Path to US Youth National Team comes through San Diego

Despite a bit of rain the US YNT Regional Minicamp took place this past week at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center. 80 players from the West region were brought in to showcase their talents in the U14 age group. The US YNT Talent ID Managers and Scouts were there to coach and evaluate […]

Alumni Corner: Leslie Osborne, Peak Soccer

Welcome to Week three of Alumni Corner! In Week One, we met Leslie Osborne and learned all about her youth soccer years in Wisconsin. In Week Two, we ventured through her high school years. ODP, Youth National Teams, College Recruiting. All of that led to where we are now: Week 3 and “Peak Soccer.” Santa […]

Alumni Corner: Leslie Osborne, the high school years

Welcome to Week 2 of Leslie Osborne’s Alumni Corner: the high school and recruiting years Thank you to the team at ECNL for partnering with SoccerNation for this series! Last week, we met Leslie Osborne. She grew up in Wisconsin, where she played her youth club soccer and got her biggest growth opportunities through the ODP program. […]

Alumni Corner: Meet Leslie Osborne!

We are kicking off our newest SoccerNation feature, Alumni Corner, with a “NBD” type of player. She only played for youth national teams, an NCAA D1 powerhouse, USWNT, Olympics, and World Cup teams. No Big Deal, right? Meet Leslie Osborne Over the next few weeks, we’ll be talking all about Leslie’s playing career and her […]

Tokyo 2020 is coming! US Men’s Olympic Soccer 101

2020 is an Olympic Year. All those sports Americans barely know exist in any other year — we love watching them all. Like Team Handball — why isn’t that a bigger deal here in America? It looks so fun! But back to soccer… Olympic Soccer 101 Soccer, of course, is an Olympic sport. It’s not […]

ECNL & DA. Is it just about high school soccer? (Spoiler alert: NO)

Fall League Soccer is in full swing. After a summer full of playoffs and tournaments, soccer leagues across the country are now in full-swing. Competitive youth soccer players will be spending their weekends on soccer fields nation-wide. They will be battling for wins, league titles, and the improvement that comes along with highly competitive matches. […]

American Soccer: Using Our Strengths and Addressing Our Challenges (Part 1)

A conversation with the Director of Talent Identification for US Soccer, Mirelle van Rijbroek The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup has kicked off in France. Leading up to this Women’s World Cup, I asked van Rijbroek the hard question: Who does she think will win the championship? She answered, “Well, I hope we do, of […]

U17 Womens World Cup: San Diego Surf’s Mia Fishel scores USA’s first goal

While many of her San Diego Surf teammates were in San Diego signing their NLI (National Letters of Intent) to play college soccer, UCLA commit Mia Fishel was in Uruguay opening up the scoring account for US Soccer at the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup. USA Cruises to 3-0 win at FIFA U17 Women’s World […]

San Ysidro’s Ernesto Espinoza is Making Waves with Xolos and the USYNT

It seems as though it’s only a matter of time before we start hearing more about Club Tijuana’s Ernesto “Moe” Espinoza. During the past several months, the 17-year-old from San Ysidro has not only emerged as a key figure in Xolos’ U17 roster, but also as a member of the U18 and U19 squad for […]

The Best of November in CONCACAF (Part 2)

Part 1 of November’s finest in CONCACAF took us around the states, down to Costa Rica, and back to Mexico. Part two takes us to a few new destinations before returning stateside with Major League Soccer and taking another look at the happenings on the southern side of the Mexican/American border. Bradley finally gets a […]

Stick or twist time for the United States U-17 MNT

The United States U-17 Men’s National Team chances of advancing from the group stage of the FIFA U-17 World Cup are faint, and their destiny is not entirely in their own hands. Following a 2-0 defeat at the hands of reigning champions Nigeria, and a 2-2 draw with Croatia, the United States go into the […]

United States U-17 MNT fall 2-0 Against Powerful Nigerians

The U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team was defeated 2-0 by Nigeria in the teams’ opening match of the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile. The match was scoreless for the first 49 minutes of play until Chukwudi Agor broke the tie with a goal in the 50th minute and then assisted on Victor Osimhen’s […]

Young U-20 WNT squad off to Spain as World Cup Qualifying prep continues

Five California players and the rest of the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team will travel to Madrid, Spain, for a training camp from Oct. 19-29 that will feature matches against Spanish First Division women’s clubs Atletico Madrid on Oct. 23 and Rayo Vallecano on Oct. 27. The five California players called into camp: Julie Doyle […]