United States Wins FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

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TOKYO – The United States won the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup with a 1-0 victory over Germany in Saturday’s final at Tokyo National Stadium. The Americans, led by Virginia head coach Steve Swanson and featuring Cavalier midfielder Morgan Brian, won the Americans’ third championship at the event.

The United States avenged a 3-0 loss to the Germans during the group stage. After advancing into the knockout stage with the Germans out of Group D, the Americans defeated North Korea 2-1 in extra time in the quarterfinals and Nigeria 2-0 in the semifinals to set up the rematch.

Brian started all six games of the tournament for the United States, scoring the game-winning goal of the semifinal victory over Nigeria.

The Americans became the first team to win three FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. Virginia has had a player on each of those championship teams. Sarah Huffman (Class of 2005) was a member of the team that won the 2002 event and Chantel Jones (Class of 2011) was on the 2008 championship squad.

Brian and Swanson will return from Japan and rejoin the Cavalier team for the remainder of the season.