Curacao Next for US U-17 WYNT

By Sean McCaffery, April 29, 2022

PREVIEW: U.S. U-17 WYNT FACES CURAÇAO AS KNOCKOUT STAGE BEGINS AT CONCACAF WOMEN’S U-17 CHAMPIONSHIP

U.S. Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team

2022 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship – Round of 16

USA vs. Curaçao

Estadio Panamericano; San Cristobal, Dominican Republic

April 30, 2022 4 p.m. ET (Fox Soccer Plus, ViX App in Spanish)

USA FACES CURAÇAO AS KNOCKOUT STAGE BEGINS: The U.S. Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team clinched first place in Group G on April 27 with a 5-0 win against Costa Rica as five different players scored goals. The victory earned the USA a knock-out round match-up with Curaçao, one of four teams that advanced directly to the Round of 16 by winning a pre-qualifying group. The USA will get an extra rest day before returning to the field on Saturday, April 30 at 4 p.m. ET at Estadio Panamericano in San Cristobal (Fox Soccer Plus, ViX App in Spanish). The USA scored 38 goals from 13 different players without conceding in its first three matches at the Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship.

All tournament matches will be broadcast in English on Fox Soccer Plus or FS2 and on the Fox Sports app with corresponding authentication. All matches will also be available in Spanish on TelevisaUnivision’s new streaming service ViX. Fans can visit vix.com or download the app on their devices to watch all the games.

Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2005, are age-eligible for the 2022 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship. U.S. head coach Natalia Astrain selected 16 players born in 2005 and four born in 2006.

Follow the U-17 WYNT throughout the tournament on ussoccer.com as well as U.S. Soccer Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

U.S. UNDER-17 WOMEN’S YOUTH NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION (Club; Hometown; Caps/Goals):

GOALKEEPERS (2): 1-Abigail Gundry (NC Courage; Wake Forest, N.C.; 1), 12-Victoria Safradin (Internationals SC; Eastlake, Ohio; 2)

DEFENDERS (6): 2-Nicola Fraser (Real Colorado National; Highlands Ranch, Colo.; 2/1), 17-Alyssa Gonzalez (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif.; 2/0), 3-Savannah King (LAFC SoCal Youth; West Hills, Calif.; 2/0), 4-Cameron Roller (Solar SC; Sherman, Texas; 2/1), 5-Keegan Schmeiser (Chicago FC United; Bolingbrook, Ill.; 2/0), 20-Gisele Thompson (Total Futbol Academy; Studio City, Calif.; 2/0)

MIDFIELDERS (6): 10-Mia Bhuta (Internationals SC; Pittsburgh, Pa.; 3/0), 15-Shae Harvey (Slammers FC HB Koge; Hermosa Beach, Calif.; 2/4), 13-Claire Hutton (World Class FC; Bethlehem, N.Y.; 3/6), 7-Riley Jackson (Concorde Fire; Roswell, Ga.; 2/1), 8-Charlotte Kohler (Mountain View Los Altos; Woodside, Calif.; 2/5), 19-Lauren Martinho (NC Courage; Cary, N.C.; 3/2)

FORWARDS (6): 18-Onyeka Gamero (Beach FC; Cerritos, Calif.; 2/1), 11-Nicollette Kiorpes (NEFC; Worcester, Mass.; 3/2), 6-Mia Oliaro (NC Courage; Chapel Hill, N.C.; 3/2), 14-Melina Rebimbas (Players Development Academy; Warren, N.J.; 3/3), 9-Taylor Suarez (Charlotte SA; Charlotte, N.C.; 3/2), 16-Amalia Villarreal (Michigan Jaguars FC; Lansing, Mich.; 3/7)

TOURNAMENT FORMAT: This year marks the seventh edition of the Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship. The tournament began in 2008, the first year that FIFA staged a Women’s World Cup for U-17 women.

