By: Eleanor Liang

The USWNT has been a dominant force on the soccer field all along. This impressive team has won four World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals. Team USA now reveals its strong and ambitious plan: winning the World Cup for the third consecutive year.

No one —man or woman— has achieved it before. But this plan was not simply to set a record; it was also to put the USWNT (who won four matches) behind only Brazil’s men, who have won six World Cup matches.

In order to win the World Cup, America went through a series of easy and difficult games.

The USWNT rejoiced on July 21, 2023, after their 3-0 win against Vietnam. Although this was easily predicted since Vietnam was a first-time entrant, the USWNT was ecstatic about its new player, Sofia Smith, who scored two goals in the game. “I felt good,” Smith said. “It was good to just get a game under my belt. I was feeling all the emotions going into it and not really knowing what to expect. So to start off on a good note, it feels good and it makes me just more excited for the next game.”

“The sluggish 3-0 score was a far cry from the resounding 13-0 victory against Thailand in the first game of the 2019 World Cup,” commented Dogo News.

But what really surprised the USWNT was its match against the Netherlands. It was a hair-raising moment when the Netherlands scored a goal and a cliffhanger when the ball rolled into the Netherlands goal. The goal was scored by midfielder Lindsey Horan.

“The July 26, 2023, rematch against 2019 World Cup finalist Netherlands was a nail-biter to the end. The Dutch stunned the US with a 1-0 lead early in the game.” Dogo News explained. “For the first time since 2011, Team USA went into halftime trailing. But they returned strong and tied the match 1-1 after co-captain Lindsey Horan scored a goal in the 62nd minute.”

There was also a stunning draw with Portugal, of which Lindsey Horan said, “We had our opportunities in front of the goal, even like two yards out. We have to finish them.”

Morgan added, “We could’ve made other decisions or been a little bit more patient on certain crosses.”

The USWNT has only lost five games after 2019, making its chances of achieving itsgoal of winning the World Cup. However, the USWNT’s loss of several impressive players (Becky Sauerbrunn, Mallory Swanson, Christen Press, and Catarina Macario) would definitely present a challenge for the USWNT.

Luckily, four-time World Cup champions like Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe could trust many youngsters. Amongst them are phenoms like Sophia Smith, Alyssa Thompson, and Trinity Rodman.

“This younger group, we definitely don’t lack confidence,” says Smith. “I don’t think it’s cocky. I don’t think it’s ego. I think we’ve come to a place where we know what we can do. We know what we’re capable of. And we know people may be calling us ‘The Future’ or whatever. But we know that we can impact the game right now. A lot of us want to prove that every single day.”

“We always want to be better, we always want to improve,” said Horan, who recorded six goals and five assists in 22 matches for the USWNT in 2021. “This result was good enough to put us through to the next round, but it’s not good enough for us, and we know that. We have to move forward, and we learn our lessons from the few things we can take away from this game.”

Sources: https://www.dogonews.com/2023/7/24/uswnt-chases-third-consecutive-world-cup-title