Mt. Lebanon’s Mia Bhuta earns spot in Starting XI for US Soccer’s U17 YNT in World Cup qualifying

Victoria Safradin and Mia Bhuta after the record-breaking 20-0 win over Grenada. Photo courtesy Internationals SC Twitter

Mt. Lebanon’s Mia Bhuta earned a spot in the starting XI and wore the captain’s armband for the U.S. U-17 Women’s Youth National Team as the squad opened its World Cup Qualifying campaign at the 2022 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship with a 20-0 victory against Grenada that set a record for most goals in a single World Cup qualifying match for a U.S. Women’s National Team at any level.

👀 https://t.co/PjyW6klUHi

— Pittsburgh Soccer Now (@pghsoccernow) April 25, 2022

Bhuta lined up in the holding midfield spot in the USYNT’s 4-1-4-1.

Led by four-goal performances from midfielders Shae Harvey and Charlotte Kohler plus a hat trick from forward Melina Rebimbas, the USA scored nine goals in the first half and 11 in the second.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which put U.S. Soccer’s Youth National Team programming on hold for a long stretch, this game marked the first U-17 international match for every U.S. player who stepped on the field. The match marked the first international match for the U-17 age group in 792 days and the first match in official competition in 1250 days since the pause caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic.

The win also marks the first for Natalia Astrain, who was appointed as U-17 USWYNT head coach on Nov. 17, 2021 and was coaching in her first U-17 international match.

The U-17 WYNT continues Group G play on Monday, April 25 against Puerto Rico (4 p.m. / FS2, ViX App in Spanish) at Estadio Panamericano and finishes the first round on Wednesday, April 27 vs. Costa Rica (4 p.m. / FS2, ViX App in Spanish) at Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez in Santo Domingo.