Ellis Starts Second Stint
The verdict is in: the FIFA world youth championship for women is an invaluable development opportunity and legitimate proving ground for future stars. The USA’s participation in the first four FIFA U-19/U-20 Women’s World Cups gave us an early glimpse of numerous young talents, many of whom have gone on to make major impacts at the full international level.
In 2009, Jillian Ellis takes over the reins of the U-20 program, starting her second stint at the helm of this important age group. Ellis was the U.S. U-20 head coach in 2007, but left the post to join Pia Sundhage’s staff on the full Women’s National Team, eventually helping the team to the gold medal. In 2008, famed U.S. women’s coach Tony DiCicco took over the U-20s for the run to the 2008 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Chile and led the team to the top of the podium, defeating Korea DPR by a 2-1 score in the championship game. The return to glory for the USA marked the first time the Americans had won the tournament since its inaugural edition in 2002. The first two tournaments (2002 in Canada and 2004 in Thailand) were held as U-19 events before it moved to U-20s in 2006 when Russia hosted. South America hosted its first Women’s World Cup in 2008 and hosts Chile came through with rave reviews.
Ellis will now focus on leading the team to CONCACAF qualifying from which the USA will attempt to earn a berth to the 2010 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Germany. Players eligible for the next U-20 WWC must be born on or after January 1, 1990. The location of qualifying, dates and venues have yet to be set but it will likely take place in early 2010.
Ellis will have the benefit of an excellent preparation schedule that features numerous domestic training camps and some highly competitive matches abroad, all to prepare the U.S. team in its attempt to win back-to-back world youth titles.
Germany
Awaits
The 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Germany brings the tournament to Europe for the second time. Tentatively scheduled for the end of July, the timing eliminates any conflicts with the college season and should allow the USA to bring its strongest team, should it qualify.
With FIFA currently mandating that the host country for future Women’s World Cups organize the U-20 Women’s World Cup the year before, the Germans get first crack at this unique double. After a highly successful 2006 FIFA World Cup enjoyed by fans, media and certainly the competing nations, Germany will no doubt organize a great U-20 women’s event.
IN THE BEGINNING:
The History of the U-20 WNT
Originally created in 1998 as an Under-18 program, the team moved up an age level to the U-19 level in 2001 in preparation for the first FIFA-sanctioned world championship for youth women, before becoming a U-20 program in 2005 for the first FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2006.
In 2008, Tony DiCicco took over as head coach from Jillian Ellis fairly late in the cycle, but molded a team that would win the USA’s seventh women’s world title. DiCicco’s side experienced some growing pains during the year, but it all came together in brilliant fashion during the Women’s World Cup as the USA scored 12 goals and allowed just three, controlling every match (aside from a 2-0 loss to China in group play which had not impact on the Americans advancement as the top team in the group), on the way to a convincing 2-1 defeat of Korea DPR in the title game. The USA won three matches by 3-0 scores, including the quarterfinal over England and then outplayed a talented German side to win the semifinal by a 1-0 score. Sydney Leroux became just the second U.S. player to win the Golden Ball at a FIFA event, and also won the Golden Shoe as the tournament’s top scorer with five goals. Alex Morgan also had a great tournament, scoring four times and winning the Silver Ball and the Bronze Shoe. Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher was world class, allowing just one goal and that came in the waning moments of the final match, a performance that earned her the Golden Glove as the tournament’s top ‘keeper. The U-20s finished the year with an overall record of 20-7-0 while going 14-4-0 in international games.
In 2007, U.S. head coach Jillian Ellis took the team through some excellent preparation during the identification stage for this pool of players, eventually winning the silver medal at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, an achievement that included defeating the full Women’s National Team of Canada in the semifinal, 2-1. In the gold medal game, the USA ran into a Brazilian buzz saw in front of a packed house at the famed Maracaña Stadium, but that experience will no doubt benefit the players as they moved forward in their national team careers. The U-20s finished 10-5-1 on the year, but four of those losses were to full Women’s National Teams.
