Trojans go global for U20 World Cup

“This has to be it. I can feel it. I can feel it. Okay, let me answer this.”

There is no bigger stage in sports than international competition. For many athletes, including sophomore forward Simone Jackson, being selected to these elite teams is an achievement they pursue from childhood and throughout the entirety of their career. It is the ultimate dream, and for a very select few, it becomes their reality.

This past month, four Trojan athletes secured their chance to carry out this dream during the FIFA U20 World Cup in Costa Rica. Sophomore defender Brooklyn Courtnall, junior defender and midfielder Zoe Burns and sophomore midfielder Simi Awujo were selected to play for the Canadian National Team, while Jackson was tapped to play for the United States.

“It was the biggest soccer stage I have ever played on,” Courtnall said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “It was a really surreal experience. I had only played for Canada in the CONCACAF and then a couple camps before that, so I hadn’t really been in the national team system for that long. Just going straight to the U20 World Cup was a pretty crazy experience.”

Getting called up to the World Cup is not easy. It requires time, dedication and sacrifice on a nearly incomprehensible level, from childhood to adulthood. 

“You are playing with the best in the world, quite literally. It’s more intense, it’s more on the line. You ask for more out of yourself as a player mentally and physically than you ever have before,” Jackson said. “The crowd is bigger, the gear is better. It’s just heightened, everything is heightened. You live for those moments. This is what I was training for for as long as I can remember.”

But despite all the hard work, the experience is like no other. The environment, the people and the level of play are unprecedented experiences for many of the young athletes that make the trip, offering an incredible learning opportunity.

“I learned a lot in the environment because you are playing with people that you haven’t really played with before. You all are getting thrown together and you have to have good chemistry on the field,” Courtnall said. “It’s really cool to play with new players from other schools and play against people that are playing pro and have new coaches and learn a different style of soccer.”

The World Cup also offered the Trojans an opportunity to form relationships with competitors from all over the world.

“You stay with all the other teams, whether they’re in your group or not, so it was really cool to have everyone around,” Burns said. “Even if you don’t speak the same language as the other people, in a way you are still getting to know them.”

For all the Trojans, their journeys to the World Cup took very different paths. For Jackson, getting called up was years in the making.

“I started with youth national teams when I was 14,” Jackson said, “and then all of a sudden you pick your head up and you’re there. This has always been on the docket, always been something I have been working towards, camp after camp, kept my head down and grinded and I made it.”

For Courtnall, however, playing for the national team was a welcome surprise. 

“I think that as a kid everyone dreams of playing for the national team, but really when I was growing up my main focus was just wanting to play college soccer,” Courtnall said. “I really never thought I would play in the World Cup or play for the national team, so it was a real shock and a really cool experience. I really never thought I would get to that point.”

But being able to play at the most elite level and represent your country is a feeling unlike any other, the players said.

“The first time I was so shocked because, for me, and actually Brooklyn and Simi as well, none of us had really been in the Canada program before,” Burns said. “Canada virtually didn’t know about us. For us, we all take Canada as a big part of our identity, so it was really cool and exciting to be able to represent them, especially for the first time and do so much in one year … [it is something] we all really cherish.”

With the World Cup in their rearview, the Trojans are getting ready to jump into the collegiate season.

“I love playing for [USC]. I love my teammates, so it’s somewhere that I genuinely want to be, whether I am coming off a flight or here at home,” Jackson said. “Home is L.A. and home is McAlister. It’s kind of comforting to know that if I can prove it on the world stage, I can prove it in my backyard. It’s a bit of a confidence booster, but I am back and I am level headed and I am ready to contribute where they need me.”

Transitioning between two major competitions is never easy, but it is not enough to stop the Trojans – despite missing out on weeks of training camp and the opening games of the season.

“I am going from one extreme situation to now another extreme, with the college season jumping right in the middle of it,” Courtnall said. “I’m excited, I think college soccer is so fun and this is another reason why we all play.”

The Trojans will be tested on how quickly they can reintegrate into a cohesive team as their schedule starts to pick up.

“The biggest part for us coming back is going to be how quickly can we play with those new girls. Get to know them, get to know their style. You need to know your teammates like the back of your hand,” Burns said. “But for the most part, we know each other very well, so coming back was never really a worry. We’re just really excited to get the season going.”

Alongside the incredible experience of playing for the national team, the bond shared by the Trojans with their USC teammates is essential to who they are as players, students and  people.

“They were always my backbone at home,” Jackson said. “My coaches and our videographer actually videoed their reaction to me scoring, and I think that was one of the sweetest things any team has ever done to support me, and it’s really comforting. I almost got teary eyed, just thinking that I have a whole team at home that loves and supports me and roots me on.”

Still, national-level soccer is never far from the minds of the team. Awujo, who played with Courtnall and Burns in the World Cup, is still with Canada on their senior national team, joining them for their September matches against Australia. Senior forward and midfielder Olufolasade Adamolekun is away with the Jamaican National Team, preparing for their international friendly on Sept. 3 against Korea. 

According to Jackson, putting the work in to receive a call to the senior national team will be the Trojans’ next goal. 

“I am just going to put my head down and get to work, and hopefully in time, I will get my opportunity and I will be ready for it.”