United States

USWNT looks like team reborn ahead of pivotal Summer Olympics

Published Mar. 11, 2024 6:13 p.m. ET

The photos looked familiar when they surfaced Monday morning.

There was Alex Morgan, goggles on her head, pouring champagne into the golden Gold Cup trophy. Then there was Trinity Rodman, drinking out of it. Korbin Albert, one of the under-21 breakout stars on the United States women's national team, was also properly celebrating but with a bottle of Martinelli's. Sam Coffey was doing a Slip 'N Slide on the locker room floor.

The United States women's national team had just beaten Brazil 1-0 to win the first-ever Concacaf W Gold Cup on Sunday night. It was a huge moment for the squad. And behind the scenes — as seen on TikTok and Instagram — it was clear how much this meant to a group that's been scrutinized, ridiculed, and is now going through a public transition ahead of this summer's Paris Olympics.

Moments before the locker room shenanigans began, the team lifted the Gold Cup trophy in front of 31,528 fans at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. Captain Lindsey Horan walked the hardware over to her giddy teammates, motioned for her leadership predecessor Becky Sauerbrunn to move from the back of the pack to the front of the stage, and they hoisted it together as confetti flew all over the place and pyrotechnics went off in the background.

Scenes like this were once the norm for the USWNT. But following disappointments in the 2021 Olympics and 2023 World Cup, triumphs felt more like a distant memory. Especially with the way teams like Spain, England, Japan, Colombia and Brazil have been progressing.

The Gold Cup was an opportunity to get a gut check on where the team is six months post-World Cup fiasco and four months into the current Emma Hayes-Twila Kilgore co-coaching experiment. With Hayes at Chelsea until the end of the Women's Super League season, Kilgore has been managing day-to-day operations while collaborating with Hayes on another continent. Kilgore's message has been that they want to continue evaluating all kinds of things, from style of play to player combinations, etc.

This tournament had a lot of that, but it ended up also being a chance for the USWNT to showcase its reformedx mentality. The U.S., which has always dominated Concacaf, had a challenging path to the final. After being stunned by Mexico in the third match of the group stage, the squad was forced to come together and refocus. They responded in the quarterfinal against Colombia, winning a chippy affair, and then in the semifinal against Canada, finding a way in unplayable waterlogged field conditions.

In Sunday's final, Brazil looked like the better team. The Seleção dictated the tempo and maintained possession for most of the first half. Then, in the 45th minute, Horan blasted home a header off a perfect Emily Fox cross, which was preceded by Yeoman's work from Coffey and Rodman to put the U.S. up 1-0, which held as the final score.

"The team gutted it out and grinded out that win," Horan said on the broadcast after the game.

Crystal Dunn added later, "So many times you step on the field and it's like, you want to play the most beautiful game of soccer, right? Everyone does. But sometimes teams are really coming for us. Sometimes the games are about the fight. I'm really proud of the young ones. They're learning that it's not always about how it gets done, it's about just getting it done."

The young ones — and the older ones — are also learning that this player pool is more competitive than ever. There were 23 players on this Gold Cup roster, but Hayes will have to cut it to 18 for the Olympics. How that process unfolds will be a challenge, especially after recent impressive performances. Jaedyn Shaw led the USWNT with four goals and won the tournament's Golden Ball. Albert and Coffey might have established their spots working together in a double pivot in the central midfield. Tierna Davidson, who was a World Cup roster snub, might have just staked her claim on the starting center back spot alongside Naomi Girma.

Meanwhile, veterans proved their worth. Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher stopped three penalty kicks and converted one in a dramatic shootout with Canada before winning the tournament's Golden Glove award. Morgan started four of six matches after not making the initial roster.

And Mallory Swanson and Catarina Macario should be back in the mix soon. Swanson, who missed the World Cup with a knee injury, trained with the team before the Gold Cup began. Macario, who has endured a lengthy ACL recovery process, scored two goals for Chelsea in her first two games back in nearly two years. Both could be called up for the next camp ahead of the SheBelieves Cup. The USWNT faces Japan on April 6 in Atlanta, and then gets a rematch against either Canada or Brazil on April 9 in Columbus, Ohio.

And even though Hayes hasn't physically been with the USWNT since she was hired in November, she's keeping tabs from afar with piqued interest.

"She is here," Dunn said. "We feel like she is watching us and we're not taking that lightly. The coaching staff has done an incredible job of just staying communicative with us. Letting us know what we need [to do], how we can get better and how we can just keep pushing forward."

The Gold Cup wasn't perfect, but the USWNT was more energized, competitive and confident than it has been in a while. The squad problem-solved as a group after setbacks, and in the end, won a major tournament again. The sky is not falling and the longer-term plan of building a sustainable winning program is in motion.

"This is a group that's just getting started," Kilgore said.

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her on Twitter @LakenLitman.