The USWNT and Canada faced off in the Women’s Gold Cup semifinals this Wednesday, promising an entertaining match of soccer between two of the best women’s national teams in the world… ruined by the state of the weather, pitch and for many fans, by Concacaf’s poor lack of judgement.
A rain-filled evening in San Diego, plus a worn-down pitch at Snapdragon Stadium following the match between Mexico and Brazil prior to the bout between the U.S. and Canada, sentenced both national teams to a field that was inarguably not in conditions to conduct a professional soccer match.
Puddles the size of Texas, inability to make ground passes, players kicking water instead of the ball and the state of the pitch directly affecting the scoreboard.
Lindsey Horan tried to play a long ball.
She kicked water instead. pic.twitter.com/rXKcvAKiNY— Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) March 7, 2024
JAEDYN SHAW RIDING THE STORMMMM pic.twitter.com/0gq2tkR2sa
— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) March 7, 2024
Yikes.
The organizers of the tournament, better known as Concacaf, clearly made a mistake letting this game go on and fans on social media, unhappy with their decision, didn’t hold back on their criticisms.
Social media reactions to extremely poor playing conditions in USWNT-Canada at W Gold Cup
You have just been Concacaf’d, Gold Cup fans.
The drenched fans present in the stadium and those watching the match at home showed their mortification after witnessing the horrid conditions in which both national teams were forced to play in, throwing all game tactics out the window and most importantly, placing the players’ physical integrity at risk.
“Ridiculous” “Painful to watch” “Terryfying” and “Disgrace” were some of the words by fans to describe the match.
This womens CONCACAF Gold cup semi final match in the rain is ridiculous.
— Yvonne Mullet (@YvonneMullet) March 7, 2024
This rain is hilarious but terrifying #uswnt #concacaf
— marygriseto (@marygriseto) March 7, 2024
CONCACAF’s answer to rain is Squeegees what a joke, let’s redo semifinals ALL OF em pic.twitter.com/Cb1q2QVOdB
— lil salsa vert (@mytepanda) March 7, 2024
Hey @concacaf @GoldCup, real quick…
Uh… WTF?— AO (@AmericanOutlaws) March 7, 2024
CONCACAF keeping this match going like pic.twitter.com/Y7eLwFiyAd
— Gal Pal Sports (@GalPalSports) March 7, 2024
the teams: “um hey it’s a little wet out here, maybe we should postpone”
concacaf: “it’s fine, trinity’s middle name is rain”— kris ⚽️ (@Kristance77) March 7, 2024
concacaf WHAT are we doing here. they’re playing in a POOL #USWNT #CANWNT #WGoldCup pic.twitter.com/9IvEMEAGS2
— Dylan Kanner (@DKanner10) March 7, 2024
ladies and gentlemen, i give you, concacaf ♀️ pic.twitter.com/tzKJ1LlXut
— kris ⚽️ (@Kristance77) March 7, 2024
Vanessa Gilles is wringing out her jersey and compression shirt just a minute into the match. Gives you an idea of how much rain is falling. And fast. #WGoldCUp #CANWNT #USWNT pic.twitter.com/CZY95MSGdL
— Jacob Pacheco (@JacobPacheco6) March 7, 2024
About as normal as a Concacaf match gets, am I right?
Ironically, though, USWNT and company will get their “pitch-rematch” for their upcoming game in the tournament. After defeating Canada and advancing to the final, the U.S. women's national team will now have to face off against CONMBEOL's Brazil this Sunday at Snapdragon Stadium (a hopefully dry and healthy one).
Now, let’s just hope the end result of the match is the same, rain or shine.
Two forces clash on Sunday! pic.twitter.com/orUdUBXSvF
— W Gold Cup (@GoldCup) March 7, 2024
