FRISCO, Texas - Three FC Dallas players have been named to the 21-player roster representing the United States at the 2024 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship. Trinity Armstrong, Kiara Gilmore, and Rylee McLanahan of the FC Dallas 07G ECNL team will compete in the tournament, which will be played from February 1-11 in Toluca, Mexico. Before the start of the tournament, the team will have eight practice days in Guatemala.
“It’s such an honor to be here and be able to play at the highest level that we can,” Armstrong said. “It’s also really incredible that we’re able to play against different countries and prepare for such a big tournament that could bump us to making the qualifiers for the World Cup.”
The tournament, hosted by the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación (FMF), will feature eight teams divided into two groups. Additionally, the top two finishers of the tournament will automatically qualify for the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. The United States is looking to claim their sixth title. They post a 35-0-2 record and have outscored their opponents 217-10.
The United States will play Panama on February 2, Puerto Rico on February 4, and finish their group stage with a match against Canada on February 6. All U.S. group games will kick off at 1 pm ET and are available to watch on FS2 and the Fox Sports app. The two group winners and the two runners-up will move on to the knockout stages. The semi-final matches will be played on February 9, and the tournament will conclude with the third place and championship matches on February 11.
Armstrong is a defender who returned to FC Dallas in August and has verbally committed to The University of North Carolina. She is no stranger to the USYNT, having received previous training camp invitations. Armstrong was also a part of the U-16 USYNT that competed in the Mondial Montaigu Football Tournament hosted by France in 2023.
In 2022, she was named to the U-15 ECNL Texas All-Conference First Team. Armstrong doesn’t plan to stop the accolades anytime soon: “My end goal is to make it pro. I want to be one of those standout and unique players. First off, I’ll go to college maybe for a year or two, and then I’ll end up going pro.”
Armstrong emphasized what is at stake for the U.S. but identified the development opportunities regardless of the outcome. “Ultimately, we hope that we win. But it’s going to be really cool to experience going against other countries and understand how their style of play differs from us.”
A forward who joined FC Dallas in November of 2023, Rylee McLanahan was rated sixth in IMG’s top 150 of the 2026 class. In 2022, McLanahan was named to the U-16 ECNL Texas All-Conference First Team. The following year, she earned a spot on the U-16 ECNL Texas
All-Conference First Team and was named to the U-16 ECNL All-American team. She is currently uncommitted but aspires to extend her career to the collegiate and professional levels. “I want to go to a good college and play soccer and get my degree. Eventually, go pro if that’s where it leads me.”
This is McLanahan’s first experience representing the U.S. internationally, and she hopes to start with a bang in the tournament.
“Being a forward, I think scoring my first international goal would be really cool.”
Off the field, she has enjoyed traveling and connecting with other players throughout the experience. “I’m really thankful for this opportunity, Seeing the different cultures is really cool…It’s also really cool getting to meet so many different people and becoming close with them.”
Alongside Armstrong, defender Kiara Gilmore was also a part of the U-16 USYNT that competed in the Mondial Montaigu Football Tournament. “I’m super grateful for this opportunity and being able to play with such great players. The environment is so nice, and it’s such an honor.”
In 2022, she earned a place on the U-15 ECNL Texas All-Conference First Team. Gilmore earned this honor again in 2023, making the U-16 ECNL Texas All-Conference First Team. The FC Dallas 07G ECNL Co-Captain is verbally committed to The University of Wisconsin and has played for FC Dallas for the last four years.
So far, she has most enjoyed the coaching staff and looks forward to the level of play. “Everything is so detailed, the coaches do a great job explaining everything so clearly…Getting to play different countries is a new experience we don’t get to have often, so I think that’ll be exciting.” Like her teammates, Gilmore plans big things for her career. “I want to develop as much as possible. Go to college, get the experience and my degree, and then go pro if I can.”
All three players highlighted various reasons FC Dallas helps them prepare for the international level.
“Starting off, we have a bunch of facilities, and it helps to access a field whenever we need it,” Armstrong said. “Our coaching staff…they’re not afraid to tell us when we need to work on something.”
The coaching staff earned high praise from Gilmore as well.
“The culture at FC Dallas with the coaching staff is great…I feel like it’s a tight-knit community,” she said. “They go into so much detail about strategies and how you can improve, and I feel that’s the best part.”
