(Via U.S. Soccer) – The U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team opens the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup on Monday, Aug. 6 against Asian champion Japan (1:30 p.m. ET; FS2). The event marks a significant milestone in the team’s two-year cycle as the USA has compiled a 17-5-5 international record heading into tournament. The U-20s continue Group C play on Thursday, Aug. 9 when they face Paraguay (1:30 p.m. ET; FS2), and close out the group stage on Monday, Aug. 13 against European champion Spain (7:30 a.m. ET, FS2). The USA’s first two games will be played at Stade Guy-Piriou in Concarneau, while the final game is set for Stade du Clos Gastel in Dinan-Lehon. All of the tournament’s matches will be played in four small venues across the Brittany region in northwestern France. Follow the U-20 WNT throughout the tournament on ussoccer.com, Facebook, Twitter ( @ussoccer_ynt) and Instagram (@ussoccer_ynt). GROUP C SCHEDULE – USA DATE MATCH KICKOFF (ET) BROADCAST VENUE Aug. 6 USA vs. Japan 1:30 p.m. FS2 Stade Guy-Piriou; Concarneau, France Aug. 9 USA vs. Paraguay 1:30 p.m. FS2 Stade Guy-Piriou; Concarneau, France Aug. 13 USA vs. Spain 7:30 a.m. FS2 Stade du Clos Gastel; Dinan-Lehon, France WATCH FIFA U-20 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP ON FOX: All three of the USA’s group stage matches will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 2. Following pool play, all knockout round games will also be broadcast live on FS2. Matches are also available to be streamed on the Fox Sports App and Fox Sports Go. HOW WE GOT HERE: The USA earned its berth to the World Cup with a victory over Haiti in the semifinals of the Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship last January. The win came in dramatic fashion, as Haiti scored a last-minute equalizer in regulation to send the match to a penalty kick shootout. Goalkeeper Amanda McGlynn shut down the Haitians with an incredible performance in the decisive penalty kick shootout and defender Zoe Morse hammered home the game-winning and World Cup-clinching PK. Drawn into Group B, the USA opened the tournament with a 2-0 victory over Nicaragua as Torres and Civana Kuhlmann (who will unfortunately miss the U-20 WWC due to injury) found the back of the net. In the second group stage game, Jamaica tied the USA in the 88th minute, but the U-20s responded emphatically with a game-winning goal at the death from Howell. In the final group stage match, the USA downed Mexico 2-1 on goals from Kim and Sanchez. A rematch with Mexico awaited in the championship, where the USA fell in PKs following extra time. After suffering an early deficit, Davidson headed in a 49th-minute equalizer, but the USA wasn’t able to find a game-winning goal. RUN-UP TO FRANCE: Since January’s World Cup qualifying campaign, the U-20s have come together often for training camps and games, and have put together some impressive results, compiling an 8-1-1 record. The USA went undefeated at two international tournaments in the lead-up to the World Cup, defeating Germany, Haiti and France to claim the Tournoi Maurice Revello Sud Ladies Cup in June and downing Sweden’s U-23 squad, England and Italy’s U-23s at April’s La Manga tournament. They’ve also contested sets of friendlies against France and Brazil in 2018, and have faced off against 13 international opponents entering the World Cup. REPRESENTING THE USA: Head coach Jitka Klimkova has selected a superbly-talented 21-player roster for the World Cup. Seventeen players on the roster just wrapped up their freshman and sophomore years of college, while five come from youth clubs and will be freshmen in the fall. Those five players- defender Naomi Girma (California Thorns FC), midfielder Jaelin Howell (Real Colorado), midfielder Brianna Pinto (NTH Tophat), forward Sophia Smith (Real Colorado) and forward Penelope Hocking (So Cal Blues) – all spent 2017-18 competing in the inaugural season of the U.S. Soccer Girls’ Development Academy. Players born on or after January 1, 1998 are eligible for the 2018 U-20 Women’s World Cup, and head coach Jitka Klimkova named players from three birth years: seven born in 1998, 10 born in 1999 and four born in 2000. Fifteen players helped the USA qualify for the World Cup at January’s Concacaf Championship and 10 represented the U.S. at the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan. Three return from the 2016 U-20 WWC in Papua New Guinea- Savannah DeMelo, Emily Fox and Ashley Sanchez. SOPHIA SCORES: Smith enters the World Cup as the USA’s leading scorer with 21 career goals at the U-20 level. The forward is the reigning U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year, and has scored in 10 of the USA’s 15 games this year, including a current nine-game scoring streak heading into the tournament. Beginning in March, her goal-scoring run stands as a Youth National Team scoring record and ties Michelle Akers’ nine-game streak at the senior level in 1991. Her 21 goals are good for fourth on the U-20 WNT’s all-time scoring list behind Sydney Leroux (29), Kelley O’Hara (24) and Lindsey Horan (24). 