Girls id2 National Selection Team opens 2026 England tour with 6-0 rout of Chelsea Academy

CHELSEA, London – The 2026 id2 National Selection girls team kicked off its three-game tour in England with a convincing 6-0 victory over international power Chelsea Academy, Monday afternoon at the Chelsea FC Training Ground in West London. Kensington McGrath (San Diego Surf) scored a hat trick to lead the way, and three other girls added a goal apiece.

Brooke Chavez (NCFC Youth) opened the scoring with a goal in the 9th minute, followed by McGrath three minutes later. The game settled in for the next 20 minutes, but the id2 team ended the first half with a scoring flurry, adding goals in the 29th (Ruby Webb, Sting SC), 36th (Shamia Sanders, Sting Austin/FC Westlake) and 39th minutes (McGrath) to take a 5-0 advantage into halftime over the host U-15 Chelsea Academy team. id2 head coach Hue Menzies made several changes to the lineup for the second half, but the dominance remained. McGrath scored her third goal in the 68th, assisted by Rumbidzayi Chinyadza (Michigan Hawks SC).

The American girls delegation continues its slate of friendlies with a match against Tottenham Academy Wednesday and then the London City Lionesses Friday. The 2026 id2 International Tour began last week with a one-day domestic camp in Atlanta at U.S. Soccer’s National Training Center before the girls and boys teams departed for England. The girls remain in London for the duration of the tour, while the boys split time in Liverpool and London.

In addition to international competition, the id2 National Selection teams also train at various facilities in the area, attend professional matches and participate in sightseeing excursions that are curated to create a multi-faceted experience that benefits the players on and off the field.

The id2 National Selection International Tour is part of a multi-stage progression for targeted players, of which the outgoing year’s targeted age group was 2012-born athletes. Dating back to summer 2025, over 12,000 players were scouted by US Club Soccer’s scouting network. This included national and regional events, as well as localized scouting in club environments, where players are most comfortable. As players were monitored, US Club Soccer hosted two national camps in February and April/May. In February, at the id2 National Training Camp, more than 200 players participated in a week-long camp in Chula Vista, California. Then, the player pool narrowed further to about 70 players, who competed at the id2 National Selection Camp in Fairfax, Virginia. Now, the id2 National Selection International Tour is the ultimate reward for players in this process, and 18 girls and 18 boys are traveling to England later this week.