The past year had some highs and lows for the U.S. youth national teams. The U20 Women’s National Team won the CONCACAF Championship for the fifth consecutive time this month and advanced to the 2016 World Cup. The U17 and U20 Men’s National Teams both advanced to their respective World Cups in 2015. The U20 MNT
On the low side, the U17s failed to advance from group play at the U17 World Cup and exited the event in disappointing fashion. The U23 MNT failed to quality for the Olympics as one of the two teams from CONCACAF and now face a difficult battle in the playoff against Colombia next year.
Through the ups and downs, some of the players had brilliant individual games for the U.S. youth national teams in 2015. TopDrawerSoccer examines the five best performances of the year below.
F Ashley Sanchez, U20 Women’s National Team in 4-1 win over Rayo Vallecano on Oct. 29
Sanchez, 16 years old, scored four goals in 15 minutes to lead the U20 WNT to a 4-1 win over Rayo Vallecano in the final tune up before the CONCACAF Championship in December. Although it was a meaningless friendly, Sanchez’s four goals in 15 minutes off the bench was one of the most impressive individual performances in 2015. Arguably, Sanchez’s performance in Spain helped seal her place on the team for the qualifying event in December. Her performance at the qualifying event was nearly as impressive with her earning Player of the Game honors in the semifinal against Honduras and then scoring the game-winner against Canada in the final.
