ORANGEBURG, N.Y. — The United States and Ghana aren’t finished with the World Cup stage just yet.
On July 14 in Dresden, Germany, a continent and three weeks removed from Ghana’s 2-1 win against the United States in the knockout phase of the men’s World Cup in South Africa, and four years removed the men’s teams meeting in Germany during group play in the 2006 World Cup, the two nations will again renew acquaintances in one of FIFA’s grand global tournaments.
This time the two national anthems will precede the opening game in Group D of the Under-20 Women’s World Cup (Wednesday, ESPNU, 12 p.m. ET). And while the Americans are the favorites against their Ghanaian counterparts in the opener, defending the title they won at the last Under-20 World Cup two years ago will be a challenge.
The United States isn’t the only superpower in the women’s game at the senior level, so it’s no surprise it has plenty of competition at the youth levels. The U.S. won two of the first four Under-20 World Cups (contested as Under-19 events in 2002 and 2004), but it failed to reach the final in either 2004 or 2006, despite rosters stocked with plenty of players now part of the senior team. The American entry also lost out to North Korea in the inaugural Under-17 Women’s World Cup in 2008, meaning it has captured just two of the five major youth tournaments held.
Two years ago, the United States lost to China in group play during the Under-20 Cup, the first loss at that stage in four appearances in the tournament. Coached by Tony DiCicco, architect of the full national team’s memorable 1999 World Cup run, the 2008 team recovered but still needed one-goal wins against Germany and North Korea to reclaim the title for the first time in six years.
A group this time around in Germany that includes Ghana, Switzerland and South Korea, all relatively unproven in the women’s game, isn’t “Group of Death” material, but even the opening match offers something of a referendum on the increasing depth of the international game.
Nigeria has traditionally been Africa’s strongest women’s side, but Ghana opened eyes at the 2008 Under-17 World Cup. Although they failed to reach the knockout round, the Ghanaians drew eventual champion North Korea 1-1, dropped a 3-2 decision against eventual third-place finisher Germany and beat Costa Rica 1-0. Many of those players will be on the field in Dresden, offering what Ellis expects to be a fast, aggressive challenge for the Americans, who lost their final two pre-tournament internationals against Germany and Japan in June and were tested by Costa Rica and Mexico in CONCACAF qualifying.
One of Pia Sundhage’s assistants with the full national team (in addition to coaching a UCLA program that has made eight consecutive trips to the College Cup), Ellis isn’t one to lose sight of the forest for the trees at a developmental level.
“My goal is to hopefully get some of these players into Pia’s camp,” Ellis said. “So I think you do take that in mind, but obviously, yeah, we want to compete. I recognize that through this process of six games to win a World Cup, sometimes it’s going to be pretty and sometimes it’s not. It’s finding a way. And I think the other thing is this is where we develop that mentality [for the full national team].”
Here’s how the lineup may take shape in Germany.
Forwards
The American attack begins, but hopefully for it sake doesn’t end, with Sydney Leroux. Fourth in the NCAA in goals last season as a sophomore at UCLA, Leroux was also the Golden Boot winner as the leading scorer in the 2008 Under-20 World Cup and was the current team’s leading scorer in qualification for Germany. In Ellis’ 4-4-2 formation, she sits at the top of the lineup and generally does most of her work in the middle of the field, tracking the width of the 18-yard box.
Boston College’s Vicki DiMartino has played all over the field for Ellis, including some time at fullback against CONCACAF teams willing to sit back and play a defensive style against the United States, but she’s a natural attacker who has recently played as a second forward stacked behind Leroux.
Midfield
Christine Nairn is the only player on the roster who has earned caps with the full national team, and the rising sophomore at Penn State serves as the engine in midfield for the United States and wears the captain’s armband. As her resume suggests, she’s poised and plays with both a creative touch and a physical presence.
DiMartino’s teammate at Boston College, Kristie Mewis is a natural fit on the left side, with a strong shot from distance and good attacking instincts. UCLA’s Zakiya Bywaters and Florida State’s Casey Short both offer speed on the right side. North Carolina’s Amber Brooks earned regular minutes for the national champion Tar Heels last fall and seems to have found a home with the U-20 team as a defensive midfielder after some time in the back line earlier in the World Cup cycle. Stanford’s Teresa Noyola owns more U-20 caps than anyone on the roster except Leroux and is a goof playmaker who also scored on a free kick in the team’s qualification clincher.
Defense
The back line likely holds the key to success or disappointment in the World Cup.
“I will say, I think there’s a scarcity of quality, attacking backs, center backs,” Ellis said of the overall domestic picture in the United States. “I think there is a scarcity. We’ve looked at a lot of different players, and I think for me the attributes that are more important are they’ve got to be good in the air, they’ve got to pacey to be able to drop and cover and can they connect simple passes for us?”
Her answer is a quartet that includes two converted attacking players in Portland’s Kendall Johnson and Florida State’s Toni Pressley and one rising college freshman in North Carolina’s Crystal Dunn in addition to Stanford standout Rachel Quon.
The potential is there. Quon is a proven asset getting forward and Johnson’s emergence in recent months convinced Ellis she could safely return DiMartino to forward. Pressley’s blend of size and speed could mean she’ll be wearing national team jerseys for years to come in the middle of the back line. But as five goals allowed in the recent losses against Japan and Germany suggest, it’s still a work in progress in front of likely first-choice keeper Biana Henninger from Santa Clara.
Graham Hays 