The NWSL is one of the leading competitions in women’s world football and has been flooded with talent from all over the globe for a number of years.
However, over the past few years, it has also become a hotbed of young teenage talent. For example, Alyssa Thompson, who was drafted by Angel City as an eighteen-year-old straight out of high school, and Mallory Swanson and Trinity Rodman, who were both also signed as teenagers and have gone on to become key players for the USWNT.
However, perhaps the most notable recent example is Olivia Moultrie, who made her NWSL debut as a fifteen-year-old in 2021. She has since gone on to be a key player for the Portland Thorns and has also made her USWNT international debut, still as an eighteen-year-old.
In this tactical analysis, we will examine three up-and-coming U18 prospects who are currently plying their trade in the NWSL. In this scout report, we will outline some key tactics and traits that can help them succeed in the future.
Kennedy Fuller, 17 – Angel City
Kennedy Fuller is an exciting seventeen-year-old midfielder who, at the time of this writing, played 346 minutes of first-team football for Angel City in the NWSL during the 2024 season.
She has operated as a midfielder for most of their professional career, generally playing on the left or right of a midfield three. She has demonstrated some ability to play more advanced, such as a number ten or centre forward.
The first key aspect of Fuller’s game that we are going to highlight is positioning. She is able to effectively position and orient herself to manipulate defences and be an important part of the side in possession as Angel City look to build up.
This clip demonstrates her understanding of the importance of orientation. She opens her body out to receive the ball and makes a quick and efficient movement from receiving from the back to playing the ball forward and progressing the attack.
Here, Kennedy Fuller is operating around the box. The first thing she does is scan over her right shoulder before receiving the ball. This helps her identify the space just outside the box for teammate Racquel Rodriguez to receive the ball in a dangerous position. When Fuller receives the ball, she is able to turn quickly and bring Rodriguez into the game. Rodriguez then plays a through ball, breaking the KC back line. However, the chance comes to nothing in the end.
A further way that Fuller has demonstrated the ability to be effective is around the box. In this example, Angel City winger Alyssa Thompson initially drives inside towards Fuller. However, Fuller identifies this and makes a dynamic run to take defenders away from Thompson. This enables Fuller to receive the ball later down the line and progress the ball out wide. Then, notice Fuller’s positioning in the box, offering herself a cutback option, which could be a particularly dangerous asset as a midfielder making late runs into the box.
Another aspect that Fuller is also impressive is her ability to play under pressure from opponents. She regularly escapes pressure and retains possession, often breaking lines as a result. Her footwork not only enables her to beat pressure but also allows her to manipulate passing lanes, which opens up more options for her in open play.
Here, you have Fuller receiving the ball with her back to goal and a KC Current player on her back. However, Fuller has the strength and technical ability to hold off her opponent and then drive on the outside to try and play the ball out to the right flank and progress the team higher up the field.
In this example, initially, KC blocked any passing lane forwards for Fuller to target; however, Fuller is able to use her footwork to force the KC defender to stop before creating the angle to thread the ball through the gap and progress the ball.
As you can already see, Fuller is a younger midfielder with lots of potential, already showing an understanding and maturity of a player far beyond her age. This has meant that she has been able to average 20.81 passes per 90 at a success rate of 70%; this is particularly impressive given that 7.02 of those passes are attempted forwards, meaning that she has already demonstrated the positivity to try and play forwards and be progressive on the ball.
What is equally impressive is her ability in possession. She has been averaging 1.56 dribbles per 90 minutes and has completed all six dribbles so far.
However, one area that we have identified as a potential area to improve for Fuller is her ball placement and her ability to really capitalise on her attributes to make the most out of the field position.
In this example, Fuller is in a good position and decides to pass to winger Claire Emslie. However, She plays a flick pass with the outside of her foot, which is hit with limited pace and allows the defender to step in and win the ball back.
However, if she had played a ball with more pace to the outside of Emslie, the defender wouldn’t have been able to step in and make the tackle, and the attack would have been able to progress.
Chloe Ricketts, 16 – Washington Spirit
The next player we are going to look at is Washington Spirit’s teenage sensation, Chloe Ricketts. Ricketts is a dynamic, creative midfielder who made her debut in April 2023 and has since amassed a combined 342 senior minutes over twelve appearances.
The majority of Ricketts’s career to date has been played as either a central midfielder or as number ten. She shows a particular preference for playing as number ten, which suits her attributes more favourably.
The most noticeable strength of Rickett’s game is her ability to be explosive and dynamic, aided by her low centre of gravity; this enables her to be a nightmare for defenders to deal with and keep track of in one-on-one situations.
This example just goes to show the dynamism that Ricketts possesses to create separation from opponents. With a quick turn, she can get free of two opponents and then break the lines with a pass to Paige Metayer. This quality makes them particularly exciting as a creative player who is able to beat their opponents and play their way out of tight spaces, such as in condensed areas around the box.
