The new format for the Concacaf W Championship was announced last fall, and the tournament serves as the region’s qualifier for the upcoming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, as well as the 2024 Summer Games in Paris and, for some teams, the new founded the Concacaf W Gold Cup. The eight-team tournament runs from July 4 to 18 in Monterrey, Mexico, and consists of a group stage followed by a knockout round. The top two from each group will advance to the semi-finals and, in the process, qualify for the 2023 World Cup. The third place in each group will advance to a 10-team intercontinental play-off tournament to determine the final teams in the expanded 32-team field for 2023. In addition, the tournament champion will automatically qualify for the 2024 Olympics with the second and third placed countries advancing to a Concacaf Olympic play-off to be held in September 2023. Coming off a pair of wins over Colombia in late June, the U.S. is looking to qualify for a ninth consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cup, having played in every tournament since the tournament’s inception in 1991 and winning a record four titles. The USA will also have a chance to qualify for an eighth straight Summer Olympics.
Fans will also be able to follow the action via Twitter (@USWNT), Instagram (@USWNT), Facebook and the official US Soccer app.
USWNT DETAILED ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB, CAPS/GOALS)
GOALKEEPERS (3): Aubrey Kingsbury (Washington Spirit; 1), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage; 5), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars, 81)
DEFENDERS (7): Alana Cook (OL Reign, 10/0), Emily Fox (Racing Louisville FC, 14/0), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC, 2/0), Sofia Huerta (OL Reign, 14/0 ). ), Kelley O’Hara (Washington Spirit; 154/3), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns FC; 203/0), Emily Sonnett (Washington Spirit; 66/0)
IN (6): Lindsey Horan (Olympic Lyon, FRA; 111/25), Taylor Kornieck (San Diego Wave FC; 2/1), Rose Lavelle (OL Reign; 73/20), Kristie Mewis (NJ/NY Gotham FC ;5/40), Ashley Sanchez (Washington Spirit; 9/2), Andy Sullivan (Washington Spirit; 3/28);
FORWARDS (7): Ashley Hatch (Washington Spirit; 10/4), Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC; 192/115), Mallory Pugh (Chicago Red Stars; 73/23), Midge Perce (NJ/NY Gotham FC ; 3/15), Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign; 189/62), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit, 4/1), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC, 6/16)
Unlike previous years where rosters for Concacaf Qualifiers included 20 players, this year roster sizes have increased to 23, matching the current World Cup roster. US Women’s National Team coach Vlatko Andonovski has announced his 23-man roster for the final competition on June 13, fielding a squad that includes proven veterans on the international stage as well as dynamic, up-and-coming talent. Nine players out of the 23 players on this Concacaf W Championship roster were part of the 2019 squad that won the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and only 10 players in total have previous World Cup or Olympic qualification experience at senior national team level.
LAST EXIT
The USA played their final friendly before qualifying began on June 28, defeating Colombia, 2-0, at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. The Americans took a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute after a dangerous cross from defender Sofia Huerta led to a Colombian own goal. After a 50-minute break in play due to nearby storms in the area, the USA doubled their lead in the 77th as veteran defender Kelley O’Hara scored on a half-volley for her third career international goal and her first since 2016 . Goalie Alyssa Naeher recorded the 47th shutout of her career, highlighted by a spectacular dive in the 55th and another fine stop in the 86th to preserve the clean sheet and extend the USA’s home unbeaten streak to 69 straight games.
WITHIN SERIES: USA VS. HAITI
The USA has played Haiti seven times, winning each of the previous meetings between the teams by shutouts. Five of the previous seven meetings have taken place during Concacaf Qualifiers – three in World Cup qualifiers and two in Olympic qualifiers. The USA defeated Haiti, 10-0, in the World Cup Qualifiers semi-finals in Port-au-Prince in 1991 and also recorded group stage victories at World Cup Qualifiers in 2010 (5-0) and 2014 (6-0 ). The most recent meeting between the teams took place on January 28, 2020, in the opening match of the USA Olympic Qualifier for the later postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The USWNT won 4-0 in Houston, Texas behind goals from Christen Press, Lynn Williams, Lindsey Horan and Carli Lloyd, but Haiti put up an impressive fightback before the USA finally put the game away. Megan Rapinoe tallied a pair of assists in the win, which saw the USA score three times in the second half. The USA’s other win over Haiti in the Olympic Qualifiers came in 2004, an 8-0 American victory.
