USWNT facing Canada with 2024 Summer Olympics berth on the line

After four wins in four games at the Concacaf W Championship, the U.S. Women’s National Team will take on Canada on Monday, July 18 in the tournament final with a trophy and a spot in the 2024 Summer Olympics on the line. The teams will square off at Estadio BBVA at 10 p.m. ET / 9 p.m. local with broadcast coverage on Paramount+ and ViX.

Under the new format for the Concacaf W Championship, this tournament serves not only as qualifying for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup – for which the USA, Canada, Costa Rica and Jamaica have clinched automatic berths – but will also decide one of Concacaf’s two berths to the 2024 Olympics in Paris. The winner of USA-Canada will punch its ticket to Paris while the loser will play the winner of the Third-Place Match between Costa Rica and Jamaica (Monday at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. local on Paramount+ and ViX) in a playoff in September of 2023 to determine the region’s second and final representative at the Olympic Games.

The stakes are high for Monday’s final, as is the quality of the teams. The USA is the reigning World Cup champions and ranked No. 1 in the world while Canada, ranked No. 6 in the world, is the reigning Olympic gold medalists. The two countries will square off for the 10^th time in a Concacaf final, with the USA holding an 8-0-1 record across the previous nine meetings.

FINAL FACE-OFF

The USA and Canada enter Monday’s title game coming off similar runs in this tournament.  Both teams have won all four games by shutout and scored 12 goals.

The USA has had nine different goal scorers while Canada has eight players who have tallied. This is the first meeting since the semifinal of the delayed 2020 Olympics, a match won 1-0 by Canada on a late penalty kick award by VAR. It was one of just two shots on goal for Canada in the match and it was Canada’s first win over the USA in 20 years. The USA has three players with multiple goals in this tournament in Alex Morgan (2), Sophia Smith (2) and Kristie Mewis (2), while Canada has two in Julia Grosso (3) and Jessie Fleming (3).

USWNT DETAILED ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB; CAPS/GOALS) 

GOALKEEPERS (3): Aubrey Kingsbury (Washington Spirit; 1), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage; 8), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars; 82)

DEFENDERS (7): Alana Cook (OL Reign; 13/0), Emily Fox (Racing Louisville FC; 16/0), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC; 5/0), Sofia Huerta (OL Reign; 18/0), Kelley O’Hara (Washington Spirit; 156/3), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns FC; 206/0), Emily Sonnett (Washington Spirit; 69/1)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC; 0/0), Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon, FRA; 115/25), Taylor Kornieck (San Diego Wave FC; 4/1), Rose Lavelle (OL Reign; 77/21), Kristie Mewis (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 44/7), Ashley Sanchez (Washington Spirit; 13/3), Andi Sullivan (Washington Spirit; 31/3)

FORWARDS (6): Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC; 195/117), Mallory Pugh (Chicago Red Stars; 77/24), Midge Purce (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 18/4), Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign; 192/62), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit; 6/2), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC; 20/8)

Unlike previous years where the rosters for Concacaf Qualifying have featured 20 players, this year roster sizes were expanded to 23, matching the current World Cup roster size. U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Vlatko Andonovski announced his 23-player roster for the final competition on June 13, bringing in a squad that includes proven veterans on the international stage as along with dynamic, up-and-coming talent.

The USA has made one change to its roster since the start of the tournament, with midfielder Sam Coffey replacing forward Ashley Hatch for the knockout rounds. Hatch suffered a muscle strain in her leg following the USA’s July 7 win over Jamaica and was ruled unable to compete the remainder of the tournament. Coffey, who received her first call-up to senior national team this June, joins the team in Monterrey in search of her first cap.

Twenty-two players have seen action for the USA at the Concacaf W Championship, 12 of whom made their Concacaf Qualifying debuts. The only players who have yet to see action are goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury and Coffey. Two players – Lindsey Horan and Sophia Smith – have started all four matches for the USA at the Concacaf W Championship while four additional players – Sofia Huerta, Ashley Sanchez, Kristie Mewis and Rose Lavelle – have also seen action in every game of the tournament. Becky Sauerbrunn and goalkeeper Casey Murphy lead the USWNT in total minutes played this tournament with 270 each, followed by Alex Morgan (259 minutes) and Horan (251).

