U17 USA Women fail to Qualify for World Cup

The USA won’t be going to the 2010 Under-17 Women’s World Cup after playing to a 0-0 tie with Canada and then falling on penalty kicks in the semifinals of the CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship. It marks the first time the USA has failed to qualify for the finals of a FIFA women’s championship.

Due to CONCACAF member Trinidad & Tobago hosting the U-17 Women’s World Cup in September, just two World Cup berths instead of the usual three were available at this tournament, both going to the winners of the semifinals, which will be Canada and Mexico.

The USA outscored its opponents, 32-0, in three games in group play, which may have led to their poor effort against Canada, as overconfidence can ruin a team.

The 1st half of the game showed Canada showed up to play and the US seemed to be out of their element. Where Canada would string passes together with quick counterattacks and worked hard to double team on defense, the U.S. would try to play direct and seemed to be always chasing poor first touches. The second half was more of what you’d expect from the U.S., so maybe the first half poor performance would lead me to believe it had to do with the mental approach to the game and the coach took the halftime break to get the girls focused. Although the U.S. seemed to have it together and controlled the ball better in the 2nd half, Canada played a very strong defense and kept the U.S. forwards frustrated the whole game. Canada’s second half effort seemed to be more about preserving the tie, than going for the win.

In the end, Canada showed up for the entire game and earned a hard fought win.

Women’s soccer is fun to watch and the skill of our player’s is great, but I still feel there were way too many poor first touches and poor passes. Coaches… spend some time on technique please… it does matter.