The United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) has been the most dominant team in the history of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. It won the inaugural edition of the tournament in 1991 and is the defending champion as well.
However, the team has undergone several changes from the one that played in France four years ago, including the head coach, Jill Ellis, who has moved on to National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) duties after two World titles.
Vlatko Andonovski, who has won the NWSL Championship twice with Kansas City, has already found success with the USWNT, winning the Women’s CONCACAF Championship in 2022 and the SheBelieves Cup this year.
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Here are five reasons why the USWNT can win the FIFA Women’s World Cup:
1. Belief in youth
The USWNT has only nine players in its 23-member roster who were part of the last edition of the tournament.
The team already prides of a young attack with Sophia Smith (22), Trinity Rodman (21) and Alyssa Thompson (18), with Thompson being the youngest player in the roster.
Smith, the MVP in 2022 NWSL season, has 12 goals for the national team already and is expected to be the most important striker for Andonovski’s side in the tournament. The pairing of Alex Morgan and Smith will make the US one of the hardest teams to stop.
2. Blistering Form
USA comes into the World Cup without a single loss in a competitive fixture in close to two years, with its last loss coming against Germany in the semifinals of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
In its run-up to the FIFA World Cup, it has played three warmp-up games, two against Irelanad and one against Wales, and have won all three with clean sheets.
It is grouped with Netherlands, Vietnam and Portugal in Group E and will face the biggest challenge against the Dutch, its opponent in the final of the last edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
3. Veterans in defence
The United States will have two-time World Cup winner and the 2012 Olympics gold medallist Kelley O’Hara shouldering the responsibility at the back, with Crystal Dunn alongside her.
Naomi Girma, who has impressed in the NWSL with San Diego Wave, will make her debut in the World Cup this time and will hope to make it count Down Under this summer.
The defence will also be bolstered with the return of holding midfielder Julie Ertz, who is back after pregnancy. The 31-year-old, who can play both as a centre-back and a midfielder, was instrumental in USWT’s World Cup success in 2019 and won the US Soccer’s Female Player of the Year for the same.
4. Mentality monsters
The USWNT won the inaugural edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup after pipping Norway with a 78th minute winner, having conceded an equaliser close to the half-hour mark.
Since then, the win on penalties against China in the 1999 final, Brandi Chastain’s iconic left-footed penalty and then the 5-2 win over Japan in the 2015 World Cup final – the United States has proved time and again its ability to dominate clutch situations.
Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and O’Hara, who were in the match against Japan, eight years ago, will feature for the USWNT in this World Cup as well.
That mentality is expected to be passed on to the newer players, just like the likes of Amy Wamback, Christine Rampone did to Morgan and O’Hara.
5. Last dance for USWNT legends
Megan Rapinoe, one of the pioneers of the United States team, has already said that this World Cup will be her last and that she will retire at the end of this NWSL season.
The 38-year-old forward has been with the senior team for 17 years and has won the World Cup twice. “I have lost a World Cup final and I will not want to be there again,” she had told reporters.
USWNT veterans Megan Rapinoe will be playing her last World Cup while Alex Morgan may also be playing her last, at 34. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
When the team takes the field in Australia and New Zealand this time, Rapinoe, Morgan and O’Hara will be the veterans who might be playing their last World Cups and that would be motivation enough for the players to shine.
Lionel Messi, who said ahead of Qatar 2022 that it might be his last World Cup, went on to lift the title in December last year and the USWNT will also hope the veterans can have their last dance Down Under.
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