The USA opened the 2017 U-17 World Cup against one of the least formidable teams in the tournament: India.

The USA kicks off its 2017 U-17 World Cup campaign against host India on Friday (10:30 a.m. ET, FS2, Universo).

High school is a microcosm of society; the actions we see today by professional and college athletes always find a way onto our playing fields and our practices. The current protests by our professional athletes will and may already have found their way to your schools.

Benjamin Ziemer, one of four brothers of the renowned Northern California Ziemer soccer family, serves as the Sacramento Republic's boys Development Academy U-19 head coach and U-17 assistant, and is a founder and the president of NorCal Premier Soccer.

I was an assistant referee and yellow was up 1-0 in the closing seconds of a Boys High School Summer League semifinal game. A maroon attacker was at the top of the penalty arc and he played the ball to a teammate a half-yard offside on my near side of the field, inside the penalty area.

Not since Freddy Adu in 2003 has an American player entered the biennial U-17 World Cup under the kind of spotlight that will shine on Josh Sargent.

The USA did poorly at the last U-17 World Cup, failing to reach the second round in 2015, but that team included: Christian Pulisic, now already Bundesliga star, Tyler Adams, a New York Red Bulls starter, and Haji Wright, who's playing in the German second division. Based on that track record, some of the boys headed to India to represent the USA at the 2017 U-17 World Cup are likely to be players we hear about in the future at the higher levels.

Hall of Famer Tab Ramos, who was one of the USA's longest-serving players, is becoming one of the national team's longest-serving coaches. Ramos has agreed to continue as U-20 men's national coach, a position he's held since November 2013, and as U.S. Soccer Youth Technical Director, which he became in October 2011.

A tournament win in China for the U.S. U-19 national included the second meeting in history between female national teams of Iran and the USA. The first came when the U.S. U-16 girls beat Iran, 6-0, at the Torneo Delle Nazioni in Italy in April of 2016. ... The U.S. U-16 girls beat their German counterparts, 4-0, in Lower Saxony in front of a crowd of more than 3,000 that included Richard Yoneoka, the U.S. Consul General to Northern Germany. ... Coach John Hackworth is taking one more look at his player pool before announcing his roster for the 2017 ...

U.S. U-15 boys national team coach Dave van den Bergh grew up playing in Ajax Amsterdam's youth program, a teammate of future Dutch national team stars Patrick Kluivert and Clarence Seedorf.

England may be home to the world's richest league, but that hasn't translated into national team success. It has not won a major title since its only World Cup win, on home soil in 1966, and has gotten past the quarterfinals only once, in 1990. But this year, the England's youth national teams have had a remarkable run.

No two children are alike and their dreams are as unique as their goals. As high school students across the nation center another grade, many will begin the exciting -- and at times overwhelming -- process of preparing for college.

Having officiated my 10,000th game on August 8 gave me a chance to reflect on the many changes that have occurred on the American youth soccer landscape since when I took up the whistle in 1978 and was a youth player in the 1970's. Here are some of them:

The U.S. Soccer Girls Development Academy -- with 69 clubs, 276 teams and more than 6,000 players -- kicks off this weekend, a decade after U.S. Soccer launched the Boys Development Academy.

A 4-0 loss to Japan at 2017 Vaclav Jezek Tournament in the Czech Republic marked the U.S. U-17 boys national team's worst loss since falling, 4-0, to Mexico in a friendly in Panama in February of 2013.