INSIDE THE SERIES: USA VS. CANADA

The USA and Canada are set to meet for the 62nd time overall in a series that dates back to 1986 when the USWNT was in just its second year in existence. Canada is the most common opponent in USWNT history and the USA leads the overall series 51-3-7.

The USA and Canada have met three times at the Olympics, with the USWNT winning the first two meetings, both of which came in the knockout rounds and went to extra time. In 2008, the USA bested Canada in the quarterfinals, 2-1, thanks to a dramatic diving header from Natasha Kai in the 101st minute. The teams met again in the 2012 Olympic semifinal at Wembley Stadium, a 4-3 victory for the USA in a thrilling affair, punctuated by a header from Alex Morgan in the 123rd minute – which still stands as the latest goal in FIFA and Olympic history – to send the Americans through to the final. Sinclair tallied a hat trick for Canada, but a Megan Rapinoe brace and a penalty kick from Abby Wambach kept the match level until Morgan’s header in the waning seconds.

Before the match in the 2020 Olympics, the most recent meeting between the teams came on February 18, 2021, at the SheBelieves Cup in Orlando. Rose Lavelle scored in the 79th minute to lift the USA to a 1-0 victory to kick off the three-game tournament. The USA threatened on a number of set piece opportunities throughout the evening, earning 13 corners to Canada’s five and several free kicks in dangerous territory. After creating quality chances and knocking on the door for much of the night, the USA finally broke through off a free kick when Lavelle, a second-half substitute, pounced poor clearance in the penalty box and fired home for the game’s lone goal.

ALL EYES ON AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

With the opening match of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup just over a year away, 19 teams have already qualified for the tournament, which has been expanded to now feature 32 teams, up from 24 in both 2015 and 2019. The nations that have already punched their tickets Down Under are co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, China PR, Philippines and Vietnam from Asia, and Sweden, France, Denmark and Spain from Europe, the USA, Costa Rica, Canada and Jamaica from Concacaf and Zambia, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa from Africa. This will be the first Women’s World Cup at any level the Philippines and Vietnam, who qualified through the AFC Asian Women’s Cup, as well as Morocco, who qualified through the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations. Still to be filled are three slots from South America, seven remaining slots from Europe and three slots from the 10-team playoff tournament that will feature two teams from Asia (Chinese Taipei and Thailand), two from Africa, two from Concacaf (Haiti and Panama), two from South America, one from Oceania and one from Europe.

The USA has qualified for its ninth consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cup, having played in every tournament since the competition’s inception in 1991 and winning a record four titles. Japan, Sweden and Nigeria have also qualified for a ninth Women’s World Cup and Germany, Norway and Brazil can join that group as well if they successfully qualify for Australia/New Zealand. The USA is also looking to qualify for an eighth consecutive Summer Olympics. The USA, Sweden and Brazil are the only nations to appear in every edition of the Olympic Women’s Football Tournament since its inception in 1996.

USA ROSTER NOTES

• The USA has an overall combined record of 59-1-1 in World Cup and Olympic Qualifying matches, the lone loss coming in 2010 vs. Mexico in the semifinals of World Cup Qualifying. The USA’s only draw in World Cup or Olympic Qualifying officially came in the final of the 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament against Canada, though the USA prevailed on penalty kicks to win the tournament.

• The USA has won all five Olympic qualifying tournaments in which it has participated and has won eight of the nine World Cup qualifying tournaments in which it competed, the lone blemish coming in the 2010 Concacaf Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament, the USA fell to Mexico in the semifinal in Cancun, Mexico and Canada defeated Mexico in the championship game.

• Eight players on the Concacaf W Championship roster were on the USWNT’s roster for Olympic Qualifying in 2020: Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle, Alyssa Naeher, Kelley O’Hara, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, Emily Sonnett and Andi Sullivan.

• Nine players on this year’s 23-player CWC roster were a part of the USA’s 2018 World Cup Qualifying roster, with Alex Morgan and Mallory Pugh joining Horan, Lavelle, Naeher, O’Hara, Rapinoe, Sauerbrunn and Sonnett.

• Megan Rapinoe leads the squad with a combined 25 appearances in qualifying events – though she missed the July 7 match against Jamaica as she was in Washington D.C. to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She returned to Monterrey that evening and came on in the second half of the July 11 match against Mexico.

• Morgan is the next-most experienced player on this roster in World Cup and Olympic Qualifying with 23 qualifying caps, followed by Becky Sauerbrunn (21), Kelley O’Hara (18) and Lindsey Horan (18).