2022 USWNT MEDIA GUIDE
The 2022 USA Women’s National Team Media Guide is available for download. The Media Guide includes all history and statistics for the USWNT, as well as full bios for the coaching staff and current top players, information on the US Women’s Youth National Teams and general important information about US Soccer.
ABOUT THE CONCACAF W CHAMPIONSHIP
For the first time CONCACAF will hold the qualifiers for the Women’s World Cup and the Olympics in the same tournament. This puts an end to the format that has seen eight previous Concacaf World Cup qualifying tournaments and five previous Concacaf Olympic qualifying tournaments. For the 1996 and 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cups, teams qualified through their position at the previous years’ World Cup. The eight-team field for the W Concacaf Championship features the USA and Canada, who automatically advanced to the championship round as the highest-ranked teams in the region at No. 1 and No. 6 in the world, respectively, along with the six group winners from the Concacaf W Qualifiers. For the qualifiers, 30 teams were drawn into six groups of five for the qualifying competition and played a total of four matches during the FIFA Windows of February and April 2022 to determine the winners of the groups. Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Panama, Haiti and Trinidad & Tobago won their respective groups to join the USA and Canada in the field for the Concacaf W Championship, which is one of two new major summer women’s competitions to receive country in the region from 2021 to 2024. After round-robin group matches at the Concacaf W Championship, the top two finishers in each group will advance to the semi-finals of the competition and guarantee their place at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. In addition, both third-placed athletes from the group stage will qualify for a 10-team FIFA Women’s World Cup play-off. Upon completion of the Concacaf W Championship, the winning country will also guarantee its place at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics in the Women’s Football Tournament and the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup. Runners-up and third-placed nations will qualify for an Olympic play-in Concacaf to be held in September 2023. The winner of the play-in will also guarantee their place in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics and the 2024 Olympic W Gold Cup.
GROUP A AT A GLANCE
The official draw for the 2022 Concacaf W Championship took place on April 19 in Miami, where the eight participating countries were drawn into two groups of four. Group A consists of USA, Haiti, Jamaica and hosts Mexico, while Group B includes Canada, Trinidad & Tobago, Costa Rica and Panama. Group A begins Monday, July 4 with USA vs. Haiti at 6 p.m. local / 7 p.m. ET, followed by Mexico-Jamaica at 9 p.m. local / 10 p.m. ET. Group B kicks off Tuesday, July 5, with Costa Rica-Panama (6 p.m. local / 7 p.m. ET) followed by Canada-T&T (9 p.m. local / 10 p.m. .ET). The final ranking in each group will be determined by aggregate points (three for a win, one for a draw), with the first tiebreaker being aggregate goal difference, followed by most aggregate goals scored. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-final round, where the winner of Group A will play the runner-up team from Group B and the winner of B will face the runner-up from Group A for a place in the final . .
ALL EYES ON AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
With the opening match of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup just over a year away, eleven teams have already qualified for the tournament, which has now expanded to 32 teams, up from 24 in 2015 and 2019. The nations that have already The 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. This will be the first Women’s World Cup at any level for both the Philippines and Vietnam, who qualified through the AFC Women’s Asian Cup. There are still four spots from Africa, four from CONCACAF, three spots from South America, seven slots from Europe and three spots from the 10-team playoff tournament that will feature two teams from Asia (Chinese Taipei and Thailand), two from Africa, two from Concacaf, two from South America, one from Oceania and one from Europe.
US ROSTER NOTES
The USA has an overall combined record of 55-1-1 in Qualifiers, with a 32-1-0 record in World Cup Qualifiers and a 23-0-1 mark in Olympic Qualifiers.
USA won all the…