In 2006, the U.S. U-20s played an amazing 50 matches before the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Championship, eventually compiling an overall record of 39-10-7 including the six matches in Russia. The USA’s 16-2-3 international record was stellar, although the year ended on a down note with the fourth place finish at the world championship. The USA got some big-time goal production from several forwards during the year, including Jessica Rostedt (24 goals, 7 in international play), Lauren Cheney (21/9), Kelley O’Hara (20/10) and U.S. Soccer Young Female Athlete of the Year Danesha Adams (18/7). The USA qualified for the world championship with an undefeated run at the CONCACAF U-20 Women’s Final Qualifying Tournament held in Mexico in January of 2006, defeating the hosts, 3-0, for a berth to Russia and beating Canada, 3-2, in the championship game.
In 2005, the team had a quiet year of activity due to the transition of head coaches for the full Women’s National Team as well as for the U-20s.
In 2004, the USA went 17-7-2 and 11-5-2 in international matches, but lost its first ever match to a team in its age group, falling to Japan in the Philips Lighting Invitational, a tournament in which they beat Holland and China. The USA finished second in CONCACAF Qualifying, falling 2-1 to Canada in the championship, but they had already secured a berth in Thailand by virtue of a clinical 6-0 win over Mexico in the semifinal.
The USA put together four excellent matches to open the U-19 Women’s World Cup, starting with a rousing 3-0 win over South Korea followed by a 4-1 domination of Russia. The USA finished group play with a hard fought 1-0 win over Spain. The quarterfinal match was against a plucky Australia, but Angie Woznuk came off the bench to help set up both goals, which were both assisted by Stephanie Lopez in the 2-0 win that sent the USA to the semifinal. In the semi, the young Americans ran into a Germany wall, but were tied at 1-1 halftime. The USA took control of flow and rhythm of the match, only to see the Germans score on a lightning counter attack and finish on their first shot of the second half. With the USA pressing forward, Germany scored another for the final 3-1 margin. The USA earned third-place honors with goals from Kerri Hanks on a set play, Megan Rapinoe on a well-executed short corner kick and on a searing strike from distance from Woznuk for the final 3-0 margin over Brazil.
In 2003, the U-19s went 7-4-1 overall and 6-2-0 in international competition, getting wins over Mexico, Japan, Germany and Holland during the year. In 2002, the U-19s went 22-2-2 overall and 17-1-0 in international matches, including six wins at the FIFA U-19 Women’s World Cup. The victory in the title game of the first-ever U-19 WWC was another in a long line of “firsts” for the U.S. Women’s National Team program, which includes the first Women’s World Cup championship and the first Olympic gold medal. Team captain Lindsay Tarpley scored a 109th minute “golden goal” against host Canada to win 1-0 on Sept. 1, 2002, in front of 47,784 fans at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium. In 2001, the USA went 10-4-4 overall and 4-0-1 in international matches as the nucleus of the 2002 world championship team started to form.
Under Steve Swanson in 2000, the U-18s went 10-2-3, including 3-0-2 in international competition, all against senior women’s national teams. The first season of U-18 competition in 1999 was a banner year, as the team went 14-0-3 overall and 8-0-2 internationally, winning a gold medal in the Pan American games to clinch an unprecedented “treble” for the U.S. Women’s National Team, which also won gold at the 1999 Women’s World Cup and U-21 Nordic Cup.
Shannon Cirovski, a veteran of the USA’s 1991 Women’s World Cup championship team, was the first coach of the U-18s, but stepped down to take the head coach position at the University of Maryland. She coached the U-18s halfway through 1999 before U.S. Women’s National Team assistant coach Jay Hoffman grabbed the reigns and guided the team to gold at the Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg.
In its 10 years of competition as a U-18, U-19 and now a U-20 team, the program has lost only 18 international matches and just seven to teams in their age group, compiling a 83-18-12 all-time international record.
