PREVIEW: USA set to continue FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup against Morocco

After falling 1-0 to reigning FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup champion Spain in a hard-fought contest, the USA will be looking to regroup against first-time U-20 WWC participant Morocco on Wednesday, Sept. 4 in Cali (9 p.m. ET; FS2 & Telemundo Digital).

The USA will need points in this match to keep its quest for the knockout rounds alive. Morocco lost its first game, 2-0, to Paraguay. The USA will finish the group stage against Paraguay on Saturday, Sept. 7 at El Techo Stadium in Bogotá (7 p.m. ET; FS2 & Universo).

24 TEAMS VIE FOR 11TH U-20 TITLE: This year marks the 11th edition of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, FIFA’s highest-profile women’s competition after the World Cup and the Olympic Games. The biennial competition began as the FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship in 2002 and was held as a U-19 event in 2004 before moving to its current Under-20 format in 2006. The 24 participating nations for the 2024 edition of the tournament were drawn into six groups of four teams. The top two finishers in each group along with the four best third-place teams will advance to the first-ever Round of 16 in this tournament, to be played on Wednesday, Sept. 11 and Thursday, Sept. 12. The winners of those matches advance to the Quarterfinals on Sunday, Sept. 15, from which the winners will advance to the Semifinals on Wednesday, Sept. 18. The Third-Place Match will be held on Saturday, Sept. 21 with the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup Final taking place on Sunday, Sept. 22.

WATCH FIFA U-20 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP ON FOX & TELEMUNDO: All USA’s group stage matches will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 2. Each of the 52 matches of the tournament will be broadcast on either FOX Soccer Plus or FS2, with 24 group stage matches on FSP and 12 group stage matches on FS2. All the games will be available online at FOXsports.com and the FOX Sports App with corresponding authentication. All of the matches will also be broadcast in Spanish on the Telemundo networks.

BIENVENIDO DE NUEVO, USA: Heading into the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, the U.S. Under-20 National Team will have the benefit of having played two matches in Colombia last February. During the trip, the USA got to experience the World Cup stadiums, training sites, altitude, weather and culture, and it proved to be a valuable preparation experience for the young Americans. Those were the first two international matches of the year for the U.S. U-20s, and both games took place in Bogota, one in each of the stadiums being used for the World Cup, the first taking place at El Campin and the second at El Techo. The USA won both games against the hosts by 1-0 scores. The game-winner in the first game came in the 90+2nd minute from forward Pietra Tordin, which was her first international score, and the second was a 13th minute score from forward Ally Sentnor.

THE U.S. ROSTER — PROS LEAD THE WAY: Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2004, are age-eligible for this World Cup, and this roster will set a record for the most professional players on a U.S. FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Team with eight. All are in their rookie years for National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) clubs with midfielder Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current) and Sentnor (the #1 pick in the 2024 NWSL draft for the Utah Royals) seeing the most minutes among their peers so far this year. Defender Gisele Thompson, who joined her older sister Alyssa at Angel City FC this season, defender Savy King (the #2 pick in the 2024 NWSL Draft for Bay FC), midfielder Ally Lemos (the #9 pick in the 2024 NWSL Draft by the Orlando Pride), former U.S. U-17 WYNT captain Riley Jackson (North Carolina Courage) and forward Emeri Adames (Seattle Reign) have all seen action for their clubs this season. Adames, who signed last march, was the club’s first-ever U-18 signing. The now 18-year-old defender Jordan Bugg signed with Seattle on July 19. While Sentnor, King and Lemos were all high draft picks, the other five pros – Jackson, Adames, Thompson, Hutton and Bugg — all signed professional contracts as high schoolers under the NWSL Under-18 Entry Mechanism, opting out of college soccer.

2024 FIFA U.S. U-20 Women’s World Cup Roster by Position (College or Club; Hometown; U-20 Caps/Goals)

GOALKEEPERS (3): Caroline Birkel (St. Louis Scott Gallagher; St. Louis, Mo.; 0), Mackenzie Gress (Penn State; Lyndhurst, N.J.; 5), Teagan Wy (California; Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.; 9)

DEFENDERS (6): Jordyn Bugg (Seattle Reign; El Cajon, Calif.; 5/1), Elise Evans (Stanford; Redwood City, Calif.; 13/0), Heather Gilchrist (Florida State, Boulder, Colo.; 6/0), Savy King (Bay FC; West Hills, Calif.; 13/0), Leah Klenke (Notre Dame; Houston, Texas; 12/0), Gisele Thompson (Angel City FC; Studio City, Calif.; 8/1)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Addison Halpern (PDA; Middlesex, N.J.; 0/0), Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current; Bethlehem, N.Y.; 6/0), Riley Jackson (North Carolina Courage; Roswell, Ga.; 9/1), Ally Lemos (Orlando Pride; Glendora, Calif.; 13/1), Yuna McCormack (Virginia; Mill Valley, Calif.; 3/0), Taylor Suarez (Florida State; Charlotte, N.C.; 9/1)

