Mexico entered the qualifying tournament for the 2017 U-20 World Cup having won the last three Concacaf U-20 Championship titles, in 2011, 2013 and 2015, and hadn't lost a game in the competition since 2009. The last time the USA had beaten Mexico in a competitive U-20 game was in 1986, when the Americans qualified for the 1987 U-20 World Cup, where its squad included Tony Meola, Marcelo Balboa and Jeff Agoos.

Tab Ramos' quest to become the first coach to qualify the USA for three straight U-20 World Cups comes down to games against Mexico on Monday and El Salvador on Friday at the Concacaf U-20 Championship in Costa Rica.

Asked to explain his club's remarkable achievement, delivering five players to the U.S. U-20 national team, the first thing mentioned by Real Salt Lake-Arizona director Martin Vasquez was what the players did without coaches.

"We know the important part of the tournament is how you end and not how you start," Coach Tab Ramos said after his team's second game of U-20 World Cup qualifying, a 4-1 win over Haiti on Tuesday.

The USA's quest to qualify for the 2017 U-20 World Cup is in danger just one game into the Concacaf Championship.

Tab Ramos, who played for the USA in the 1983 U-20 World Cup, now aims to coach the USA in a third straight U-20 World Cup. The quest to qualify for the 2017 U-20 World Cup in South Korea begins on Saturday, when the USA opens against Panama at the Concacaf U-20 Championship in Costa Rica (Feb. 17-March 5).

Miriam Hickey has been named Director of the U.S. Soccer Girls Development Academy, that which off its first season in August. Hickey, most recently Director of Coaching at the Troy Soccer Club in Michigan, is a FIFA Women's Instructor who helped develop FIFA's girls and women's master's program.

We asked Anson Dorrance for his views on the strife between U.S. Soccer and the ECNL, and what he would like to see happen in American youth soccer.

When James Bunce headed Southampton FC's youth program, its ranks included Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, now an Arsenal and England midfielder. Oxlade-Chamberlain's development became an example of the importance of considering a player's rate of physical development instead of simply evaluating his talent against other players of the same age.

The USA's quest to qualify for a third straight U-20 World Cup begins Feb. 18 against Panama, the first of three first-round opponents at the Concacaf U-20 Championship in Costa Rica from which four teams will qualify for the World Cup in South Korea May 20-June 11. Coach Tab Ramos' 20-player roster for the qualifying tournament, at which also faces Haiti (Feb. 21) and Saint Kitts & Nevis (Friday, Feb. 24) in first-round group play, is comprised of 11 MLS players, five collegians and three European-based and one Mexico-based player.

There's never a good time to be injured. As we come up to the end of many winter sports, players often have their eyes on championships or important tournaments. When an injury happens one of the most important questions the young athlete wants to know is "when can I play again?"

The Boys U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) will enter the 2017-18 season with 17 new clubs and 165 additional teams, bringing the total to 165 clubs and 620 teams. Teams have been added to each of the five age groups while a single-age U-15 division has been added for the 2017-18 season. The Boys DA launched in 2007 with 64 clubs playing in two age groups, U-15/16 and U-17/18, which in the wake of the switch to birth-year registration are now U-16/17 and U-18/19 divisions.

By the time Christian Pulisic played for the USA at the 2015 U-17 World Cup, he had already left the Bradenton Residency to join Borussia Dortmund's youth program. A few other players had also left for Mexican and European clubs. And Luca de la Torre had joined Fulham instead of going to residency.

Jozy Altidore made his 100th appearance for the USA last Sunday, becoming, at age 27, the second youngest player to reach that milestone after Landon Donovan, who was 26 when he got his 100th cap. We spoke with Altidore about his youth soccer days, important qualities he believes coaches need at all levels, and his off-field ventures.