Road to the Dominican Republic - 2024 u17 World Cup

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

@narduch & @red card,

It looks like 5 players are from the Ottawa area:

https://ottawasun.com/sports/soccer/five-ottawa-soccer-players-will-play-for-canada-at-concacaf-u17-tournament-in-mexico/wcm/bd8790c4-043f-4a23-9b49-1e52e7f00e50/amp/

 

And Bridget Mutipula is actually from Halifax.

https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/sports/halifaxs-mutipula-named-to-canada-roster-for-concacaf-womens-under-17-soccer-championship-100931592/

As I understand it, she moved to Vancouver to train at the development centre back in June 

https://www.soccerns.ca/mutipula-off-to-vancouver-to-join-whitecaps-fc-girls-elite-academy/

 

[red card]

On 1/23/2024 at 12:09 PM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

 

I don't have the time to do it, so perhaps @red card or somebody else may wish to tell us how the player pool has evolved from August 2023 qualifying to that Portugal camp to now.

Any surprise inclusions or omissions?

These twins were on the u15 team but weren't part of the group who got the most minutes. They didn't make the u17 team but are heading to Freiburg.

Concacaf lists OneSoccer as broadcaster for this tourney. We'll have to see if OneSoccer feed will still be avalable or will they relinquish the rights or will it not be geoblocked on Concacaf Youtube.

Edited January 26 by red card

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Rosters for the tournament are here:

https://www.concacaf.com/under-17s-women/article/2024-concacaf-women-s-u-17-championship-final-rosters-confirmed/

 

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No kickoff times released by CONCACAF but our game against the USA will be at 1pm on Tuesday, Feb 6th and will be broadcast on Fox Sports 2.

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2024/01/2024-concacaf-womens-u-17-championship-usa-tournament-preview-five-things-to-know

[narduch]

Broadcast confirmed.

 

 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

The USA just destroyed Panama 13 - nil.

--------

Our starting XI vs Puerto Rico:

 

Edited February 2 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[rkomar]

Chukwu hits a screamer from outside the box for Canada's second goal.  2-0 for Canada in the 18th minute.

[rkomar]

Tarasco fumbles twice but gets the ball in on the third attempt one yard off the goal line with one defender sitting on the ground in front of her.  It did not look slick, but she got it done in the end.  3-0 Canada.

[rkomar]

Chukwu makes in 4-0 in the 24th minute.  Keeping up the scoring tweets is turning into too much work!  I'm taking a break for a while.

[narduch]

 

 

[Kent]

Chukwu with a hat-trick in the first 24 minutes. Well done to her and the team as a whole. Nice to get the first win under our belt. Next game is on Sunday, same time as today's game according to wikipedia (4pm Eastern).

[narduch]

1 hour ago, Kent said:

Chukwu with a hat-trick in the first 24 minutes. Well done to her and the team as a whole. Nice to get the first win under our belt. Next game is on Sunday, same time as today's game according to wikipedia (4pm Eastern).

Handy schedule from the CSA

 

[red card]

A bit biased view since she is a Team Ontario coach.

While against subpar competition, Chukwu's form in potting goals has looked next level for her age. Announcer called her third goal yesterday as Thierry Henry-esque. 

 

 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Highlights from the first match are here:

Skip to 3min 4 secs.

[red card]

NextPod interviewed Emma Humphries.

She is focused on partnerships since they play more together with their NDC clubs but don't play 20 matches like some other youth national teams. Quebec/Ontario u17s did play their u20 counterparts over the holidays. There will be players missed. Added McLeod as she is a helluva player to watch. 

With a pro league, she expects 7-8 players per NDC to be able to play pro. And the players will learn to play beyond just the Canada Soccer way.

 

[Ivan]

9 hours ago, red card said:

NextPod interviewed Emma Humphries.

She is focused on partnerships since they play more together with their NDC clubs but don't play 20 matches like some other youth national teams. Quebec/Ontario u17s did play their u20 counterparts over the holidays. There will be players missed. Added McLeod as she is a helluva player to watch. 

With a pro league, she expects 7-8 players per NDC to be able to play pro. And the players will learn to play beyond just the Canada Soccer way.

 

Couldn't watch the first game live, but was able to watch it yesterday, archived on Onesoccer.

Some impressive players on that team.  Annabelle Chuckwu looks real good.  She's not built like Rosa Malouf or Olivia Smith (big and powerful, appearing somewhat slow).  Annabelle is long, lithe, fast and powerful.  Her twin sister didn't play.

Tarasco works her butt off.  Her goal was scrappy as described by @rkomar above but she's got some speed and skills.  Melenhorst gives me Diana Matheson vibes, small, quick, skilled.  Defence looks a bit shaky, except for Mya Angus who looks good.  McLeod came on for the last 30 minutes and looks like a slightly smaller version of Annabelle (fast, lithe) but she's only 14! Could be a future star. 

Anyway, could be about a weaker opponent, we'll see what happens in the USA game, but my first impression was this team looks better than the last couple versions.  

[narduch]

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

1 hour ago, narduch said:

Less rotation than I thought. 

[Ivan]

4-0 Canada in the 80th minute.  Pretty dominant performance.  Puerto Rico had more chances on net. 4 different scorers.   Panama doing a great job of slowing the game. Lots of faked injuries, taking forever on free kicks, keeper holding the ball. And as I type, Panama score. Deflection off a defender.

[narduch]

We have clinched a berth in the semis. 

We need to win that match to make the World Cup.

It will be against Haiti or Mexico

[narduch]

Reminder.

 

 

[narduch]

If we beat the USA we will face Haiti in the semis for our shot at the World Cup.

If we lose or draw we get Mexico.

[red card]

Looks like assistant Gary Moody got a red for leaving the technical area after ref blew whistle to restart play after injury delay. GK Henning was also still drinking water at the sidelines.

But the larger news revealed by Humphries was that Panama manager (who is Argentinian) .."was making degrading comments towards women, towards myself, towards his own team. … The whole stadium could hear it and the referees heard it too. He also swore, he used the F-word at my assistant."

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/article-canada-womens-under-17-coach-says-panama-counterpart-used-abusive/

 

Edited February 6 by red card

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Our starting XI:

 

The US starting XI:

 

[Kent]

I just finished watching the Canada vs Panama game finally. The commentator said that USA has never lost in this tournament, and has won 6 of the 8 tournaments. It didn't add up to me so I had to investigate. The 2 tournaments they didn't win was because they lost a shoot out. So he is kind of correct. We are definite underdogs in the game today, but what a story it would be if we handed them their first ever loss in the U17 women's CONCACAF championship!

[narduch]

USA leading 1-0 at the half