FORWARDS (6): Emeri Adames (Seattle Reign; Red Oak, Texas; 7/1), Maddie Dahlien (North Carolina; Edina, Minn.; 9/4), Jordynn Dudley (Florida State; Milton, Ga.; 10/3), Giana Riley (Florida State; Manteca, Calif.; 8/1), Ally Sentnor (Utah Royals; Hanson, Mass.; 17/9), Pietra Tordin (Princeton; Miami, Fla.; 8/2)

ROSTER NOTES

• The USA’s World Cup roster features eight pros, one rising college freshman, two rising college sophomores, one redshirt college sophomore, seven rising college juniors and high schoolers Caroline Birkel and Addison Halpern. Florida State leads all colleges with four players on the roster.
• Defender Gisele Thompson is the only player on the roster who has seen training time with the senior U.S. Women’s National Team, that coming during the USA’s February training camp this year ahead of the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup.
• All players on the roster have been capped at the U-20 level except for Birkel and Halpern, who was a late addition to the World Cup Team replacing Sam Courtright, who tore her ACL just days before the team’s departure for Colombia.
• Forward Ally Sentnor, who is in her second U-20 cycle, is unsurprisingly the most experienced player on the roster with 17 U-20 caps heading into the World Cup and is also the USA’s leading scorer with nine international goals.
• Earlier this NWSL season, forward Emeri Adames, a veteran of the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, became the youngest scorer in Seattle Reign history. In her final game before joining the USA in Colombia, Adames sent a header on goal that snuck into the net for the game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory over the North Carolina Courage on a night that club and USWNT legend Megan Rapinoe had her jersey retired. Adames then celebrated the goal by pulling out Rapinoe’s iconic celebration pose.
• Adames also played for the USA at the 2023 Pan American Games, where she scored in the 2-1 semifinal loss to the senior Chile Women’s National Team, getting the ball past one of the world’s best goalkeepers, Christiane Endler.
• Defender Jordyn Bugg, Hutton and Thompson also played in the Pan Ams, giving them excellent experience against senior National Teams.
• Five-foot-11 forward Jordynn Dudley, along with college teammate Heather Gilchrist, had a big 2023 college season, helping Florida State win the NCAA Championship. Dudley was named ACC Freshman of the Year after scoring a remarkable 14 goals with nine assists, including a goal and an assist in the NCAA Championship Game. Gilchrist, as a sophomore, started all 21 matches for the Seminoles.
• Forward Maddie Dahlien, who tied with Sentnor for leading scorer in qualifying with four goals, is a former Minnesota state track champion in the 100M and 200M.
• Forward Giana Riley, who has since transferred to Florida State, led the West Coast Conference in scoring for Gonzaga last season with 12 goals to go along with six assists.
• Princeton forward Pietra Tordin, a rare Ivy Leaguer on a U.S. World Cup Team, made a dramatic U-20 WYNT debut in February, scoring a late game-winner in a 1-0 victory over Colombia in Bogotá. The USA won the second game of that trip 1-0 as well, on a goal from Sentnor.
• There are eight players on the roster from California — six from SoCal and two from NorCal – two from Texas and two from Georgia.
• Six players on this U-20 WWC roster played for the USA in the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup: Thompson, Savy King, Bugg, Adames, Leah Klenke and Jackson.
• The USA is one of four teams to have qualified for every FIFA WWC at this age level, along with three-time champions Germany, as well as Brazil and Nigeria.

SENTNOR MARKING THE SCORESHEET: Forward Ally Sentnor is one of the front-runners for NWSL Rookie of the Year (an award that seems to be firmly in the grasp of 2024 Olympic gold medalist Croix Bethune), and has scored three goals during league play, two more in the NWSL x LA LIGA Summer Cup and two more in an Aug. 16 friendly against Women’s Super League side Crystal Palace F.C. Women in a 3-0 victory. She also has four assists in all matches for a team that is struggling at the bottom of the NWSL. Sentnor was named the NWSL Rookie of the Month and Player of the Month for the month of July and is only the second player to win both of the awards in the same month. Sentnor has started every Royals match for which she has been available.

NWSL MINUTES FOR U.S. U-20S: Midfielder Claire Hutton (KC Current) and forward Ally Sentnor (Utah Royals) have played the most NWSL minutes this season for their clubs, but all of the USA’s pros have seen some playing time so far this season. Jordyn Bugg (Seattle Reign) played in her first NWSL regular season match on Aug. 25.

