AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - FEBRUARY 10: Lily Yohannes of Ajax Women celebrates 1-0 during the Dutch ... [+]
The United States has attempted to secure the services of one of the brightest young talents in women's soccer by calling up 16-year-old Lily Yohannes for the She Believes Cup.
Yohannes was today named in a 23-player squad by interim United States head coach Twila Kilgore who admitted that now was the time to bring her into the national squad amid interest in her from the Netherlands, who she could also qualify to represent through residency.
“We offered Lily an invitation to this camp and she accepted, and that’s a pretty big statement,” said Kilgore speaking to the media after annoucing her squad for the 2024 She Believes Cup. “I think that she’s prepared to come in and do whatever is asked of her.”
Yohannes' grandfather, Bekuretsion Gebrehiwot, is Eritrean. Playing for Ethiopia in the 1968 Africa Cup of Nations, Gebrehiwot scored the winner in a group stage match against Côte d'Ivoire. He later fled the country amid political unrest, eventually settling in the United States.
Lily Yohannes was born in Springfield, Virginia in 2007. Her father Daniel moved the family to the Netherlands in 2017 and after impressing playing for an amateur boys team, the 13-year-old Lily began training at the Ajax academy and was soon turning out for the female reserve team.
Last April, she became the youngest female professional in Ajax's history when she signed a three-year contract at the club through to June 2026. She is the only non-Dutch national in the Ajax squad.
Yohannes had attended U.S. Youth National Teams camps at the U-15 and U-16 levels and was invited to participate with the U.S. U-17 Women’s Youth National Team prior to Concacaf qualifying during this World Cup cycle, but commitments to Ajax precluded her participation.
Speaking to Dutch television station NOS in January, the Netherlands head coach Andries Jonker suggested that Yohannes has "indicated that she would like to play for the Netherlands. That procedure is now underway and all possible steps are being taken. Together we can see that she is doing remarkable and very beautiful things.”
Playing in the She Believes Cup for the United States will not conclusively tie Yohannes into playing international football for the country of her birth, as it is regarded as a friendly competition. However, should she be called up for the Summer Olympics - for which the United States have qualified, but the Netherlands have not - she will no longer be able to represent another nation.
This season, Yohannes became the youngest-ever woman to start a UEFA Women's Champions League group game when she played for Ajax against Paris Saint-Germain. She has started six games for them in the competition as they became the first Dutch team to reach the last eight where tomorrow they play in London against English champions Chelsea.
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - MARCH 19: Lily Yohannes of AFC Ajax receives a yellow card from Referee ... [+]
There, in the second leg of the tie, a one-match suspension incurred for three yellow cards in the competition means Yohannes will miss the opportunity to impress in front of her future United States head coach Emma Hayes. The current Chelsea manager, will leave her current post to coach the United States at the Paris Olympic Women's Football Tournament.
Her Ajax captain Sherida Spitse was nonetheless full of praise for Yohannes. "She had played with us also before she came in our squad. I saw directly she is a good player. You see that, you have a connection because she is a big talent and a good player."
"Then you feel, 'ok I can play her the ball'. That is a player who can do something with the ball to create something for us in the team. Now she is in the team and it felt like, she is really good. She is a nice person, she can learn a lot of things. She is doing a really good and I am happy she is in our team."
Kilgore revealed she had travelled to Europe to watch Yohannes play in person and spoken to her and her family over the phone and over zoom. "Lily’s actually been a part of U.S. Soccer’s radar for a long time," she said.
On her eventual decision to commit to playing international soccer for either the United States or the Netherlands, Kilgore added, "I think that these things are personal decisions, and I think she’s well on her way to making her decision just by accepting this invitation."
