The U.S. U-17 Women's National Team ended the CONCACAF U-17 Women's Championships with a 6-0 victory over Costa Rica, a 38-0 goal difference and, amazingly, without a World Cup berth. Still, there are a lot of positives for the young U.S. players to take with them from this tournament and some lessons that will be with them for their entire careers. Click to continue reading...

If there is one thing about 16 and 17 year-olds, it's that they are resilient. After a difficult night on Thursday, and a Friday morning breakfast of zombies, the players started coming back to life at lunch, and then went out and had an energetic practice, complete with smiles and laughter. A game of dodge ball (see below) at the beginning of training got the players moving and one positive about what can be the cruel game of soccer ist that there's always another game. Click to continue reading...

As if we needed one more example of how cruel a game this is, case in point, the USA-Canada match tonight. The U.S. team certainly didn't play its best game, but the Americans created enough chances to win, only to fail to find the net against a tough Canadian defense and an excellent goalkeeper. While Canada didn't get near the U. Click to continue reading...

It was another beautiful day in Costa Rica (aren't they all?) and the final U.S. training before the all-important semifinal tomorrow against Canada was sharp and focused. Fans can watch the match live on CONCACAF.com at 6 p.m. ET and follow it on ussoccer.com's MatchTracker. Fox Soccer Channel will air it on a two-hour delay at 8 p. Click to continue reading...

We're pretty sure that most of the U-17 WNT players don't know the significance of St. Patrick's Day, but we do know that they all seem to know that if you don't wear green today, you are going to get pinched. Therefore, almost all the players were wearing some sort of green at breakfast this morning, and a few were sporting "Anti-Pinch Zone" fake tattoos on their cheeks, courtsey of Kaili Torres (who doesn't have a very Irish name? Click to continue reading...

Are you hungry for a banana? If so, you can just go right outside the U.S. hotel and grab one. Of course, you'll have to wait for these to get ripe first. Coffee and bananas comprise 50% of Costa Rica's exports.

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After a day off yesterday on which the U.S. team took a trip to an active volcano, the squad got back to the business today of preparing for the all-important semifinal match against Canada on Thursday. The team had an excellent training, worked on some possession, some tactics and some set plays. Click to continue reading...

The U.S. team celebrated its second birthday while in Costa Rica as today was the 17th for goalkeeper Caroline Stanley. The 5-foot-9 'keeper out of Kansas City, who has committed to the University of Missouri, got a nice cake at dinner and dished out slices to all her teammates. Happy B-Day Caroline! Click to continue reading...

If you've never looked down into the crater of an active volcano, please know that it is awe-inspiring. Today, the U.S. U-17 WNT had the chance to do just that. After completing group play with a goal difference of 32-0, and with three days rest before the semifinal, today was a day off from training. Click to continue reading...

After the match against Costa Rica, the U.S. players met up with their Haitian counterparts outside of the locker rooms before they boarded the bus to give each player a backpack stuffed with soccer gear, clothes, toiletries and other items. The Haitians had stayed to watch the match after losing out to the Cayman Islands 1-0 earlier in the evening.

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Is it just us, or would it be a bit confusing to find your seat at Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium, where the U.S. U-17s are playing all their matches in the 2010 CONCACAF U-17 Women's Qualifying Championship. Kudos the person who painted all these numbers, though, as almost every seat in the 18,000 capacity stadium has one.

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The U.S. U-17 WNT returned to the Dos Pinos dairy products factory for training this afternoon and once again there were no ice cream treats. What there was, however, was a few mounds of what looked to be fire ants. Creative cone placement by the U.S. coaches to form the grids for today's drills avoided any "incidents" during training.

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U.S. midfielder Cassie Pecht, who hails from the small town of Mechanicsburg, Pa., is one of several U.S. U-17 WNT players sporting the Red Laces in her Nike boots. Cassie wants you to wear the Red Laces too. This is how it works:

1. You purchase (NIKE)RED laces.
2. Nike is contributing 100% of its profits from the sale to the Global Fund and to soccer-based programs that help fight AIDS in Africa.

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U.S. goalkeeper Caroline Stanley is apparently very talented in the visual arts. She is shooting a video on this trip that she will edit and present for one of her classes, and she's not too bad with the still camera as well, as you can see below with her shot of a Costa Rican sunset after training.

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Even though the U.S. U-17 Women's National Team players get to travel to exotic locales, play in cool stadiums, represent their country on the international stage and get loads of free Nike gear, that doesn't mean they are exempt from homework. In fact, just the opposite. The U.S. players have to work extra hard to just keep up in school due to missed class time. Click to continue reading...