Youth Soccer

After the U.S. women’s national team won its fourth Women’s World Cup this summer they spent most of their celebratory parades and interviews discussing the gender pay gap. Women across the nation earn 79 cents for every $1 men earn and for the USWNT and female athletes everywhere, this is not acceptable. Not only did the USWNT start campaigning for its equal pay movement, but they have influenced other athletes both male and female, as well as younger generations to take a stand and help make a difference. 

In 1999, the USMNT was coming off a miserable showing at the 1998 World Cup in which it finished dead last. It was a dark time for U.S. soccer fans, but the following year showed reason for hope with the performance from a bunch of then-unknown kids on the U-17 USMNT at the U-17 World Cup in New Zealand.

Now the USMNT is again coming off a miserable couple of years having failed to qualify at all for the 2018 World Cup, and 20 years later the U-17 USMNT might give fans a reason to believe the country is heading in the right direction.

MLS youth academy coaching is about to get a serious revamp along with a fourth iteration of the visionary partnership between MLS and the French Football Federation (FFF).

Before yesterday’s Ligue 1 match between defending champion PSG and Rennes at Roazhon Park, all of the talk was centered around Neymar’s complete absence from the squad. After the match, the only name being mentioned was that of 16-year-old Rennes defensive midfielder Eduardo Camavinga.

Camavinga only made his senior debut last April — going on to total seven Ligue 1 appearances last campaign — but he was instrumental in his side’s shock 2-1 upset of PSG last night.

In a recent talk with SBI, American icon DaMarcus Beasley said he wholeheartedly supports promotion and relegation in MLS — although he admits that he has no idea how it would work financially and pragmatically — but he also gives the most depressing assessment of the league’s academy system that I’ve ever heard.

Giovanni Reyna made quite an impression in his competitive debut with the Borussia Dortmund U-19 squad. It just wasn’t as good as his younger teammate.

Reyna, a 16-year-old American, scored in the first minute of Dortmund’s 9-2 win over Wuppertaler SV in the U-19 Bundesliga season opener on Sunday. His 14-year-old teammate, Youssoufa Moukoko, did even better, scoring six goals in his U-19 debut.

Francis Jacobs became the youngest soccer player to sign a professional contract with a U.S. club when he joined Orange County SC, the club announced Monday. Orange County competes in the USL Championship, the second division of U.S. soccer.

Last night in Lima, Peru, Honduras upset Mexico after a penalty shootout to advance to the final of the 2019 Pan American Games. It’s a largely meaningless U-22 competition with understrength youth teams, so the Mexican Football Federation won’t be overly bothered by the result, but manager Jaime Lozano will be irked that his side couldn’t hold on to a 1-0 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining.

Especially since that 1-0 lead was built on one of the finest goals of the summer.

In a rematch of the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Final, Spain got revenge on Germany to capture its fifth title, moving the nation level with Italy as the most successful in the history of the Euro U-21 competition.

Spain last achieved U-21 glory when winning back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2013. That extremely skilled cohort included the likes of Juan Mata, David de Gea, Cesar Azpilicueta, Javi Martinez, Isco, Koke and Dani Carvajal, and the 2019 group is sure to achieve just as much international success, if not more than that highly skilled generation.

The story of the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship so far has been the play of Romania, which is participating at the tournament for the first time since 1998. After finishing above Portugal in qualifying, there was a sense that this could be the finest Romanian generation in 20 years, but no one could’ve predicted the start they’d make at this U-21 Championship.

Romania began play last Tuesday with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Croatia, including goals from the highly touted Ianis Hagi and Tudor Băluță.