Kendall Johnson Named to FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Roster

CHICAGO -

U.S. Under-20 Women's National Team head coach Jillian Ellis named 21 players to represent the United States at the 2010 FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup, being held in Bochum, Bielefeld, Augsburg and Dresden, Germany from July 13-Aug. 1.

U.S. 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Roster

GOALKEEPERS (3): Adrianna Franch (Oklahoma State; Salina, Kan.), Bryane Heaberline (Clearwater Chargers; St. Petersburg, Fla.), Bianca Henninger (Santa Clara; Los Gatos, Calif.)

DEFENDERS (5): Sade Ayinde (Maryland; North Bellmore, N.Y.), Crystal Dunn (North Carolina; Rockville Centre, N.Y.), Kendall Johnson (Portland; Portland, Ore.), Toni Pressley (Florida State; Melbourne, Fla.), Rachel Quon (Stanford; Lake Forrest, Ill.)

MIDFIELDERS (: Amber Brooks (North Carolina; New Hope, Pa.), Zakiya Bywaters (UCLA; Las Vegas, Nev.), Kristie Mewis (Boston College; Hanson, Mass.), Samantha Mewis (Scorpions SC; Hanson, Mass.),Christine Nairn (Penn State; Bowie, Md.), Teresa Noyola (Stanford; Palo Alto, Calif.), Jenna Richmond (UCLA; Centreville, Va.), Casey Short (Florida State; Naperville, Ill.)

FORWARDS (5): Vicki DiMartino (Boston College; Massapequa, N.Y.), Maya Hayes (Penn State; West Orange, N.J.), Sydney Leroux (UCLA; Pheonix, Ariz.), Tiffany McCarty (Florida State; Laurel, Md.), Courtney Verloo (Stanford; Tualatin, Ore.)

National Team Staff
Head Coach: Jill Ellis (Santa Monica, Calif.)
Assistant Coach: B.J. Snow (Hermosa Beach, Calif.)
Assistant Coach: Dave Chesler (Seattle, Wash.)
Goalkeeper Coach: Kat Mertz (Las Vegas, Nev.)

New post at US Soccer on 11 questions with Kendall Johnson
http://www.ussoccer.com/News/U-20-WNT/2010/07/11-Questions-With-Kendall-Johnson.aspx

The u 20's had an easy 5-0 win over Switzerland in the u20WC Saturday on a hat trick from Sidney Leroux.

Kendall Played the whole game.

I watched a good chunk of the game yesterday on ESPNU, the Swiss were definitely trying to force the issue down the right side (Kendall was playing L defense) and KJ did a pretty phenomenal job. Even when she was beat temporarily, she did a great job of recovery, stifling any further attacks. Really a pretty gosh darn good showing, she definitely represented UP very well.

Leroux was just too damn fast for the Swiss D. She just burned them running into open space on feeds coming from the USA back line. The US seemed quite content letting the Swiss control possession for the most part knowing that they could just kill them on the counterattack.

The u20 WWC game between the USA and S. Korea will be televised on ESPN2 Wednesday at noon.

S.Korea leads the group. The US has something like a 6 goal differential on Ghana for second place even if they lose, and a US win would give them the group.

The USA - S. Korea match for those of us on the left coast will be 9am PDT on ESPN2. Should be a good match...

Thanks. You would think that after 20 years on the left coast I would have caught the time difference.

US wins 1-nil on a Sydney Leroux goal (and likely a lot of defense) http://www.ussoccer.com/News/U-20-WNT/2010/07/US-Face-South-Korea-In-Final-Group-D-Match.aspx. Next up: semifinals vs Nigeria, July 25, 2:35 a.m. PT (gasp), ESPNU and ESPN3

Leroux had 3 or 4 other chances she should have scored on. They were feeding her some real nice through balls, and she was getting into nice spots. She really didn't finish well at all.

I thought Kendall looked very strong, especially on defense. She shut down the Korean right side pretty thoroughly.

fan from a far,
i have watched a majority of the u-20 games an thought kendall played very strong!! think about this. coming out of h.s., courtney verloo was the star, but kendall is the one playing all the minutes with the u-20's....an coming out of h.s., kendall wasn't even on the u-20 team's radar!

Fozzie - I have thought for a long time that UP does a very good job of identifying players who have had no national team experience but have that potential. Kendall certainly was one, so she is starting and Verloo is a sub. Wasn't Verloo known in high school as a prolific scorer? You have to wonder how she would have fared at UP under Garrett.

The loss to Nigeria was kind of tough to watch. Missing the first PK of the shootout was really rough. But, when your 20 playing in the USA, I guess you figure the odds are decent to get another shot...

http://www.ussoccer.com/News/U-20-WNT/2010/07/USA-Falls-To-Nigeria-in-Penalty-Kicks-During-Quarterfinal-of-2010-FIFA-Under-20-Womens-World-Cup.aspx

We all know why the U-20s fell: not enough Pilots.

This article from TopDrawer did not say it, but you could add at the end, "get more Pilots!!!"
http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer/college-soccer-archives/nid-14754/US-U20-WNT-bows-on-penalties-to-Nigeria-at-WC