The 2020 competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and thus this is the first Concacaf U-17 tournament to introduce the new 20-team tournament format, which has been used for the previous two Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championships. All previous iterations of the U-17 event were comprised of eight teams split into two groups of four. Now, sixteen countries were drawn into four groups of four, while four countries – Guyana, Honduras, Curaçao and Saint Kitts and Nevis -- have advanced directly to the Round of 16 via a pre-qualifying tournament.

The top three finishers in each group qualified to the Round of 16, where they will be joined by the four teams from pre-qualifying. From there, it’s a knockout bracket to the tournament final. The two winners of the semifinal matches, plus the winner of the third-place game, will qualify to the 2022 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in India.

ROUND OF 16 MATCH-UPS

April 30

Group E winner Mexico vs. Pre-Qualifier Guyana

Group E Runner-Up Panama vs. Group G Third-Place Puerto Rico

Group G Winner USA vs. Pre-Qualifier Curaçao

Group G Runner-Up Costa Rica vs. Group E Third-Place Nicaragua

May 1

Group H Runner-Up Haiti vs. Group F Third-Place Dominican Republic

Group H Winner El Salvador vs. Pre-Qualifier St. Kitts and Nevis

Group F Runner-Up Jamaica vs. Group H Third-Place Cuba

Group F winner Canada vs. Pre-Qualifier Honduras

USA ROSTER NOTES:

Midfielder Mia Bhuta captained the USA in its first match against Grenada and midfielder Riley Jackson captained the team vs. Puerto Rico and against Costa Rica.
Sixteen players made their international debuts on April 23 vs. Grenada.
The remaining four players on the roster made their international debuts on April 25 vs. Puerto Rico: goalkeeper Abby Gundry, midfielder Riley Jackson, defender Alyssa Gonzalez and defender Gisele Thompson. Gonzalez tallied an assist in her first U-17 cap and Jackson had three assists in her first U-17 appearance, tied for most in a game so far in this tournament with Onyeka Gamero and Taylor Suarez.
All 20 players on the roster have now see action in the tournament.
Forward Taylor Suarez leads the USA in minutes played with 192. Defender Nicola Fraser, defender Gisele Thompson, defender Alyssa Gonzalez, defender Cameron Roller and goalkeeper Victoria Safradin are all tied for second in minutes played with 180.
Defender/forward Mia Oliaro leads the team with 168 minutes played and Riley Jackson has played 166.
Nine different players scored in the Grenada match and nine different players had assists.
Six different players scored in the Puerto Rico match and six different players had assists.
Five different players scored in the Costa Rica match and four different players had assists.
Goals on April 27 vs. Costa Rica by Jackson and forward Onyeka Gamero, their firsts of the tournament and firsts of their international careers, made it 13 different players who have scored in this tournament for the USA. Thirteen different players also have assists so far.
The most different players to score for the USA in a Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship is 14, a mark set in the first-ever Concacaf tournament at this age level in 2008. That tournament took five matches to win, while this one will take seven.
The most goals ever scored in one Concacaf Women’s U-17 Tournament, albeit in the five-game format, were 12 by Summer Green in 2012 and nine by Lindsey Horan in 2010.
After scoring one goal against Grenada, five against Puerto Rico (tying a U.S. record for most goals in a game at any level) and one against Costa Rica, forward Amalia Villarreal leads the USA and the tournament in scoring with seven goals.
Midfielder Claire Hutton also scored in all three group games, registering a hat trick against PR and logging a total of six goals so far in the tourney.
Midfielder Charlotte Kohler has five goals and midfielder Shae Harvey has four. Forward Melina Rebimbas has three goals. Forward Nicollette Kiorpes, midfielder Lauren Martinho, defender/forward Mia Oliaro and forward Taylor Suarez have two each.
The Grenada match marked the first time that three different players scored three or more goals in a single USWNT match at any age level, and just the fifth time that two different players scored three or more goals in a single match at any age level.
Against Puerto Rico on April 25, Amalia Villarreal and Claire Hutton become the fourth and fifth players for the USA in this tournament to score three or more goals in a game.
Taylor Suarez leads the team in assists with five. Mia Oliaro and Onyeka Gamero have four each. Riley Jackson has three.
Nineteen different youth clubs from 11 different states are represented on the roster, with NC Courage placing three players on the team.
Defender Gisele Thompson is the younger sister (by 13 months) of U.S. U-20 WYNT forward Alyssa Thompson, who helped the USA win the Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship earlier this year in the Dominican Republic. Giselle and Alyssa helped the U-15 WYNT win the 2018 Concacaf U-15 Championship. While that tournament featured mostly 2003-birth year players, the USA brought a younger squad composed of players born in 2004 and 2005, including the 2004-born Alyssa and 2005-born Gisele.
Defender Nicola Fraser is the daughter of former U.S. international and current Colorado Rapids head coach Robin Fraser, who has 27 caps for the USA. With her start vs. Grenada on April 23, Fraser became the second daughter of a male or female U.S. National Team player to earn a cap at any level of the U.S. Women’s National Teams program. Chicago Red Stars midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo, whose father Angelo played 20 times for the USA, earned 20 caps and scored three goals at the U-20 level.
With her goal to cap the scoring against Puerto Rico, Fraser became the second daughter of a former U.S. Men’s National Team player to score for the USA in international play, joining DiBernardo. Nicola’s dad did not score in his international career, making Nicola the first in the Fraser family to bag an international goal.
Midfielder Charlotte Kohler is the daughter of Will Kohler, who was a member of the U.S. U-17 Men's Youth National Team at the 1991 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Italy. He came off the bench in the first match, a famous 1-0 win over Italy, and played 90 minutes in the third group game, a 3-1 win over China PR. He also came off the bench in the quarterfinal against Qatar, but the USA fell in penalty kicks after drawing 1-1 in regulation.
Midfielder Mia Bhuta is a rare USWNT player of Indian heritage and happens to be the correct birth year for a U.S. team that’s competing to earn a berth to the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India.
The 38 goals over the three matches of group play were the most ever for a U.S. team in Concacaf Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament, but this is the first U-17 tournament in which the new 20-team format has been used. All of the previous U-17 tournaments were played with eight teams and two groups of four.

