The USA U17 Women’s National Team is out of the 2016 U17 World Cup.
Over two years of camps, events, and scouting, the team’s run came to end on Saturday after a week in Jordan at the 2016 U17 World Cup. The USA finished third in Group D with a 1-2 record. Saturday’s final chapter was a 3-2 loss to Japan. Ashley Sanchez scored twice, but it was hardly enough on a day when the USA needed a win to advance to the knockout round after losing to Ghana on Tuesday.
After rattling off a 15-game unbeaten streak to enter the competition, the USA fell apart at the event. The unraveling began against Ghana when the USA was exposed for 90 minutes against a lively side that troubled the USA collective defense.
Against Japan, the USA fully adopted this underdog mentality against a team they had defeated twice in the last two years. USA barely wanted the ball at all on the day and Japan was eager to take advantage of possession. Midfielder Fuka Nagano put in a world-class performance as the USA elected to deploy on two central midfielders against one of the best players in the world at that position. Neither player could catch Nagano’s shadow.
At the end of the day, USA depended on individual brilliance from the games in Jordan, and USA did not have the best player on the field against Ghana or against Japan. After two years of training camps, there has to be a higher level of expectations for how a team will play together. USA did not meet that standard in Jordan. It is difficult to hide from that fact in the aftermath of the event.
U.S. Soccer wants the youth national teams to be judged on if the team produces players for the first team, which means there will not be any snap judgements from the Federation about the performance in Jordan. However, there is plenty of reason to reevaluate how the U17 Women’s National Team is run after seeing how far ahead the rest of the world is compared to the U.S. at this level.