16 TEAMS, ONE CHAMPION: This year marks the ninth edition of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. The biennial competition began as the FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship in 2002. Sixteen teams have qualified for the U-20 WWC through continental competitions and have been drawn into four groups. The top two finishers in each group will advance to the quarterfinals. From there, it’s a knockout round bracket to the tournament final. Group A Group B Group C Group D France Brazil Japan China PR Ghana England Paraguay Germany Netherlands Korea DPR Spain Haiti New Zealand Mexico USA Nigeria FRANCE 2019: France will also host next summer’s 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The senior event will be played in nine cities across the whole of France, including Rennes, Brittany’s capital. FIFA mandates that the host of the quadrennial Women’s World Cup also stage the U-20 event the year before, in part to serve as a dry run for the senior event. The hosting pattern began in 2010 when Germany hosted the U-20 WWC before a historic WWC in 2011. Canada hosted the U-20 WWC in 2014 before staging the 2015 WWC, won by the USA. SUCCESS AT THE U-20 WWC: The USA has qualified for every edition of the U-20 WWC and has won three of the eight previous tournaments, compiling a 30-6-8 overall record. At the inaugural FIFA U-19 Women’s Championship in 2002, the USA took home the title by defeating host Canada 1-0 with on a golden goal in overtime from Lindsay Tarpley in front of nearly 50,000 fans. In 2008, future senior WNT stars Sydney Leroux and Alex Morgan helped lead the USA to the tournament title, scoring in the championship match against North Korea. Most recently, the U.S. won the 2012 tournament, downing three group winners in the knockout rounds en route to the trophy. Heartbreakingly, the USA has been knocked out of the tournament in penalty kicks in 2006, 2010 and 2014. The U-20s have lost just five games in regulation in the previous eight tournaments, including three defeats to Germany. In addition to three tourney titles and three PK exits, the USA has finished third, in 2004, and fourth, in 2016. PAPAUA NEW GUINEA 2016: The USA finished fourth at the last U-20 Women’s World Cup, a historic tournament contested in Papua New Guinea. After winning its group by the slimmest of margins, topping France on a FIFA Fair Play points tiebreaker, the U.S. downed regional rival Mexico in the quarterfinals. In the semis, the USA suffered a hard-fought extra time loss to Korea DPR before falling to Japan 1-0 on an 87th-minute goal in the Third-Place match. U-20 WNT A SPRINGBOARD TO SENIOR WNT: Many players who have represented the USA at the U-20 level have gone on to star for the full WNT. Most recently, forward Mallory Pugh captained the USA in 2016 in Papua New Guinea. Morgan Brian, Crystal Dunn, Julie Ertz and Samantha Mewis helped the U-20s lift the trophy in 2012, while Alyssa Naeher backstopped Sydney Leroux and Alex Morgan’s 2008 team to the championship.<doc-sep>Starting XI: Laurel Ivory, Tara McKeown, Naomi Girma, Samantha Hiatt, Kiara Pickett, Viviana Villacorta, Jaelin Howell, Ashley Sanchez, Erin Gilroy, Sophia Smith, Savannah DeMelo After a fairly grinding 1-0 loss to Japan, the United States U20 WNT went into their second game of group stage with mostly the same starting XI, but a slightly different game plan. Yes, they still played quite direct through the flanks, but Jaelin Howell tried to distribute out of the middle more, and Sanchez and DeMelo both drifted centrally to try and set up Sophia Smith from time to time. But it was a choppy start, as Paraguay reacted to the United States’ physicality, requiring a trainer to come on several times in the first 15 minutes. The US managed to find a rhythm anyway, dominating the half on the back of Sophia Smith’s opening goal. Smith took the ball endline and rolled it in at a steep angle in the 15’ to make it 1-0. Watch her work! Just Sophia Smith doing what she does best at the #U20WWC. pic.twitter.com/R0VfwiuKVD — U.S. Soccer YNT (@ussoccer_ynt) August 9, 2018 The US kept up the energetic flank play, dropping a couple balls in