USA U-17s vs. CURAÇAO:

The USA and Curaçao have never meet in a Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship and there’s good reason for that -- this is Curaçao’s first appearance in this tournament.
Curaçao benefited from the unusual tournament format in which four teams qualify directly to the Round of 16 via a pre-qualifying tournament.
In Group B of pre-qualifying, Curaçao defeated Belize, 3-1, and Barbados, 2-0, to top Group B and earn what would set up to be a meeting with the USA as winner of Group G.
Against Belize, the fantastically named Draynishaina Uraine scored twice while Julainy Thielman had one goal. Against Barbados, Daylaina Seip and Raengelly Keller scored the goals.
Curaçao is an island nation located in the southern Caribbean Sea about 44 miles off the coast of Venezuela. It neighbors the islands of Aruba and Bonaire.
Eighteen of Curaçao’s players play domestically, but two play in the Netherlands. Curaçao is a former Dutch colony and Dutch is one of three official languages spoken there, along with English and Papiamento, a Spanish and Portuguese-based creole language.

QUALIFIED TO INDIA: Seven countries have already qualified for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup thus far. In addition to host India, China PR and Japan have qualified from Asia via nominations by Asian Football Confederation based on results of 2019 AFC U-16 Women's Championship after the U-17 qualifying tournament was cancelled. Brazil, Chile and Colombia have qualified from the recently completed 2022 South American U-17 Women's Championship, while New Zealand was nominated by the Oceania Football Confederation after their qualifying tournament was also cancelled. Nine berths remain to be filled, three each from Concacaf, Africa and Europe.