The USWNT Continues Regional Dominance While World Catches Up
USA beat Canada 1-0 to win the CONCACAF W Championship
Alex Morgan slotted home a second half penalty which proved to be the winning goal in the CONCACAF W Championship match vs regional rivals Canada. All things considered the USWNT dominated this match with multiple big chances missed or saved by the competent Canadian defense. While the USA celebrates a regional championship to qualify for the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Olympics, a Euro tournament is taking place across the Atlantic Ocean.
You can see how much this means to the US team. There has been a lot of chatter about the gap between the old and the new. This trophy should be considered the first of the new generation. Plenty of younger players were a part of this roster and none shined more throughout the tournament than the 21 year old attacker Sophia Smith. Even beyond Smith and the younger generation that filled out this USWNT roster, action was still taking place in the domestic US league NWSL.
In the shadow of the CONCACAF W Championship a 16 year old Olivia Moultrie was scoring an insane goal for the Portland Thorns, one of the premier clubs in NWSL.
And yet with all this positivity surrounding the Women’s National Team program there is a bigger, more competitive tournament happening a few thousand miles away in England.
The Women’s Euros have completed their group stage process and tomorrow night England will take on Spain in the first quarterfinal of this year’s Euros. Watching these matches and comparing the quality to the USWNT it’s hard to feel confident that we deserve the #1 ranking in the world. England’s squad has depth and speed. France has technique and power. There are quality national teams everywhere you look in the knockout rounds who you have to think would give the US squad a scare.
It may have taken a few decades but it does seem like the world has finally caught up with the USWNT. I for one can’t wait to see the US up against the best in the world, who will show a marked improvement in the quality of World Cup and Olympic tournaments.
It’s always the same story and has been for years, “The European’s are catching up to the USA women, finally, the USA can’t play at the European level, they’ve been surpassed”. It’s a tale almost as old as Women’s Soccer. It’s a nice story.
The reality is that the USA is still the top team, it’s the European teams that have to prove themselves against the USA. And one team may rise up and beat us, it’s happened before, not often, but it does happen. But year after year, decade after decade the United Stars Women’s National Team is the team to beat. This isn’t a dynasty, this is an Empire, and it’s not going away any time soon.