Yes, they do.
Look at it this way, if you are good enough to be on the US YNT u20’s, then you should be playing up in age against even better competition. That’s how US soccer sees it.
They will even tell college teams what position they want their future USWNT players to play in. They have a rather surprising amount of pull….
It is surprising considering the lack of success the YNT teams have had on the full international stage. I don't mean beating up the minnows of CONCACAF, I mean U-17 and U-20 world cups.
It is also surprising if you track former YNT picks that have made it to the pros and see where their professional coach plays them. You know, the guy or gal that is going to be held accountable for wins and losses, unlike the US Soccer YNT coaches
It is also surprising considering the number of dual nationals that they say aren't good enough, who go on to star for another country, and then watch US Soccer come back and ask them to switch once they prove they were class all along.
It is also surprising considering that US Soccer has a history of ineptitude in regards to talent identification, talent development, and organizational administration. Quite simply USWNT benefits from having a 20-30 year head start on women's soccer and it hides many of the flaws we know US Soccer has as an organization. They suffer no penalty for getting it wrong because they can just show up and win 95% of the games.
But yeah, back on topic. The Surf 06 team will suffer from losing players of course. It's not the same team that beat Solar last year. Same with Blues, but Blues doesn't have the YNT problem, they have a ton of injuries.
For 06s I'm going to pick Colorado Rapids.