Does the Usa Womens Soccer Team Play Again
- The The states women's national soccer team hosts international opponents for the SheBelieves Cup each year.
- The world's top-ranked team will face noticably weaker opposition in the 2022 tournament.
- The Czech Democracy, Iceland, and New Zealand — all ranked outside of the acme-15 — will compete.
For as long every bit women'southward soccer teams take competed at the international level, the United states Women's National Team has been the crème de la crème.
But the power dynamics of the sport may be shifting.
The USWNT will face a noticeably weaker schedule of opponents in this year's edition of its annual SheBelieves Cup, a tournament in which the Stars and Stripes invite three international teams stateside for a slate of friendly matches. The earth's No. ane team is set to face up three different teams ranked exterior of FIFA's elevation-15 to start the year — the lowest collective opposition ranking of any SheBelieves Cup to date.
No. 24 Czech Democracy, No. 22 New Zealand, and No. 16 Iceland will all head west to face the USWNT in mid-February. And while all 3 squads are up-and-comers in the women's soccer sphere, none is expected to truly claiming the Americans to the same degree as past SheBelieves Cup participants.
Multiple factors likely played into the national squad's disability to schedule tougher opponents for the tournament. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has created serious health concerns for teams and restricted overseas travel, virtually certainly contributed to several squads' choices to stay in Europe rather than crossing the pond.
Simply the pandemic doesn't tell the whole story. The quality of the USWNT'due south SheBelieves Cup opposition has steadily decreased since 2018 — more than than ii years before the virus proliferated in the U.s..
For the offset two years of the tournament, all participating teams landed within the pinnacle five of FIFA's Women'due south World Ranking. In year 3, a 6th-ranked squad joined the fold, and an eighth- and tenth-ranked team found their ways in the twelvemonth afterward that.
Still, all of the squads at the tournament were competitive in matches against the mighty U.s., producing two draws and one narrow loss to the USWNT in 2019. But the tide seemed to turn in the 2020 tournament — which was held but before the The states began to experience the first effects of the pandemic — when the USWNT went undefeated and immune only one goal through games confronting No. 6 England, No. 10 Japan, and No. 13 Spain.
The 2021 SheBelieves Loving cup continued that trend, equally 2 eighth-ranked teams were joined past the world No. 31 in facing the US simply months before the Tokyo Olympics. Again, the Americans won all three games, and this fourth dimension, they held each opponent scoreless while pouring in ix goals of their own.
The 2022 tournament figures to terminate with similarly lopsided results and the Us on summit. And while skillful old-fashioned thrashings may be fun for the fans watching in Carson, California, and Frisco, Texas, they won't prove very useful as the Usa prepares for a World Loving cup just ane year away.
"Information technology's going to be critical for us to use every unmarried moment together on the field to enjoy a tournament temper where y'all are trying to finish get-go," USWNT full general manager Kate Markgraf told The Equalizer'due south Jeff Kassouf. "Information technology's the only manner to endeavor to replicate what you're going to see in a tournament. And then, for us, whatever opportunity to play in a tournament or host a tournament is an opportunity for u.s. to grow as a team."
But information technology may not exist an opportunity for the USWNT to grow plenty, especially relative to those who pose the greatest threat to the Americans' Earth Loving cup championship defence force. While the USWNT is busy pummeling outmatched opponents, many of its tiptop-ranked counterparts will be challenging themselves against formidable foes in European round-robin tournaments.
England'southward inaugural Arnold Clark Cup will feature the No. 8 Lionnesses hosting No. 9 Spain, No. 3 Germany, and No. vi Canada — which is fresh off a surprise gold-medal finish in Tokyo. And effectually the same fourth dimension, No. 4 France will welcome No. 7 Brazil, No. 5 Netherlands, and No. 28 Finland to its Tournoi de France.
The U.s. will have plenty more than opportunities to schedule friendlies against stronger teams alee of the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. But the longer the USWNT waits to exercise so, the more time the rest of the globe's all-time teams accept to bridge the gap.
Source: https://www.insider.com/uswnt-schedule-2022-features-noticeably-weaker-opponents-than-usual-2022-1
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