• Morgan, Rapinoe and Sauerbrunn were on the U.S. team that last played in a World Cup qualifying tournament in Mexico. That was in 2010 when the USA lost its only match to Mexico, which occurred in the semifinal in Cancun. That loss forced the USA to win the Third-Place Match and then the two-leg playoff vs. Italy to qualify for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a tournament in which the USA advanced to the Final before falling in penalty kicks to Japan.

• The most capped player on the roster is Becky Sauerbrunn at 206, followed by Alex Morgan (195), Megan Rapinoe (192), Kelley O’Hara (156) and Lindsey Horan (115) while the least capped players are Trinity Rodman (6), Naomi Girma (5), Taylor Kornieck (4), Aubrey Kingsbury (1) and Sam Coffey, who has yet to make her USWNT debut.

• Twelve players on the USA roster for the Concacaf W Championship have 20 caps or fewer: Sophia Smith, Midge Purce, Sofia Huerta, Emily Fox, Alana Cook, Ashley Sanchez, Casey Murphy, Rodman, Girma, Kornieck, Kingsbury and Coffey.

• Becky Sauerbrunn is the oldest player on the roster (37 years old) while Rodman is the youngest (20 years old) and was six years old when Sauerbrunn made her USWNT debut. Rapinoe celebrated her 37^th birthday on July 5, but is a month younger than Sauerbrunn.

• Of the 23 players on this roster, seven are in their 30s while nine players are age 25 or younger.

• Through 11 games in 2022, the USWNT has had 24 goals scored by players under the age of 24. Over the course of 2019, 2020 and 2021 – a total of 57 games – the USWNT had a combined total of 10 goals scored by players under the age of 24.

• Morgan is the top scorer on the roster with 117 career goals. Rapinoe has 62 and Lindsey Horan has 25. Pugh has 24 goals for the USWNT while Rose Lavelle has 21.

• Nine different players have scored for the USA at the Concacaf W Championship – Alex Morgan (2), Sophia Smith (2), Kristie Mewis (2), Midge Purce (1), Rose Lavelle (1), Trinity Rodman (1), Emily Sonnett (1), Mallory Pugh (1) and Ashley Sanchez (1).

• Mewis, Morgan and Smith are tied for fourth in scoring among all players this tournament. Canada’s Julia Grosso and Jessie Fleming and Jamaica’s Khadija “Bunny” Shaw currently lead the Golden Boot race with three goals scored apiece.

• Six different players have recorded an assist for the USA at the Concacaf W Championship – Mallory Pugh (2), Naomi Girma (1), Sofia Huerta (1), Ashley Sanchez (1), Kelley O’Hara (1) and Rose Lavelle (1).

• In total, 12 different players have been directly involved in a goal for the USA during the Concacaf W Championship, tallying either a goal or an assist.

• Pugh’s two assists are tied for second among all players so far this tournament, trailing only Canada’s Janine Beckie, who has three assists, all of which came in Canada’s opening win over Trinidad & Tobago.

• The USA has allowed just 18 shots and five shots on target this tournament, the second-fewest in the competition in both categories.

• Fifteen different players have scored for the USWNT so far in 2022 – Sophia Smith (7), Mallory Pugh (6), Catarina Macario (5), Rose Lavelle (3), Kristie Mewis (3), Ashley Sanchez (3), Alex Morgan (2), Ashley Hatch (2), Jaelin Howell (1), Trinity Rodman (2), Midge Purce (1), Kelley O’Hara (1), Andi Sullivan (1), Taylor Kornieck (1) and Emily Sonnett (1).

• The USA’s other five goals this year came via own goals, the most ever in a calendar year in program history with three on Feb. 20 vs. New Zealand, and one each on April 12 vs. Uzbekistan and June 28 vs. Colombia.

• Twelve different players have registered an assist for the USWNT so far in 2022, led by Pugh with seven assists. Lavelle (6 assists), Sanchez (3), Alana Cook (2), O’Hara (2) and Huerta (2) also have multiple assists on the year while Megan Rapinoe, Purce, Hatch, Macario, Sullivan and Girma have one assist each.

• In total, 19 different players have been directly involved in goals for the USWNT in 2022, tallying either a goal or an assist.

