Every other year, we load up on boys Youth National Team World Cups. It’s a joyous time, with the U20 and U17 World Cups clustered just months apart. It’s not just a scheduling anomaly, either. It allows both vital age ranges to be scouted and developed in the gear teeth between the Olympics and senior World Cups on even years. The schedule works.
The U.S. U20 MNT kicked off our 2015 journey last month, and they did so under shaky auspices. While the only ultimate sticking point is World Cup qualification - which the U20s achieved - it doesn’t hurt to use CONCACAF qualification to gather some momentum. Which is where the U17s come in.
The U17 World Cup is the last event of the year. While the U20 World Cup stretches through June, its U17 cousin doesn’t finish up until November in Chile. CONCACAF qualifying, meanwhile, is less than two weeks away. That gives us enough time to analyze the potential lineup and see if the U17 MNT can look convincing in spots where the U20 team could not.
Here’s a glimpse at what a dangerous XI could look like when teams meet in Honduras later this month.
