The U.S. Under-16 Girl’s National Team will both end the year with a trip to famed South American soccer cities in December. The U-16s head to Rio de Janeiro from December 7-16. Utahns Cloee Colohan and Kealia Ohai will be among the players competing. Colohan is from West Point, Utah and plays for the Utah Black Diamond Park City SC. Ohai resides in Draper, Utah and is a member of Utah Avalanche.

U.S. U-16 head coach Kazbek Tambi will bring 18 players, born in 1991 and 1992, as he continues preparation for qualifying for the 2008 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand, the first-ever FIFA event for U-17 women. A site and dates for CONCACAF qualifying have yet to be confirmed, but it should take place in the middle of 2008. The World Cup tournament is scheduled for Oct. 30-Nov. 16, 2008.

“We spent the last year playing in numerous training camps and competitions and it’s really been about evaluating as many players across the country as we could,” said Tambi. “Now we are at a point where we want to bring that list down to a number we can work with to create the final team. The Brazil trip is very important in this process. We will play some excellent competition, playing some boys teams and some of the best women’s clubs and it will be a great test for our players to see what we look like against some high-level teams.”

With the age cutoff for the U-17 Women’s World Cup at players born on or after January 1, 1991, Tambi has spent the last year identifying, scouting and evaluating players in that age group, but will now begin incorporating the top players from this year ‘s U-15 Girl’s National Team player pool – players born in 1992 -- as well. Tambi will bring six players born in 1992 on this trip.

“The reason we are bringing 92s into the mix, is that in many cases, there is not a gigantic disparity between the 91s and 92s,” said Tambi. “There is only a one-year difference in age and it’s very conceivable that we may have several 92s that can compete against 91s in a World Cup. At the end of the day, we want to bring the best players together irrespective of whether they are 91s or 92s. If we can pick the best players, it ends up stretching the pool, and it will be a great experience for 92s that end up making the team.”

The U.S. U-16s have won both of its international matches this year, defeating a combined German team of U-16s and U-17s last March at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., winning by 3-0 and 1-0 scores.