Champions: U.S. U-15 girls perfect in Orlando; U-18 boys lift Czech crown

• by Mike Woitalla  @MikeWoitalla, Aug 22, 2016

The USA outscored seven opponents 49-0 and won the Concacaf U-15 Girls Championship with a 2-0 win over Canada in the final after a 5-0 win Costa Rica in the semifinals in Orlando, Florida.

Leading Coach Mark Carr's team in scoring were Payton Linnehan and Gabrielle Robinson, with eight goals each. Linnehan, because she played fewer minutes, won the Golden Boot at the tournament that saw the USA sweep through group play with wins over Trinidad & Tobago (22-0), Mexico (1-0), Haiti (1-0) and the Dominican Republic before a 12-0 quarterfinal win over Bermuda.

Standing (L to R): Talia DellaPeruta, Leah Scarpelli, Ruth Jones, Kalyssa Van Zanten, Natalia Staude, Gabrielle Robinson. Front row: Hollyn Torres, Makenna Morris, Mia Fishel, Samantha Meza, Croix Bethune. (Photo courtesy U.S. Soccer)

“This whole tournament experience has been incredible and taught us a lot of things about where we are as players and a team and what to expect at this level of competition,” said Carr. “This is a special group and we have thoroughly enjoyed the journey together. I am very proud of these players and I know the future is very bright in our U.S. youth national team programs.”

U.S. Goalscorers
8 Payton Linnehan (FC Stars of Mass.; Douglas, Mass.)
8 Gabrielle Robinson (BRYSC; Springfield, Va.).
7 Mia Fishel (San Diego Surf)
7 Kalyssa Van Zanten (Eclipse Select; Buffalo Grove, Ill.).
6 Samantha Meza (Dallas Kicks)
5 Sunshine Fontes (Honolulu Bulls)
2 Croix Bethune (Concorde Fire; Alpharetta Ga.)
2 Madison Mercado (San Diego Surf)
2 own goals
1 Talia DellaPeruta (Tophat SC; Cumming, Ga.)
1 Hollyn Torres (FC Dallas)

The USA did not compete in the first edition of the Concacaf U-15 Girls Championship, which was won two years ago by host Canada. Carr's squad will have one more event this year before transitioning to U-17s in 2017 to form the core of the team that aims to qualify for the 2018 U-17 Women’s World Cup in Uruguay.

2016 Concacaf Under-15 Women’s Championship Best XI
Goalkeeper: Ruth Jones (USA)
Right Back: Camila Capmany (Costa Rica), Center Backs: Leah Scarpelli (USA), Maya Antoine (Canada). Left Back: Julianne Vallerand (Canada).
Right Midfielder/Winger: Samantha Meza (USA). Center Midfielders: Croix Bethune (USA), Mia Fishel (USA), Dania Perez (Mexico), Left Midfielder/Winger: Gabrielle Robinson (USA).
Forward: Jordyn Huitema (Canada).

Mexico, which won the Fair Play Award, finished third thanks to a 5-1 win over Costa Rica in the consolation game.

FINAL
Aug. 21 in Orlando, Fla.
USA 2 Canada 0. Goals: Van Zanten 39, Meza (Glenn) 58.
USA -- Jones; Morris, Scarpelli, Staude, Meza (Jones-Black, 70), Torres (Glenn, 51), Van Zanten (Mercado, 65), Fishel, Robinson (Linnehan, 42), Bethune, Dellaperuta (Fontes, 32).
Canada -- Guilmette; Antoine, Hanisch (Cajilig, 70), Huitema, Kennedy (Scott, 36), Ladhani, Riviere (Akindoju, 60), Scott, Shaw (Jones 46), Vallerand, Walk.

SEMIFINAL
Aug. 19 in Orlando, Fla
USA 5 Costa Rica 0. Goals: Robinson (Torres) 1, Van Zanten (Meza) 23, Van Zanten (Meza) 36+, Fishel (Meza) 39, Linnehan (Fishel) 44.
USA -- Romig; DellaPeruta (Jones-Black, 36, Fontes, 45); Scarpelli (Hansen, 51); Staude; Morris; Meza; Bethune; Torres; Fishel (Mercado, 49); Robinson ( Linnehan, 42); Van Zanten.
Costa Rica -- Solano; Capmany; Capmany; Gutierrez; Gomez; Umana (Badilla, 64); Marin; Salas; Porras; Mendoza; Guerrero (Aguilar, 64).

