Cali O’Neill, the Seaforth junior and UNC women’s soccer commit, helped the USA qualify for the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
The U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team defeated El Salvador 7-0 in its last Group C match in the final round of the CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Qualifiers Saturday to qualify for its seventh FIFA U-17 World Cup. The World Cup will take place in Morocco from Oct. 17 to Nov. 8.
O’Neill got the start as a defender in the USA’s berth-clinching win. After being up 2-0 at halftime, the Americans scored five goals in the second half to put the game out of reach.
In the qualifiers opener against Trinidad & Tobago on March 31, O’Neill also started and helped the USA win a 3-0 shutout.
The USA also beat Honduras 7-0 in the second qualifiers game on April 2. After only leading 1-0 at the break, the Americans scored six second half goals. Ashlyn Anderson scored two goals and assisted on two more.
Coached by Kate Schoepfer, the USA joins Morocco, Mexico, China PR, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, New Zealand and Samoa as the nine teams that have already qualified for the World Cup.
The Americans have yet to win the FIFA U-17 World Cup title, finishing as runner ups in 2008 and in third place last year.
O’Neill, who plays at the club level with North Carolina Courage Academy, was one of two players from North Carolina on the U.S. roster, joining midfielder Riley Kennedy from Holly Springs who also plays for NC Courage.
However, O’Neill isn’t guaranteed a spot on the World Cup roster. She will have to be called up again to compete in Morocco.