• Adames (NWSL: 16 games, 291 minutes, 1 goal; SUMMER CUP: 3 games, 171 minutes)
• Bugg: (NWSL: 1 game, 90 minutes; SUMMER CUP: 2 games, 180 minutes)
• Hutton (NWSL: 17 games, 1406 minutes, 1 assist; SUMMER CUP: 4 games, 213 minutes, 1 goal)
• Jackson (NWSL: 14 games, 180 minutes; SUMMER CUP: 4 games, 197 minutes, 1 goal)
• King (NWSL: 16 games, 1051 minutes, 1 assist; SUMMER CUP: 2 games, 111 minutes)
• Lemos (NWSL: 11 games, 286 minutes; SUMMER CUP: 3 games, 212 minutes)
• Sentnor (NWSL: 17 games, 1508 minutes, 3 goals, 3 assists; SUMMER CUP: 2 games, 175 minutes, 2 goals, 1 assist in Summer Cup)
• Thompson (NWSL: 11 games, 617 minutes; SUMMER CUP: 1 game, 38 minutes)

RUNNING IT BACK: Two players in Colombia were a part of the last U-20 cycle: goalkeeper Teagan Wy, who did not play in Costa Rica in 2022, and forward Ally Sentnor, who was coming back from a major knee injury, but scored once – against Ghana – and had a goal called back against the Netherlands by the slimmest of offside margins. Sentnor, a long-time Youth National Team standout, scored two goals for the U-18 WYNT, both against England, six international goals at the U-17 level and one goal at the U-16 international level, that coming against Switzerland.

U.S. U-20 WYNT vs. MOROCCO:

• This is Morocco’s first time participating in a FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup so this will be the first meeting between these teams at this level.
• Morocco lost its debut game in the 2024 U-20 FIFA WWC, 2-0, to Paraguay on Sept. 1 and will be looking to rebound against the USA to stay in the tournament.
• The USA and Morocco met two years ago during group play at the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, a hard-fought 4-0 win for the USA in a match that saw the Americans out-shoot the North Africans, 16-5. Charlotte Kohler and Sammy Smith each scored twice for the USA during that match.
• Five players on the USA’s current U-20 roster played in that match: defenders Gisele Thompson and Jordynn Bugg, midfielder Riley Jackson, who captained that team, midfielder Taylor Suarez and forward Emeri Adames. Defender Savy King was an unused sub in that game.
• Morocco’s roster in Colombia features five players who played in that game: defenders Fatima El Ghazouani and Djennah Cherif, midfielder Dania Boussatta and Samya Masnaoui and forwards Yasmine Zouhir and Doha El Madani. Midfielder Lina Aich was on the bench for the match, but did not play.
• Morocco qualified for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup by defeating Ethiopia 2-1 on aggregate in the fourth and final round of qualification, winning 2-0 in El Jadida, Morocco and falling 1-0 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Morocco had defeated Burkina Faso (5-1 on aggregate) and Guinea (5-0 on aggregate) in the second and third rounds, respectively.
• Zouhir and Ambre Basse scored for the Atlas Lionesses in that first leg.
• Morocco will become a focal point for women’s youth international soccer for the next five years when it hosts the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, which now becomes an annual tournament.
• The growth of Moroccan women’s soccer can be seen in the clubs of the U-20 WWC squad with 15 of the 21 players on the roster playing across Europe.
• While Arabic is the national language of Morocco, French is widely spoken, making the French league a popular destination for Moroccan players, which is the club home for eight members of this roster, including defender Maissen Bourhine who plays with USWNT captain Lindsey Horan at Olympique Lyon.
• Morocco also has players in Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain and Netherlands. 

Morocco 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Roster by Position (Club)

GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Ines Souifi (US Colomiers, FRA), 12-Fatima El Jebraqui (Wydad AC), 16-Anissa Rouinba (1. FC Koln, GER)

DEFENDERS (7): 2-Naini Fatima-Zahraa (CS Hilal Temara), 3-Djennah Cherif (Evian TG FC, FRA), 4-Ikram Neddar (Frosinone Calcio FC, ITA), 5-Fatima El Ghazouani (RC Lens, FRA), 13-Siham Bouhouch (RC Strasbourg, FRA), 14-Maissen Bourhrine (Olympique Lyon, FRA), 21-Said Hajar (FC Girondins Bordeax, FRA)

MIDFIELDERS (5): 6-Dania Boussatta (Unattached), 8-Samya Masnaqui (Unattached), 10-Dounia Ftouh (AS FAR), 15-Lina Aich (Stade Reims, FRA), 17-Kawtar Ait Omar (KRC Genk, BEL)

FORWARDS (6): 7-Doha El Madani (AS FAR), 9-Yasmine Zouhir (Real Betis, ESP), 11-Sofia Boussate (Montpellier HSC, FRA), 18-Romaissa Boukakar (AZ Alkmaar, NED), 19-Kautar Azraf (FC Barcelona, ESP), 20-Hajar Jbilou (FAR Rabat)