The United States women’s national team faces another of its CONCACAF rivals, this time in the Gold Cup semifinals.
The USWNT will take on Canada in the second game of Wednesday’s semifinals doubleheader (7:15 p.m.) at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego.
Canada and the USWNT have played 64 times heading into the meeting. The series has been dominated by the Red, White and Blue, winning 53 and losing just four times. This is 14th time the teams have met in the knockout round of a tournament.
This time, a trip to Gold Cup final is on the line.
“We came into this tournament with the goal of playing six games,” USWNT goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher said. “We’re now onto the semifinals and to do it against a team like Canada, we know them very well, they know us very well and there’s always that rivalry feel, there’s always that intensity.
“This is another great opportunity for us, against a good opponent to continue to develop and hopefully put together another good performance.”
Top-seeded Canada struggled to put away Costa Rica in Saturday’s quarterfinal. Canada had 39 shots, 10 on target, and nearly 65% of possession, but could only manage a 104th-minute goal from Evelyne Viens.
“It’s always exciting playing them,” Canadian goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan said of the U.S. “As much as this is prep for the Olympic Games, we want to win and we want to bring our best.”
Sheridan, who plays for San Diego Wave FC, will be playing against three of her club teammates. Alex Morgan, Noami Girma and Jaedyn Shaw are all with the fourth-seeded USWNT.
“I have some incredible teammates, it will be an incredible game for sure,” she said.
Canada and the USWNT are searching for the right path. Canada had momentum after winning gold in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, but went out after the group stage in last year’s World Cup. The USWNT was eliminated in the Round of 16, which led to a coaching change that hasn’t yet been completed with new coach Emma Hayes still on the job with Chelsea.
“We learned a lot of lessons in the World Cup and we’re very disappointed and unsatisfied with our performance,” Sheridan said. “The way that we’ve turned around the last six months has been incredible and we know this is a build, you can’t go right to the top right away, you have to build and that’s our plan to build to the Olympics and to come out on top as we did last time.”
The USWNT bounced back from their loss to Mexico with a 3-0 win over Colombia on Saturday. Lindsay Horan, Jenna Nighswonger and Shaw scored in the first half of a physical battle.
“What we were looking for against Colombia was being a little more front-footed than we normally are,” Morgan said. “We were rewarded for that. So being a little more front foot, knowing their goalkeeper wasn’t super comfortable with the ball at her foot and just pressing and using those triggers to be more aggressive.”
The doubleheader gets underway at 4 p.m. with Brazil taking on Mexico. Brazil, the second seed, cruised to a 5-1 win against Argentina on Saturday. Mexico defeated Paraguay 3-2, but it came with some nervous moments in the second half.
“We’ve worked so hard for this moment and but it’s not the end yet,” Mexican forward Kiana Palacios said. “So we gotta keep going, keep pushing through and playing how we’ve been playing.”
Mexico’s Lizbeth Ovalle and Canada’s Adriana Leon are tied for the tournament league with five goals.
The semifinal winners meet in the final at 5:15 p.m. Sunday at Snapdragon Stadium.
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CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup semifinals
No. 2 Brazil vs. No. 3 Mexico
When: 4 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego
TV: ESPN+, Paramount+
No. 1 Canada vs. No. 4 United States
When: 7:15 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego
TV: ESPN+, Paramount+