It has been a rough week for football in the United States.

The failure of the U.S. to qualify for the 2018 World Cup is a stain that will remain forever, but on Monday there was a glimmer of hope for the future in the form of the U.S. Under-17 team.

Led by Timothy Weah, the son of the legendary Liberian footballer George Weah, the U.S. drilled Paraguay in the Round of 16 at the 2017 Under-17 World Cup in India and will now face either Japan or England in the quarter-finals.

Weah was the hero on the night, tallying a hat-trick, in what was a comprehensive performance from the U.S. The PSG youth product opened the scoring with a nice finish to give the U.S. a half-time lead, then doubled the margin with a sensational strike early in the second-half.

Well-struck goals from Atlanta United's Andrew Carleton and Werder Bremen youngster Josh Sargent increased the lead to 4-0, before Carleton set the table for Weah's third of the evening.

In a week in which football fans in the U.S. have been desperate for anything positive, Weah and this U-17 team are showing that all hope is not lost. This is a team that plays enterprising football. Sargent's movement was already on display earlier this year at the Under-20 World Cup, while Carleton's vision and passing will have surely drawn the attention of European clubs.

U.S. teams do not customarily have players who can score like this; now they do.

There are still five years to go before the U.S. will have a chance to appear in a World Cup match, but this collection of youngsters, led by Weah, prove that there is hope for the future of U.S. football.