🏆 USWNT-CanWNT rivalry still thriving, Reggae Girlz for real & more
Maura Gladys has thoughts on the Concacaf W Championship
Today Maura Gladys provides her takeaways from the Concacaf W Championship! Maura is a friend going back to the days of a long-shuttered blog called USA10Kit. In addition to freelance writing, video directing and producing, Maura has a supporter-focused newsletter called American Tifo.
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I (Jon) am just now back on U.S. soil after a restful, delightful honeymoon. I’ll have a new feature out later this week & resume normal programming next week!
The 2022 Concacaf W Championship finished the way nine of the other 11 iterations have, with the United States lifting the trophy (as a new twist, approximately 20 margaritas were poured into the trophy afterwards.)
The USWNT bested rivals Canada 1-0, thanks to a 78th-minute penalty kick from Alex Morgan. It was a highly anticipated rematch of last year’s Olympic semifinals, which Canada won by the same score.
This match lived up to the hype, easily slotting in as the best match of the tournament. The win comes not just with bragging rights but some complementary passes to several of the world’s biggest sporting events. (More on that later.) But in 16 games over 15 very hot days, we learned plenty about what to expect, for the USWNT, Canada, Mexico and the rest of the Concacaf region.
Reviewing the basics
There were several things up for grabs within the tournament: Four tickets to next year’s Women’s World Cup (snagged by the United States, Canada, Jamaica and Costa Rica), two slots in an intercontinental World Cup playoff in February 2023 (earned by Haiti and Panama), a direct trip to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris (again, the U.S.) and a chance to compete for a second Olympic slot (Canada and Jamaica).
It’s the first time Concacaf combined qualification for the Women’s World Cup and Olympics in one tournament, a move meant to attach higher stakes and bring more excitement to matches. I’m not sure that came through, however, because of the sparse attendance, limited broadcast coverage and the formality of qualifying out of the way after just two matches for both the U.S. and Canada.
The U.S.- Canada rivalry is as healthy as ever
While it wasn’t their spiciest meeting, the final between the United States and Canada still packed a punch.
Both sides played with a focus and intensity not found against their other opponents in the tournament, and the U.S. brought a confidence and bravery in front of goal that was almost certainly an attempt to send a message to their rivals. The Rose Lavelle foul in the box that led to Alex Morgan’s game-winning penalty conversion drew criticism from Canada manager Bev Priestman, who called it a “soft penalty”. Canada supporters weighed in on Twitter as well.
In the context of the rivalry, it won’t go down as a classic, but it’s enough to keep tensions high and bragging rights fresh.
Jamaica is the real deal
Jamaica looked like a resilient team that knew how to handle its business, qualifying for its second consecutive Women’s World Cup and snagging a spot in the Olympic playoff against Canada.
After a surprising opening win over Mexico, the Reggae Girlz didn’t let a 5-0 blowout by the USWNT in their second game shake their focus, and knocked off Haiti 4-0 to claim their World Cup spot. After falling to Canada in the semifinals, they held their nerve against Costa Rica in the third place match and gutted out a 1-0 win in extra time.
While their on-field accomplishments have been overshadowed by off-field struggles for equal pay and better working conditions, Jamaica looked like the real deal. With direct qualification assured, star forward Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, also of Manchester City, and the rest of the Reggae Girlz will have a year to prepare and use their success as leverage. During that time, interim manager Lorne Donaldson will hopefully be named permanent manager as well, if only to watch him bust out his dance moves.
Haiti has a fun future ahead
Haiti might feel a little hard done by, not qualifying directly for the Women’s World Cup after putting in a strong performance in a tough group. But boy are they going to be fun to watch for the next few years. They played the United States harder than anyone expected, falling 3-0 in a match that was much closer than the scoreline indicated, and shocked Mexico with a 3-0 win.
For all their hard work, they still need to advance through to intercontinental playoff in order to reach their first ever Women’s World Cup.
But they scored one of the best goals of the tournament, and their young core, including 23-year-old captain Nérilia Mondésir and 18-year-old Melchie “Corventina” Dumornay, who earned Young Player of the Tournament honors in Monterrey, were thrilling to watch.
More than half of the team’s roster plays at varying levels in France’s domestic league system, and there has been a significant investment in Haiti’s youth development, which we’re just now starting to see the fruits of.
Mexico has some soul-searching to do
Mexico has now missed out on two straight World Cups, but this one is particularly gutting.
As the host nation, with an up-and-coming domestic league and a talented roster, hopes were particularly high, that La Tri would not only qualify for next year’s World Cup, but maybe even give the U.S. and Canada a run for their money for the W Championship title.
What happened was the absolute opposite as they crashed out in the group stage, losing all three of their matches. The performance has brought manager Monica Vergara under fire (she has somehow managed to still cling to her position) while general sporting director Gerardo Torrado and national teams director Ignacio Hierro have already received the ax. A restructure of the women’s department is on the way, but you have to think that some tough days lie ahead.
Vlatko decisions only created more questions
I’m not one to deep dive into tactics or formations in general, but there seemed to be a lot going on for Vlatko Andonovski’s side in terms of his lineups, his personnel selections and tactics all tournament, which will only lead to more questions as the Women’s World Cup gets closer.
There’s never a perfect time to really tinker with changes, simultaneously providing untested players meaningful minutes, while also ensuring qualification to global tournaments via the easiest path possible.
That being said, I loved watching Naomi Girma and Sophia Smith do their thing. Both showed flashes of potential and greatness in their skill and decision making. Smith biffed about 5 chances in the final, but her ceiling seems to be very, very, high, and Girma was able to masterfully control the play with her pinpoint passes from deep.
Monterrey Looks Gorgeous
I didn’t hate the broadcast constantly cutting to the wide shot of BBVA stadium in the shadow of Cerro de la Silla mountain. I mean, who doesn’t want to look at that? I’m sure having that view totally made up for the oppressive heat that the players, staff, broadcast crew and media had to endure. Shout out to all of the hardworking journalists, reporters, writers and content creators doing the Lord’s work and sweating their heads off down in balmy Monterrey.
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