U-17 Women’s World Cup Day 3

One thing was very clear to me after today. Spain is the best footballing country in the world without a shadow of a doubt. The way they develop players is second to none male or female. Every player I've watched since I've been here from the goalkeeper to the subs are technicians on the ball. Their off ball movement is remarkably calculated it's like watching a professional team who have been playing together for years. When one player check out of a pocket another players pops in with more space. They beat South Korea 5-0 today and it could have been more. I wish I could highlight the whole team but I will pick a few who really stood out today.

I was really impressed with Celia Segura. Spain's #9 had a great crossed assist and scored a fantastic roofed goal for Spain's first and second goals. The FC Barcelona striker has incredible close control, can stay high on the last defender or drop into space and facilitate. She's absolute class and I look forward to watching how her career transpires.

Claudia De La Cuerda's performance was top notch tonight. This is a player that most American coaches may write off because she's a fairly short center back. However, she can pick out any pass and does a great job quarterbacking the offense. Her anticipation in reading the opposition's next play is different. She can read a play before it happens and that leads to interceptions and quick transitions in her teams favor. The Real Madrid product can also dribble through players with unwavering confidence she can break two lines by her self with a drive and pass into the oppositions third.

Emma Moreno a central midfielder from Atletico Madrid's youth team and is a midfield dynamo. She's up and down the pitch, makes tackles, wins headers, and probably completed the most passes of any player in a game so far this tournament. She capped off her performance with a classy chipped penalty in the left corner of the goal.

Martina Gonzalez had her way down the right flank in today's match. The right back beat her defenders and whipped in some beautiful crosses. The FC Barcelona youngster had an assist and was a lockdown defender all game. Like the rest of her teammates her decision making and tight space footwork is incredibly strong.

I really wish I could pick a player on South Korea to talk about they just didn't have enough of the ball for me to comment on their play.

In the second game our very own USA took on Colombia in what was probably going to be the decider on who went through to the knockout stage with Spain in this group. I was really proud of our girls in red, white and blue tonight in front of a 6,000+ crowd of mostly Colombia fans the USA girls played amazing.

Micayla Johnson was the star of the show she got her first start of the tournament and made an instant impact scoring a great goal with a cut back hesitation to a left footed strike to put the USA up 1-0. Her direct dribbling and pace gave Colombia a world of hurt all game. She got subbed off with an apparent injury in the second half and for the teams sake I really hope she's ok. Her on the opposite side of Mel Barcenas is a dangerous combination for any defense around the world.

[player_tooltip player_id='26834' first='Jordyn' last='Hardeman'] proved why she was a two-time high school all American and ECNL national player of the year. She was immense tonight. Matching up against Maithe Lopez of Colombia is no easy task and Hardeman put her in her back pocket all game. Colombia didn't really have a sniff at goal and Hardeman had a big part in that. She can spray the ball around the field at will has excellent vision and does a really good job at disguising her passes. The UVA commit lived up to all the hype she has going for her tonight.

Kennedy Fuller is one of four players on NWSL teams on this USA team and the young Angel City player showed us why tonight. She was excellent in attacking pockets and also put in a great shift defensively. She took and scored a great penalty to make it 2-0. Her work rate and soccer IQ really set her apart. She was the engine that made the USA run tonight.

Although the USA dominated I did enjoy watching Mariana Silva of Colombia. She is a crafty lefty attacking midfielder and made USA defenders miss on a number of occasions throughout the game. She had a few dangerous chance creations and was Colombia's only real spark.