Youth Soccer

The USWNT is heading to the U-20 Women’s World Cup in August, and former NBA star Dennis Rodman is, oddly enough, part of the reason why.

The USWNT clinched its spot in the U-20 WWC with a 6-0 over the Dominican Republic in the semifinals of the Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship on Friday in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Dennis Rodman’s daughter, Trinity Rodman, had two impressive goals and two assists to help the Americans cruise to victory.

Scotland has found a creative way to get younger girls more active. Statistics from Leeds Beckett University show 84 percent of girls under the age of 17 are not meeting minimum activity guidelines. As a result a new UEFA project in Scotland decided to team up with films and characters from Disney films.

This provides a pathway for girls ages 5 to 8 who are not participating in activities. The first curriculum is a 10-week session inspired by Incredibles 2 characters Violet Parr and Elastigirl. 

Being able to wear the U.S. crest and represent your country playing the sport you love is an honor and the opportunity of a lifetime. The U.S. U-20 women’s national team is currently competing in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, at the CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship with a spot at the 2020 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup on the line. 

FC Dallas signed midfielder Tanner Tessmann to a three-year contract with club options for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, making him the 28th Homegrown Player in the organization.

By signing the contract, the 18-year-old is giving up his chance to vie for the kicking duties at Clemson.

A lot of thought went in to @frantanjam5's decision to choose FC Dallas over Clemson.

Children between the ages of six and 11 have been banned from heading during practice by the English, Scottish and Irish FAs. The heading ban was announced on Monday following a landmark study into the correlation between footballers and brain disease.

Mahia Macías is a 7-year-old girl from Montevideo, Uruguay, who just wants to play football, but where she comes from, there aren’t nearly as many teams for girls. However, since she’s still young enough to play on the boys side, she’s become the first girl to play in the youth league of Club Nacional de Football, Uruguay’s most successful team apart from Peñarol.  

How do you fix youth soccer in the U.S.? Where do you even begin?

It’s too expensive, too exclusive, too unwilling to change. The underprivileged are unable to join in, minorities too often forgotten.

When Jim Frank first started volunteering as a Withrow High School soccer coach in Cincinnati, he and head coach Tyler Barrott had to base their substitution pattern on the players’ shoe size.

The soccer program had 40 players, almost all international students and most of them refugees, but only 23 pairs of cleats. 

“The disdain or pity on our opponents’ faces as we had to take the time to remove shoes and shin guards during substitutions was the emotional ‘aha’ moment that told me that I needed to do more than just coach these players,” Frank said. 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is just saying what we’re all thinking, and, often, talking, writing and complaining about. Soccer in America is broken because of one key aspect: pay to play.

Ibrahimovic has left the United States, trading Beverly Hills for Milan after one-and-a-half years with the LA Galaxy. But his time in America left a mark on the Swedish striker.