Four Reasons To Follow The Women's U-20 World Cup
The U-20 World Cup has kicked off in Colombia and I for one am going to be seated for this
Colombia kicked off the eleventh edition of the U-20 World Cup on home soil against Australia and claimed a 2-0 win in the first game in Bogota, with Linda Caicedo getting the second goal and being named MVP. So beautiful to see the stands absolutely filled to the brim with supporters turning out to support their team!
In the other games Brazil won 9-0 against Fiji, Cameroon drew 2-2 with Mexico and France drew 3-3 with Canada.
Sunday night we were in for a real show stopper, as Spain took on USA! It took Spain less than 10 minutes to score, a wonderfully worked team goal finished off by Olaya Enrique. After that it was a stalemate for most of the game as the US stood up well defensively and the game finished 1-0.
Germany - Venezuela was an eventful 5-2 affair featuring a STUNNING free-kick by Venezuela’s Floriangel Apostol, Nigeria - South Korea finished 1-0 after a late goal by Flourish Sabastine and Paraguay won against Morocco 2-0 after two braces from Paraguya’s top scorer Fatima Acosta, one of which she lobbed the goalkeeper and the defender at the edge of the box.
Last night it was time for the last teams to start off their tournament, starting with North Korea who played Argentina and won comfortably 6-2, with six different goal scorers, and Austria who won against Ghana 2-1. Later on, Japan beat New Zealand 7-0 with Maya Hijikata and Chinari Sasai both scoring twice and Netherlands won 2-0 against Costa Rica.
FIFA + is live streaming 28 out of the 53 games as well as providing highlights of the games, they are available in most territories worldwide (find complete list here) and it’s free to access once you register an account. I have a lot of thoughts on FIFA getting into the broadcast game and becoming a streaming service. (Here is a good article from SportsProMedia, albeit two years old, on what the service entails and what the plans are for it.)
Let’s dive in to the tournament.
Current and future stars can shine
This is where stars are being handcrafted and have a chance to rub shoulders with some of the best. Why would you not want a front row seat to that?
Players who are nowadays household names, the likes of Maika Hamano, Alexandra Popp, Marta, Asisat Oshoala, Christine Sinclair, Sydney Leroux to name but a few, have all shone in this tournament.
Spain are the reinas del mundo at the moment. A long time coming, the country is currently unleashing its football talent in every tournament. They are the current WORLD champions at U-17, U-20 AND senior level. They already won the U-17 and U-19 Euros this year. I wrote a bit about it in my article for The Guardian.
A lot of these players are part of the selection that won the U-20 World Cup in Costa Rica 2022, like Silvia Lloris, Maite Zubieta, Júlia Bartel Holgado and Ornella Vignola. There are also some U-19 Euros 2024 champions in the squad, like Eunate Astralaga, Aïcha Camara, Judit Pujols and Marina Artero.
Adding to the U-20 World Cup, Bartel Holgado, who just signed for Chelsea from Barcelona, has been in the midst of this successful Spanish Era, winning the U-19 Euros in 2022 and 2023. One notable omission from the final squad is Daniela Agote, the MVP for the U-19s, who was omitted last minute — she was at the camp two weeks prior. The majority of the players in the squad come from three club teams in Spain — four players from Athletic Club and Barcelona respectively, and three players from Levante UD.
Priscila, who made sure to get on the scoresheet against Fiji, already featured for Brazil’s senior side at the Olympics where she played a big role in the country’s advancement to the final.
Colombia finished runners up at the U-17 World Cup in 2022, ultimately losing to Spain. It wasn't meant to be but perhaps this will be the year. Not only are they getting the honour of hosting the tournament, but with the help of players like Caicedo and Gabriela Rodriguez, this team might go all the way — backed by the noise of the home crowd in the back.
Listen to the noise of that crowd!
Catching the fluctuations and trend spotting
This tournament is the breeding ground for talent. Since there is currently no competition for women at U-23 level, this is the last stop before potentially taking the step up to the senior level. Even once that step is taken, it’s a good space to gain more routine.
Nigeria and Germany are two sides who both had their haydays in the early 2010s with the likes of Alexandra Popp and Agba baller Asisat Oshoala coming up and carrying their countries on their shoulders through those years. Since then they’ve trailed off a bit performance-wise at the youth level and they will both be looking to get back to winning ways. The two countries are two of only four (the other ones being USA and Brazil) to qualify for every edition of the tournament and they have been drawn in the same group, meaning we’ll be treated to an early top-clash game.
Nigeria came third at the U-17 World Cup back in 2022, winning against Germany in the bronze match and the future is looking promising. Lucky Nkpa is still only 16 years of age and is starting up front for the Falconetes (the diminutive for the Super Falcons — HOW SWEET). The squad contains a few young players. Janet Akekoromowei, 16 years old, plays her club football for the Asisat Oshoala Academy — the poetry of this can not be understated. Add to that the fact that Rofiat Imuran, Flourish Sabastine, Reilly Adebowale and Aminat Bello all play professionally already.
