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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.
The two women’s international soccer giants will face off this Sunday, March 10 at the Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego at 8:15pm ET. Here’s how to watch the match.
T-1 day pic.twitter.com/jkZDHHaSMD
— W Gold Cup (@GoldCup) March 9, 2024
Brazil’s form ahead of USWNT tie
The verde e amarela is coming with the fire.
Brazil, the only national team with a perfect record so far in the competition, are coming into this tie as a team eager to level their negative history against the United States and win a title at the end of all of it.
The Scratch du Oro, one of only four CONMEBOL nations participating in the cup, booked their invitation for the first-ever Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup after being crowned champions of the 2022 Copa America Feminina. Their 1-0 win against Colombia made it an incredible eight of the last nine edition wins of the tournament, establishing themselves as the top-dog in South America.
Now in Concacaf, they are on track to do the same.
Brazil finished first in Group B with nine points (3-0-0), defeating Panama, Puerto Rico and confederation friendly-foe Colombia. They conceded zero goals and scored a total of seven.
In the quarterfinal stage, Brazil had no issue with getting past area-rivals Argentina, booting them out of the tournament with a dominant 5-1 scoreline in Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium.
In the semifinal, Brazil defeated darkhorse Mexico, and booked their spot in the final. An early red card for the El Tri, and three goals in the first 48 minutes of the game, were deemed enough for the South American champions to fight for yet another trophy.
A Seleção’s unbeaten run to the final pic.twitter.com/sJdsKIi0hr
— W Gold Cup (@GoldCup) March 9, 2024
Yasmin, Geyse, Gabi Nunes and Bia Zaneratto, all tied with two goals, are Brazil's top-goalscorers of the tournament.
The USWNT’s positive record against Brazil
The USWNT are historically dominant against Brazil.
The total number of matches played between the USA and Brazil stands at 39, with the U.S. women’s national team leading the series with 31 wins, 5 draws, and 3 losses to the South Americans. The USWNT have emerged victorious in their last six encounters against Brazil.
However, in eight out of the last nine matches between the two teams, the outcome has been decided by a margin of two goals or less — a very foreseable scoreline for Sunday’s match.
The most recent encounter between the two sides was on February 22, 2023, during the final match day of the SheBelieves Cup. The USWNT took the lead before halftime courtesy of a curling strike from Alex Morgan in stoppage time.
In the 63rd minute, Mallory Swanson extended the lead for the Americans by scoring her fourth goal of the tournament, earning her the tournament MVP honors. Brazil managed to score a goal in the 90th minute with a header from Ludmila, but the Americans held on to win the game 2-1, securing the SheBelieves Cup for the fourth consecutive year.
USWNT’s possible lineup vs. Brazil in W Gold Cup final
The Stars and Stripes have found their starting XI.
After playing with three completely different formations and starting lineups in their trilogy of group stage matches — ultimately leading to the embarrassing loss against Mexico before the knockout stage — interim head coach Twila Kilgore has found her 11.
For the tie against Colombia in the quarterfinals, Kilgore presented a 4-2-3-1 formation with the surprise start from veteran Alex Morgan. The tactical offensive shape that saw Trinity Rodman and Jaedyn Shaw at the flanks and Lindsey Horan at the 10 sent the USWNT flying in the first half of the match, practically sentencing the game with a 3-0 scoreline at the break.
For the tie against Canada, the same starting XI recipe prevailed. All 11 players that lead the U.S. to their dominant win against Colombia made back-to-back starts and although tactics, instructions and skill went out the gutter (literally) in the rain-filled semifinal against The Maples last Wednesday, the result was the same.
If there’s no last-minute injuries or experiments, we can expect the USWNT to step onto the field in San Diego with American hero Alyssa Naeher in goal. The back-four defensive line is to be comprised of Emily Fox, Naomi Girma, Tierna Davidson and Jenna Nighswonger.
Now in the midfield, we should see the trio with the double pivot partnership of Korbin Albert and Sam Coffey and U.S. captain Horan at the creative duties, a strategy that has proved to work thus far.
For the attack, we can expect nothing less than young stars Rodman and Shaw (the USWNT’s top-goalscorer of the tournament) with legend Morgan at the No. 9 — all looking to deliver another trophy for the U.S. women national team’s cabinet.
