The extent of the global reach of the Women’s Super League is shown in the fact that eleven WSL-based players were named in the twelve national squads for the inaugural Women’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, which gets underway in the States this week. One guaranteed avid watcher will be Chelsea boss, Emma Hayes. Not only are there Chelsea players involved in the tournament, but she will be keeping a keen eye on the Americans, as she takes over the reins of the Stars & Stripes in May.
Embed from Getty ImagesWomen’s CONCACAF World Cup – What’s It All About?
The idea of the Women’s CONCACAF Gold Cup was first dreamed up in 2020 with CONCACAF officials hoping that it would become their ‘flagship women’s international competition’. The goal was to provide more competitive matches for all the CONCACAF member nations. This first ever edition of the tournament features twelve teams. Eight CONCACAF teams and four guest national sides from other confederations.
The guest nations on this occasion are the top-4 sides from the 2022 Copa América Femenina – Brazil, Colombia, Argentina & Paraguay. With three groups of four sides, it means the top-2 from each group, plus the two best finishing 3rd placed sides will qualify for the knockouts/quarterfinals.
The United States were confirmed as the tournament hosts last January. Four stadiums will be used in total. Three in the California cities of San Diego, Carson and Los Angeles and one in Houston, Texas. Whilst the maximum capacity of the four is only 35,000, they all are situated in southern locations, which should mean that some lively & raucous atmospheres can be expected, especially when the Central American sides are in action.
Embed from Getty ImagesWomen’s CONCACAF World Cup – The Groups
The hosts and 2022 CONCACAF Championship winners, the USA, look to have the hardest groups on paper. Their Group A rivals include Mexico and Argentina who are both ranked in the top-40 in the world. The Dominican Republic look to be the Group A whipping girls. It does not look plain sailing for the world-ranked 11th Brazilians in Group B either. Panama, who the Samba girls beat 4-0 at last year’s World Cup, and Puerto Rica should not faze them too much, but Colombia could be the one of the tournament dark horses. Canada however, the CONCACAF Olympic play-off winners, will be pretty happy with their Group C set-up. While nothing can be taken for granted on the international scene, Costa Rica, Paraguay & El Salvador all look beatable.
Embed from Getty ImagesLooking For Positive Reactions After World Cup Setbacks
A number of the CONCACAF Gold Cup sides are looking for a positive response after disappointing at the 2023 Women’s World Cup last summer. USA were unbeaten during the group phase, but they only won once. They failed to fire in front of goal, scoring just 4 times, whilst their group winners, the Netherlands hit the back of the net 9 times. They eventually were knocked out on penalties after a goalless draw with Sweden in the Round of 16. The USA’s earliest ever exit in a World Cup.
Canada also had their goalscoring struggles at the World Cup, scoring just twice (one of those an own goal) and not getting out their group. Brazil also flattered to deceive, beating Panama 4-0 in their opener, before bowing out with a whimper. Argentina, Costa Rica & Panama all finished bottom of their groups after not winning any of their matches. In fact, Colombia was the only side of the CONCACAF Gold Cup brigade who would head home feeling positive from the World Cup. They topped their group, famously taking the scalp of Germany. Eventually bowing out in the Quarter-Finals, not before pushing England all the way.
Embed from Getty ImagesPrevious Women’s CONCACAF Tournaments
This may be the inaugural edition of the Women’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, but Women’s CONCACAF Championships have been played regularly since 1991, 11 times in total. The most recent of these took in place in Mexico in 2022. The USA would cruise through the tournament, not conceding a single goal. They beat Canada 1-0 in the Final thanks to an Alex Morgan strike. The Canucks also performed strongly throughout, with that goal in the Final the only one they would concede. Including 2022, USA triumphed in 9 of the previous 11 CONCACAF Championships (Canada winning the two they did not). It’s worth noting that the Stars & Stripes have won 100% of the CONCACAF tournaments played on home turf.
Keep Your Eye Out For the Women’s Super League Stars
There were eleven Women’s Super League based representatives selected for the CONCACAF Gold Cup squads, but sadly for Chelsea (and the USA), Mia Fishel, like clubmate Sam Kerr, picked up an ACL knee injury during a tournament warm-up. So there’s just ten WSL’ers on show now and they are as follows:
USA: Emily Fox (Arsenal)
Brazil: Geyse (Man Utd)
Colombia: Jorelyn Carabali (Brighton)
Canada: Kadeisha Buchanan (Chelsea), Shelina Zadorsky (West Ham – on loan from Tottenham), Deanne Rose (Leicester), Ashley Lawrence (Chelsea), Sabrina D’Angelo (Arsenal), Adriana Leon (Aston Villa), Cloé Lacasse (Arsenal)
Will the USA Women Impress Or Distress?
Twila Kilgore stays in charge as interim US head coach. She took over from Vlatko Andonovski after the dismal World Cup campaign and remain in place until Emma Hayes takes the reins in a few months. While some former USA greats, Megan Rapinoe & Kelley O’Hara have either retired or not been selected, there is still plenty of experience and wise heads in the squad. Alex Morgan, Becky Sauerbrunn, Lindsey Horan, Crystal Dunn, Rose Lavelle for example. Fresh talent who are eager to prove their talents has also been added into the mix. Four of the 23-player squad: defender Jenna Nighswonger, midfielders Korbin Albert & Olivia Moultrie and forward Jaedyn Shaw, only made their international debuts late in 2023. The CONCACAF Gold Cup will prove good prep ahead of the US Olympics’ challenge in Paris this summer. Will Emma Hayes be left licking her lips at the prospect?
Viewers in the UK can watch matches live via CONCACAF GO and CONCACAF’s YouTube channel. In the US, the tournament will be broadcast on CBS Sports and Paramount+ for English speakers and ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ for Spanish speakers.
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Image Credit: Deposit Photos
