Goal of the Tournament Nominee!

Be sure to vote for Alex Morgan's first-half strike against Korea DPR in the Final for the Goal of the Tournament!! You can watch her upper-90 shot (and all of the other nominees) by clicking here:

http://www.fifa.com/u20womensworldcup/video/goalofthetournament.html

A Word from Coach DiCicco

Now that we've all gone our separate ways, it's time to wrap up the U-20 WWC Blog. We don't think we could have summed up this tournament better than coach DiCicco, so in his words...

This team won for a bunch of reasons but one key reason was how close this team became. There were 20 sisters fighting for each other and it did not matter if you played or not…you were important and supportive. The staff was also totally tied into our vision and dream. You just don’t beat the world unless you have that component!

From a technical standpoint, we won because we were the best defensive team in the tournament. We gave up three goals and two were in one game (0-2 lost to China). In that game, I started six different players because we had already qualified for the quarterfinals and unless we lost big and France won big would still win our group. By resting players who had played a lot of minutes and protecting players from getting their second yellow card and having to sit a game; we shortened the tournament from six games to five games for key players and that helped in the Final.

We also won because we had two strikers that played their best soccer at the right time. Sydney Leroux and Alex Morgan scored 10 of our 12 goals and that is a very serious 1-2 punch to our opponents. In the Final against North Korea…they each scored and that was what we needed to defeat an excellent North Korea team.

I am incredibly proud of them and they did what most experts didn’t give us much chance to do and that was to win the GOLD. We beat every team in the final four because we beat France in group play and then Germany and N. Korea in the semi-final and Final respectively.

When we got back to the hotel after the final our team met up with the Germans and the two teams had great fun together. The Germans were a class act even though we ended their Gold medal dream. They created a receiving line that our players passed through on the way to receive our Gold Medals.

By the way, the USA team collected the Gold Medal, the FIFA Fair Play Award, the Best Goalkeeper Award, the top and 2nd best player award (called the Golden and Silver Ball) and the top scorer and 3rd scorer award (the Golden Boot and Bronze Boot awards). Pretty impressive.

Tonight, we will fly on a red-eye; land in LA and everyone will rush to their gates. I have done this before and all of a sudden it hits you that, as a team, we will NEVER be together again. It will be emotional…but I will remind them that we are linked FOREVER and have changed each other’s lives for the best.

We should all be proud of this team…because they represent what makes America special. In their own way (through soccer) they showed the world that Americans are good people; respective; polite; hard working; creative and not to be easily dismissed or defeated. I love America and I love this team…

The 2008 FIFA U20 World Champions.

Tony

Michelle's New Set of Nails

It didn't take long for nail-painting champion of the U.S. team Michelle Enyeart to figure out the best way to declare her new-found world championship-ness... if you can read her nails in that photo they say WORLD CHAMP, a perfect fit.

Please Stow All Carry-On Luggage...

Well... there are just some things that you don't want to put in the overhead compartment and if you're Alyssa Naeher, the Golden Glove trophy is one of them. She seatbelted in with her for take off and landing, just in case.

A Memory is a Memory (We Guess... )

This is Becky Edwards' leg. You might be wondering why we're blogging this scrape because it looks just like any other burn that one might get while playing on turf. However, not every burn is earned in a World Cup final, but this one is. That's why Becky actually wants this one to scar. Seriously. She's been scratching it so it leaves a permanent mark.

Chatting With Coutinho

As usual, the Brazil team has wowed the fans here at the Development Academy Winter Showcase with their great soccer. The fans undoubted favorite was Coutinho, who wore the number 10 for his country. His silky dribbling and great passing made him a total crowd-pleaser here in Lancaster. Oh, and he's also signed for Inter Milan. No biggie. We talked to Coutinho after Brazil's 4-1 win over Australia on Monday:

Hot Streak

FC Dalls Juniors U-15/16 forward Ruben Luna today scored his 20th Development Academy League goal of the year. He has 16 goals in eight games with the U-15/16s, who are 8-0-1 in the Central Conference, Texas Division. Lun also scored four goals in the three Winter Showcase games, as his team beat the Baltimore Bays 2-0, handled Nomads 4-0, and tied 1-1 with Santa Cruz County Breakers.

Referee Spotlight at the Academy

As you probably know, the Development Academy isn't a benefit for players only. It is also playing a huge part in developing our nations refereeing corps. One of those referees, Jasen Anno, has moved up through the ranks to ref MLS games as well as internationals. We sat down with Jasen to learn more about how he's progressed through his officiating career:

New Clubs to the DA

Twelve new clubs have joined the Development Academy this year, which means that the 2008 Winter Showcase was their first showcase event. We asked a few players and coaches from the newest clubs to give us their thoughts on the weekend:

Some R&R Time

After visiting the Presidential papce, the team took the bus straight a good old fashioned barbeque that was organized by our amazing Team Liason Officer, Rosario, and her brother Martin - Martin pretty much served as Rosario's assistant for the final week of our journey.

Anyway, they took us to a friend's huge house and we had a great barbeque and we relaxed by their pool. It was some much needed down time where the girls basked in the sun and in their achievement!

A Special Tour

the team with Chile's Secretary of State

The U.S. ladies had two days to relax following their HUGE win on Sunday night and it was filled with pretty much everything we could have hoped for... we slept in, took a tour of the President's residence and did a few media appearances. Not only did we get a private tour of the residence, they were happy to open it especially for us because it was a national holiday here in Chile. Yea, these players are celebrities here.

New Episode of Studio 90

Head over to the front page at ussoccer.com to catch the latest episode of Studio 90. What you'll see in this episode:

• Highlights from USA/BRA and USA/AUS
• In inside look at SPARQ testing with Jonathan Bornstein
• Spotlight on MLS Referee Jasen Anno
• Top Goals from this weekend at the Showcase