If 2015 belonged to the boys, 2016 is the girls’ time in the sun.

The youth national team World Cup schedule works on competing years, meaning the boys and girls U17 and U20 teams take turns diving into World Cups. Both boys programs hit their respective World Cups with varying success in 2015, meaning the coming year switches to their female counterparts.

That isn’t the only thing happening in 2016 on the youth front in America, either. Here are a couple salient dates to keep in mind for next year as the U.S. YNT system marches into another season of madness.

U17 Women’s World Cup Qualifying (March 3-13)

There has been little more inevitable, historically anyway, than a U.S. youth national team advancing out of CONCACAF and into the World Cup. The region has never been particularly robust on the youth side, and finding ways to bring the federation’s resources to bear on countries with less developed youth systems has and should be a cinch.

And yet 2013 was a year of sorrows. The U17 MNT missed the World Cup that year, and not long after the U17 WNT failed to get out of CONCACAF not long after winning it in 2012. The U.S. lost to Mexico in penalties in the first knockout game despite being bolstered by talent like Mallory Pugh, Taylor Racioppi and Zoe Redei. It was a failed campaign that reverberated through CONCACAF. Was the U.S. now vulnerable?

We’ll see how this U17 side bounces back once qualifying kicks up in March. With the U20 team robbing the bank and taking some players from this pool, it could experience another bout of turbulence before the World Cup arrives on Sept. 30.

U20 Women’s World Cup (Nov. 13-Dec. 3)

Qualification came early for CONCACAF’s U20 women’s teams this year, and so we already know the U.S. is well on its way to Papua New Guinea to polish off 2016 with a bang. The U.S. profited from a Canadian error at the back to take home a 1-0 win in the final of qualifying late in 2015. They’d already qualified for the World Cup, but  that win provided a much needed confidence boost headed into a tournament the U.S. will hope is better than 2014.

The last time the U20 WNT was at a World Cup, it was disappointed with a loss in the first knockout round against a North Korea team it should have outclassed. This year provides a shot at redemption for a roster that will most likely include just two holdovers - Mallory Pugh and Rose Chandler - from the 2014 edition.

Perhaps the biggest unknown is simply the venue itself. This is the first time Papua New Guinea has ever hosted a major soccer tournament at any level, so it’s fair to say the expectations are as confused and uncertain as ever. Will the venues be ready? What preparation oddities await once the U.S. plane finally touches down? All those things should combine to make this tournament decidedly interesting to monitor.

U12 Development Academy Introduction (Fall 2016)

The U.S. YNT system on the boys side now has teams at every age level stretching from U14 to U20, which was a major initiative push under Jurgen Klinsmann since his arrival as Technical Director. It’s become clear one of the fed’s major pushes is going younger, increasingly, and so it should come as no surprise that there are more young teams populating the ranks.

And so here we are, on the precipice of a U12 age division in the Development Academy beginning with the 2016-17 season.

Like the U14s before them, the U12s will be quieter on the national scene in terms of press because the results aren’t of particular importance. So you probably won’t hear much out of the initiative beyond broad sweeps of how it’s progressing from coaches. While that makes intricate breakdowns of the next big thing more difficult, it’s for the best as young players are folded into the mix and begin their march up the age ladder.

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