the box from wide, but not finding targets. Paraguay pushed back, looking to thread the US back line, but their best effort in the 34’ didn’t result in a shot on goal as Tara McKeown smart tracked the runner the whole through the box. The US responded well, particularly through Smith, who easily set up the bulk of the US’ chances in the first half. She set up a couple of beautiful crosses and feeds for Gilroy and DeMelo, eventually paying off in the 38’. Smith turned the corner on her fullback, shot hard at Isabel Ortiz in goal for Paraguay, and DeMelo collected the rebound from Ortiz’s block to make it 2-0. Paraguay’s fullbacks were unable to keep up with the flurry of speed from the US, and they found a third in the 44’ as Gilroy took her turn to beat an ineffective challenge and cut it back, where DeMelo was lurking in the box. She timed the run and placed the ball between two defenders, ending the half at 3-0. The United States knew very well that goal differential could end up mattering, so they came out in the second half with their foot still mashed down on the accelerator as Ashley Sanchez scored in the 46’ to make it 4-0, finishing off yet another ball from Smith. Smith caused endless trouble for Paraguay, taking off into space and getting endline. The United States peppered the Paraguay goal for the first 10 minutes of the half, with balls in and a few long-range tests. The US made a double sub in the 61’, with Gilroy and Sanchez off for Brianna Pinto and Abigail Kim. Pinto and Kim went into the front line with Smith while Demelo dropped into midfield and switched left with Villacorta moving right. This seemed to open up Villacorta’s ability to provide service out of midfield; she feed Smith a very nice ball between Paraguay’s CB’s in the 63’. Smith was in one on one with Ortiz and finished calmly to make it 5-0. She makes it look easy! Sophia Smith is the gift that keeps on giving. Watch her make it 5-0.pic.twitter.com/QRJOSHwbBh — U.S. Soccer YNT (@ussoccer_ynt) August 9, 2018 Kim was an immediate menace on the right flank; Paraguay’s tired fullback could not stop her from repeatedly getting the ball put into space and running onto it for crosses. She almost gave Smith the hatty in the 70’, but Smith touched the pass wide. Smith subbed out in the 73’ for Penelope Hocking. Hocking definitely looked like a player coming in cold; she missed two easy sitters in front of goal, but made up for it in 78’ putting a well-weighted ball into space for Kim, whose speed got her there first. She placed it in the box and DeMelo was there in open space to finish as Paraguay’s defense was completely caught on the back foot by the pace of the US attack. There were several more opportunities for the US, who seemed to lose a little bit of shape in their shuffled midfield, but dominated the space nonetheless. Paraguay managed to put a ball on frame in the 87’ from a nicely-taken free kick by Jessica Martinez, but Ivory was alert and tipped it over. The game finished at 6-0 and helped boost the US into second in group thanks to their +5 GD. The strategy that kept the US stonewalled against Japan completely pried Paraguay apart as they didn’t have the speed or defensive cohesion to deal with the US’ flank play. Next up: Spain, who will probably be a much harder test. Assuming Japan beats Paraguay, the United States must beat Spain and maintain a good GD in order to advance. USA vs Spain kicks off at 7:30 AM ET on August 13. It will air live on FS2 and stream on Fox Sports Go.<doc-sep>USA responded to their opening 1-0 defeat to Japan with a resounding 6-0 victory over Paraguay in Group C at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup France 2018 in Concarneau on Thursday evening. It was a move of individual brilliance from 17-year-old Sophia Smith in the 15th minute that saw USA score their first goal at France 2018. Picking up the ball in the middle of the park, Smith exchanged a pass with Viviana Villacorta, before dribbling past two opponents and driving in a left-footed shot past Paraguay goalkeeper Isabel Ortiz. The Stars and Stripes then doubled their lead in the 39th minute when a fierce right-footed shot from Smith was parried by Ortiz and then poked in by Savannah Demelo, who made no mistake from close range. Demelo got her second goal on the evening five minutes later when she latched on to the end of a cut-back pass by Erin Gilroy and placed a left-foot shot into the far corner of Paraguay’s goal. The second half started right where the first left off, with USA remaining dominant. Ashley Sanchez added a fourth for the North American side just a minute into the half. Smith dribbled down the right flank at pace before cutting back a pass, finding a wide open Sanchez, who finished with ease. Smith got her second of the evening a few minutes later when Villacorta played her through on goal with a well-timed through ball and Smith slotted a shot past Ortiz before it kissed the post and went in for USA's fifth. Demelo completed her hat-trick in the 78th minute, thanks to substitute Abigail Kim's low cross, which found the attacking midfielder open at the far post. She finished off her chance to wrap up a successful second match of the tournament for Jitka Klimkova's side. “Dare To Shine” Player of the Match: Sophia Smith (USA)<doc-sep>
