CARIACICA, Brazil – For the 17th time in their history, the United States will take aim at a FIFA Under-17 World Cup at the 2019 edition in Brazil.
By virtue of their runner-up finish at the 2019 Concacaf Under-17 Championship, the U.S. qualified for the tournament and they will certainly fancy their chances of a deep run.
It was 20 years ago at the 1999 Under-17 World Cup when the U.S. achieved their best-ever finish of fourth place and were led by the likes of Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley, who became long-time fixtures of the senior men’s national team.
Now 20 years later it will be the likes of DF Kobe Hernandez, MF Daniel Leyva, MF Gianluca Busio and FW Giovanni Reyna who will try to use an Under-17 World Cup as the springboard to a storied national team career.
Those four players excelled at the 2019 Concacaf Under-17 Championship and were named to the tournament’s Best XI, with Reyna finishing the competition as the second-leading scorer with six goals and Busio scoring five goals.
It will be a tough group stage for the U.S., who were drawn with Senegal, Japan and the Netherlands in Group D with all matches set to be played at the Estadio Kleber Andrade in Cariacica.
The U.S. begin their group stage campaign on Sunday against Senegal, followed by a date with Japan on Wednesday before wrapping up the group against the Netherlands on Saturday, November 2.