U.S. U-18 boys win Vaclav Jezek Tournament

The U.S. U-18 boys national team, coached by Omid Namazi, beat host Czech Republic, 4-2, in the final of the of the Vaclav Jezek Tournament.

Namazi’s squad, which entered the tournament on a seven-game win streak, reached the final with wins over Russia (5-3), Hungary (3-1) and Slovakia (3-1).

Photo Courtesy U.S. Soccer.

Nick Taitague, who played four games as an amateur player for the NASL's Carolina RailHawks and recently trained at German club Schalke 04, led the USA in scoring and was named tournament MVP while U.S. keeper Brady Scott of Northern California's De Anza Force won the Golden Glove.

“Nick is a talent," said Namazi. "Wherever we play, I think people are in awe of his technical ability and his ability to pass defenders. Brady is a great presence in goal and has a calming influence on the whole team. He doesn’t ever seem rattled. They both deserved to get the recognition they did, but at the same time the whole team deserved recognition because everybody stepped up and had a good performance throughout the tournament.”

U.S. Goalscorers
4 Nick Taitague (Unattached; Midlothian, Va.)
3 Nebiyou Perry (AIK Fotboll/SWE; New York, N.Y.)
2 Jose Carranza (D.C. United)
2 Paxton Pomykal (FC Dallas)
1 Shaft Brewer (Sacramento Republic)
1 Griffin Dorsey (Colorado Rush)
1 Justin Rennicks (New England Revolution)
1 own goal

Aug. 20 in Pilsen
Czech Republic 2 USA 4. Goals: Lauricella 7, Lauricella 75; Pomykal 39, Taitague 62, Perry 79, Perry 90.
Czech Republic -- Groger; Kadar, Cihak, Kral (Plechaty, 46), Lauko; Moucka, Krejci, Pihrt, Fortelny; Lauricella, Hellebrand (Beno, 69).
USA -- Scott; Zarris, Vom Steeg, Stanley, Jones; Gonzalez, Pomykal, Carranza, Dorsey (Perry, 70), Rennicks (Brewer, 70), Taitague.

August 19 in Pilsen
USA 5 Russia 3. Goals: Dorsey 10, Pomykal 31, Carranza 52, own goal 61, Perry 88; Ignatev 58, Utkin 78, Ilya Mazurov 81.
USA -- Douglas; Real, Gruno, Maher, Jones (Vom Steeg, 82); Paoli, Pomykal (Carranza, 46), Servania; Perry (Taitague, 89), Dorsey (Espinoza, 65), Brewer.
Russia -- Safonov; Golubev, Zakharov, Evgenyev, Sergeev; Denisov (Veber, 70), Utkin, Grulev (Matskharashvili, 63), Suleymanov (Mazurov, 66); Rudenko (Ignatev, 46), Latcevich.

Aug. 17 in Rokycany
USA 3 Hungary 1. Goals: Carranza 8, Taitague 72, Taitague 80; Bolla 37
USA -- Scott; Zarris, Vom Steeg, Stanley, Real; Gonzalez (Paoli, 46), Carranza, Servania; Espinoza (Pomykal, 64), Rennicks (Taitague, 57), Brewer (17- Perry, 77).
Hungary -- Varga; Erdelyi, Geringer, Virag, Gajda; 8- Schafer (Lustyik, 46), Nemeth, Rabatin; Nyeki (17- Kun, 46), Gergye (Szabo, 61), Bolla.

U.S. Soccer to host women's U-20 NTC Invitational

The U.S. U-20 women’s national team’s preparation for the 2016 U-20 World Cup in November includes the U-20 Women's NTC Invitational Sept. 14-18, at which it will play Brazil, England and South Korea at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center at StubHub Center in Carson, California.

Brazil and South Korea also qualified for the 2016 Women’s World Cup while England finished last in its European qualifying group behind Germany, Spain and Norway.

U.S. U-20 women's national team coach Michelle French will call up 21 players for the tournament and will name her roster in the coming weeks.

2016 U-20 NTC Invitational
Wednesday, Sept. 14
England vs. Brazil
USA vs. South Korea
Friday, Sept. 16
Brazil vs. South Korea
USA vs. England
Sunday, Sept. 18
South Korea vs. England
USA vs. Brazil