awarded to the three players with the highest numbers of goals scored, with number of assists serving as a tiebreaker.
• The Golden, Silver and Bronze Ball will be awarded to the best players of the tournament. The FIFA Technical Study Group will select a short list after the semifinals.
• The Golden Glove will be awarded to the top goalkeeper in the tournament, as selected by the FIFA Technical Study Group.
• In the knockout rounds, if matches are tied at the end of regulation, no extra time shall be played and the winner shall be determined by penalty kicks.