Alyssa Naeher

The United States women’s national team will go on a month-and-a-half hiatus following a spring that saw them lift the inaugural Concacaf W Gold Cup and their seventh SheBelieves Cup. We’d say we’ve seen enough for a USWNT Olympic roster prediction.

Incoming USWNT head coach Emma Hayes will need to narrow the roster to 18 names for the Paris Olympics. She’ll have watched both tournaments and have a solid idea of who deserves to go.

The U.S. women’s national team were crowned the 2024 SheBelieves Cup champions after defeating Canada in Columbus on Tuesday.

After facing off against Canada in the W Gold Cup semifinals last March and  defeating The Maples through penalties, both national teams were to meet once again in hopes of winning a trophy.

There's no doubt about this one.

USWNT’s Alyssa Naeher collected the 2024 Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup Golden Glove following the U.S. women’s national team’s victory over Brazil in the final this Sunday.

NO DOUBT, YOUR GOLDEN GLOVE WINNER pic.twitter.com/1H7xArzZ8Q

The USWNT will be facing off against CONMEBOL’s mighty Brazil in the W Gold Cup final.

After defeating Canada through a penalty shoot-out last Wednesday in the tournament’s semifinal, the U.S. women’s national team will be due to play the first-ever final in the history of the tournament against none other than Brazil.

Alyssa Naeher had a penalty shootout performance against Canada in the Concacaf W Gold Cup semifinal that etched new lore in United States women’s national team history.

It’s important to add some context to what must have been going through Naeher’s mind before the shootout began.

She had just conceded and failed to save the penalty kick in the final seconds to send the game to a shootout.

The United States women’s national team defeated Canada 3-1 on penalties (2-2 after extra time on Wednesday) in the Concacaf W Gold Cup amid horrid weather and field conditions at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California.

Rain poured down throughout the evening and during the day’s earlier Gold Cup semifinal that saw Brazil defeat Mexico 3-0. By the time the USWNT and Canada took the field it looked more like a swimming pool.

United States women’s national team head coach Vlatko Andonovski is set to put out his first-ever World Cup starting XI on Friday against Vietnam. Here’s an idea of the expected USWNT starting XI vs Vietnam that Vlatko might field.

It’s no secret that the USWNT are heavy, and we repeat, HEAVY favorites against Vietnam. One Vietnamese reported even asked Vlatko if his team was going to do to Vietnam what they did to Thailand in the last Women’s World Cup (win 13-0).

By the time the USWNT and Ireland wrap-up their two-match friendly series next Tuesday at CityPark, there'll be less than 100 days before the start of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. 

So although the U.S. holds a 13-0-0 advantage all-time against the Girls in Green (outscoring them 48 to one in the process), there'll be plenty of internal battles to focus on at Q2 Stadium in Austin on Saturday before the second game in St. Louis three days later.