Great finish from Sabastine in the 86th minute to win their first game!
To have a former Olympian and World Cup-player on the staff like Effioanwan Ekpo is another strength for the team and head coach Christopher Danjuma calls her a role model. Ekpo, now an assistant coach, was part of the Nigerian side that reached the quarter finals at the 2004 Olympics in Atens.
The German side, somewhat unconventional perhaps, themselves claim that they do not have any distinguished stars or key players but rather they are relying on team spirit.
Homegrown talent versus making it abroad
In the last ten years, teams from the AFC federation have excelled at this tournament. North Korea won it in 2016 with Japan getting the third place. Japan then won the tournament 3-1 in 2018 against Spain, a result that would invert in the 2022 edition when they had to see themselves defeated in favour of Spain clinching their first U-20 title.
On Japan’s midfield they’ve got Manaka Matsukubu who just turned 20 years old and plays professionally for North Carolina Courage. They also have two players who play in Sweden, Shinomi Koyama for Djurgården and Suzu Amano for Hammarby. Koyama has been starting every match for Djurgården so far this season, with four goals to her name. Amano scored for Hammarby in her debut match, taking all but 10 minutes to get on the scoresheet.
Korea DPR, or North Korea, is one of the most successful teams in this tournament. They have won it twice, in 2006 and 2016 (in that year they also won the U-17 World Cup), and were runners up in 2008. The Eastern Azaleas went undefeated throughout the AFC Asian U-20 Championship this year but Japan proved a tough test in the final. Although both teams had already qualified the game was about bragging rights. North Korea came from behind to in the end defeat Japan 2-1, with Jon Ryongjong scoring both goals. Midfielder Chae Un Yong earned the MVP title, as she scored twice and got three assists in the tournament.
Their whole team plays in North Korea’s domestic league.
Alex Bishop has written a piece on the country’s rise within women’s football and over on the BBC, Mike Henson has done a deep dive into the country’s women’s football history — a rich and interesting account.
The US tends to keep their talent in-house and with the NWSL doing so well (I know the US vs European leagues is a sticky discourse at the moment, I will NOT get into it at this time lmao). Eight of their players play professionally, like Ally Sentnor who plays professionally for Utah Royals. The rookie, who is also captaining this US side, scored a brace just a few weeks ago. Savannah King was the second overall pick in the 2024 NWSL draft and plays for Bay FC.
They’ve got Gisele Thompson, the 18-year-old sister of Alyssa Thompson who is only 19 herself but already a member of the senior national team set-up. Both sisters play for Angel City and to be honest, it would be a cheat code to include them both at this stage. This article by Gwendolyn Oxenham beautifully depicts the sisters’ football development, from playing with boys teams to becoming the the first high school athletes to sign a deal with Nike back in 2022. Alyssa, who had initially committed to Stanford, chose to go pro in 2023 instead and sign with Angel City, with Gisele later following in her sisters footsteps, the path beautifully captured in this article.
Ensuring the highest quality from the bottom up
There are several positive take aways from supplying ample coverage:
the players get used to the attention and the pressure that comes with more eyes watching
the fans get more knowledge of these young players and can get hooked at an earlier stage
the players deserve the attention
We’re also ensuring that by keeping the spotlight on these young players, we’re also going to be keeping an eye on what is lurking in the shadows. That there’s a level of accountability that can be upheld. Molly Hencey-Clancy has done a lot of work for the Washington Post on exposing these actors and laying out the facts regarding what is going on behind the scenes. Furthermore the Yates report, uncovering systemic abuse and the abusers in the NWSL and the youth ranks, has been pivotal.
With social media, the players also have a different platform.
Tatiana Flores, born in Canada and raised in England to a Mexican father and a Canadian mother, represents Mexico at youth international level. Flores, who is not foreign to the limelight due to her 1 million instagram followers, plays as a forward for Liga MX Femenil club Tigres UANL. She was recently caught up in a rumour that she was romantically involved with the former Tigres manager Robert Dante Siboldi. It got so bad that she had to go on her instagram to publicly deny the rumours, after receiving a lot of shit on her social media posts.
Being located in Europe, the time zone is the biggest obstacle with most games starting at 00:00 and 03:00 and only a handful of them kicking off at 22:00 which makes total sense because it is hot i Colombia and the later the kick off the better, as well as evening games guaranteeing more eyes on the games.
I’m still going to do my best to follow along what has already shown to be a riveting tournament full of storylines! The big question remains to be seen — can Spain retain the gold medal and the title as the best football nation in the world right now or can a number of these sides put in a bid for the title?