• Two players – Ashley Sanchez and Kristie Mewis – have appeared for the USA in all 11 matches in 2022.

• Defender Alana Cook leads the USA in total minutes played so far in 2022 with 746 minutes of action, followed by Sullivan (679 minutes) and Sanchez (658).

• Head coach Vlatko Andonovski is 38-2-6 in 46 games (two at the end of 2019, nine in 2020, 24 in 2021, and 11 so far in 2022).

IN FOCUS: CANADA | FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

Current FIFA World Ranking: 6
Concacaf Ranking: 2
FIFA Country Code: CAN
World Cup appearances: 7 (1995, 199, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019)
Best World Cup Finish: Fourth Place (2003)
Olympic appearances: 4 – 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020
Best Olympic Finish: Gold Medal (2020)
Record vs. USA: 4-51-7
Last Meeting vs. USA: Aug. 2, 2021 (1-0 Canada win in Olympic Semifinal; Kashima, Japan)
Coach: Bev Priestman (ENG)

CANADA WOMEN’S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION

GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Kailen Sheridan (San Diego Wave FC, USA), 18-Sabrina D’Angelo (Vittsji, SWE), 22-Lysianne Proulx (Unattached) 

DEFENDERS (9): 2-Allysha Chapman (Houston Dash, USA), 3-Kadeisha Buchanan (Chelsea, ENG), 4-Shelina Zadorsky (Tottenham Hotspur, ENG), 5-Quinn (OL Reign, USA), 8-Jayde Riviere (University of Michigan, USA), 10-Ashley Lawrence (Paris Saint-Germain, FRA), 14-Vanessa Gilles (Angel City FC, USA), 21-Zoe Burns (University of Southern California, USA), 23-Bianca St Georges (Chicago Red Stars, USA)

MIDFIELDERS (4): 7-Julia Grosso (Juventus, ITA), 11-Desiree Scott (Kansas City Current, USA), 13-Sophie Schmidt (Houston Dash, USA), 17-Jessie Fleming (Chelsea, ENG)

FORWARDS (6): 6-Deanne Rose (Reading, ENG), 9-Jordyn Huitema (OL Reign, USA), 12-Christine Sinclair (Portland Thorns FC, USA), 15-Nichelle Prince (Houston Dash, USA), 16-Janine Beckie (Portland Thorns FC, USA), 19-Adriana Leon (Manchester United, ENG), 20-Cloe Lacasse (Benfica, POR)

CANADA ROSTER NOTES

• Seventeen of the 23 players on Canada roster for this tournament were on the 2020 Olympic Team. Only nine players on the USA’s 23-player roster were on its 2020 Olympic Team.

• One of the most experienced and respected players in women’s soccer history, Portland Thorns FC forward Christine Sinclair is by far the most-capped player on Canada’s roster and the world’s all-time leading international goal scorer. Just the fourth player in international soccer history to amass 300+ caps, Sinclair reached the milestone in Canada’s opening match of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics – in which she also scored the opening goal – and joined USWNT standouts Kristine Lilly (354 caps), Carli Lloyd (316) and Christie Pearce Rampone (311) and in the 300-cap club.

• With 190 international goals, she passed the USA’s Abby Wambach for the title early in 2020 during Olympic qualifying. The 2020 Olympics were her fourth Olympics and ninth world championship event for Sinclair, who made her international debut in 2000 at age 16.

• Canada’s gold medal in 2021 was in its fourth Olympic appearance, having qualified for every tournament since 2008. After an eighth-place finish in Beijing in 2008, Canada captured bronze at each of the next two Olympics – beating France, 1-0, in the Third-Place Match in 2012 and topping Brazil, 2-1, in 2016 to earn a second consecutive medal.

• International competition aside, there is a very high degree of familiarity between the two sides as nearly every player on Canada’s roster has played in the United States at one point either professionally or collegiately. Canada’s roster features eleven current NWSL players, two players current playing in U.S. colleges and of the nine Canadians currently playing in Europe, three previously played in the NWSL. The nine players in Europe all played collegiate soccer in the USA.

• Because of the NWSL ties, six Canadians are teammates with 12 American players on these two rosters. There are no U.S. players on the roster from Angel City FC or the Houston Dash, or that number would be higher.

• Additionally, Kadeisha Buchanan, Canada’s top defender, and the USA’s Catarina Macario are club teammates for Olympique Lyon in France.