DINAN-LEHON, France (Via U.S. Soccer) – The USA rallied from two goals down to draw European champion Spain 2-2 in the third and final Group C match for both teams, but the Americans needed a win to advance to the quarterfinals and exited the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup despite the thrilling comeback. With Japan defeating Paraguay 6-0 in the other Group C match taking place at the same time, the USA needed a victory to jump over Spain and earn a spot in the quarterfinals. Spain had the better of the early going and got on the board in the seventh minute through Patri Guijarro who finished after a misplayed U.S. clearance. The second Spain goal came in 42nd minute and put the USA in a deep hole. The U.S. once again failed to clear, this time a long free kick, and Lucia Garcia scored from close range. The USA got its footing midway through the first half with forward Erin Gilory creating danger down the left wing. With the help of two substitutes, forward Abigail Kim and midfielder Brianna Pinto, the USA pushed to get back in the match in the second half. The Americans had the better of the game in the last 20 minutes, eventually matching Spain’s 16 total shots, but fell just short despite showing tremendous mental toughness to earn two late goals. The USA scored in the 82nd minute on a perfectly struck free kick from forward Sophia Smith. When Savannah DeMelo’s deflected shot spun into the net in the 87th minute, the USA had about seven minutes, including stoppage time, to produce the game-winner which would have secured advancement. Despite several dangerous forays into the attacking third as the minutes ticked away, and a volley by Gilroy that sailed over the net in the waning moments, the USA could not get the goal it needed and failed to advance out of its group at the U-20 Women’s World Cup for the first time in nine tournaments. Spain won Group C with seven points and Japan finished second with six. Goal Scoring Rundown: ESP – Patri Guijarro, 8th minute: Spanish captain Patri Guijarro went on a nifty run through the midfield before passing to Claudia Pino in the right side of the penalty box. Her cross was knocked down by defender Kiara Pickett and fell to Jaelin Howell in front of the U.S. goal, but her hurried clearance went straight to Guijarro at the top of the penalty box. Guijarro had time to settle the ball before driving her shot into the lower left corner, giving U.S. goalkeeper Laurel Ivory no chance. USA 0, ESP 1 ESP – Lucia Garcia (Patri Guijarro), 42nd minute: On a free kick from about 40 yards out, Aitana Bonmati launched the ball into the penalty area. Guijarro headed it down and the ball fell at the feet of Garcia. She hit it hard toward the right side of the goal from close range and although Ivory got her hands on it, the ball slipped under her and rolled across the goal line. USA 0, ESP 2 USA – Sophia Smith, 82nd minute: The USA employed some trickery on a free kick from just outside the left corner of the penalty box. Two players ran over the ball before Smith drove a spinning shot through numerous players in front of the net and it stuck just inside the right post to give the USA life. The goal was Smith’s third in the World Cup and 24th at the U-20 level, tying her for second on the USA’s all-time U-20 scoring list. Smith is age-eligible for the 2020 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup as well. USA 1, ESP 2 USA – Savannah DeMelo (Samantha Hiatt), 87th minute: DeMelo got her fourth goal of the tournament with a driven shot from about 30 yards out that was deflected off the hip Spanish defender Damaris Egurrola and spun into the right corner past-the wrong-footed goalkeeper to pull the USA to within one goal of a quarterfinal berth. USA 2, ESP 2 FINAL Key Stops: ESP – Catalina Coll, 20th minute: Pressure from Erin Gilroy forced a Spanish turnover deep in its own territory. Sophia Smith latched into the loose ball and played it to Viviana Villacorta at the top of the penalty box.