As a player, Rickett suits the profile of a possession-based team. One of her best assets is her involvement in combination play with teammates, where her off the ball movement where she will pass and move to isolate defenders and take them out of the game.
In this example, Ricketts is driving inside, where she is then able to play the ball from teammate to teammate Madison Elwell. However, Elwell makes a heavy touch, which prevents it from developing. However, I want to focus on Ricketts’s movement to continue her run, which would be ideal for a return pass that would take the defender out of the game.
Having looked at Rickett’s strengths, let’s just highlight one area for improvement. This is related to her diminutive stature and the lack of size associated with it, most notably when receiving the ball with her back to the goal.
One option here could be getting the ball under control quickly, as she is not necessarily going to hold off her opponents with strength. However, she may be able to create the separation we have already spoken about with a body feint or some dynamic movement.
An alternate option could be to be able to have the awareness to find a quick outlet so the opponent doesn’t have time to put physical pressure on Ricketts.
This is an example of something Ricketts could do to avoid those physical challenges. In this situation, Ricketts is being put under significant pressure by an Orlando defender and, as a result, cannot play forwards; instead, she can lay it off to her teammate before continuing her movement to get away from the defender and then progress the ball forwards.
As you can see, the ability to play short to get free from her opponent comes naturally to Ricketts, so it could be an effective strategy to put her in more advantageous situations on the field. To make this even better, she could even have her hips opened out to aid that quicker turn so she could attack the space and play with a higher tempo.
Additionally, in this example, Ricketts is able to win the ball back from her opponent and play the ball into her centre forward. However, Ricketts continues her run and has actually taken three players out of the game. If given a return ball, she would be able to drive forward in attack.
As you can see, Ricketts is already an exciting prospect. She has averaged 4.21 dribbles per 90 minutes. In addition, she has completed 1.05 passes into the penalty area per 90 minutes at an accuracy of 75%, just demonstrating her ability to be creative.
Along with her qualities on the ball, Ricketts’ dynamism does enable her to be an asset in the defensive phase. She is sharp to loose balls, averaging 2.89 loose ball duels per 90 minutes and 2.63 interceptions per 90 minutes, adding another dimension to her game.
Kimmi Ascanio, 16 – San Diego Wave
The final player we are going to highlight in this scout report is Kimmi Ascanio. Ascanio is a sixteen-year-old midfielder who has already starred for the USWYNT U17 side at the Concacaf Women’s U17 Championship and is now plying her trade for the San Diego Wave in the NWSL.
Ascanio, who made her debut in round three against Racing Louisville, has made all her first-team appearances in central midfield, playing a total of 61 minutes at the time of writing. She has demonstrated a natural comfort with the position, having come through the youth system playing the same position.
One of the most impressive attributes of Ascanio’s game is her efficiency in possession and her ability to play with both feet, play under pressure, play with her back to goal, and play progressively. This all makes her an exceptionally well-rounded midfielder, particularly for somebody so young.
This example here shows how comfortable she is in possession as she receives the ball on her right foot but wants to progress the ball on the left. However, with a defender on her right shoulder, she switches the ball to her left foot to shield the ball from her opponent before playing the ball forward to the left wing and progressing the attack.
Another impressive aspect of Ascanio’s game is her understanding of her role as a midfielder, particularly as it pertains to identifying, manipulating and targeting space to be effective in possession.
In this example, Ascanio is able to find space within the Orlando shape and receive the ball. However, what is even more impressive is her understanding that with an opponent being drawn to her from behind, a more dangerous option to progress the attack is to return the ball to her teammate.
Another example of this is here again against Orlando. Ascanio is playing between the lines and finds herself in lots of space to operate in and be effective. She checks over her right shoulder to see whether she has the space and time to turn.
She identifies that she does, receives the ball on her back foot, and turns 90 degrees all in one swift motion. This enables her to orient herself with a full view of the goal and see the return ball option to Savannah McCaskill, which takes the Orlando defender out of the game.
Ascanio has made a positive start to her professional career at San Diego Wave. As such, she has 23 passes at a remarkable 95.7% accuracy, having only missed one pass in her opening two appearances. In addition to her passing, she has amassed a combined xA and xG of 0.15, which is an impressive start for a sixteen-year-old who has only played 62 minutes of senior football.
In addition to her offensive contribution, she has also been influential on the defensive side of the ball, completing nine defensive duels at a success rate of 55.6%. This is going to be particularly important as she deals with the physicality of the midfield of senior football.
Conclusion
It is also important to note that although we picked these three players as particularly interesting, several other teenagers are still plying their trade in the NWSL, such as Alex Pfeiffer at KC Current, Melanie Barcenas at San Diego Wave, and Casey Phair, a recent Angel City from South Korea. This means that the future of the NWSL is looking bright for a number of years to come.
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