The U.S. women’s national soccer team closed out the group stage of the Concacaf W Championship with a 1-0 win over Mexico on Monday. Kristie Mewis scored the lone goal in the 89th minute to send the U.S. into the knockout round as the top team in Group A. On Thursday, they’ll face Costa Rica in the semifinals.

The match against Mexico wasn’t a must-win for the USWNT, which had already qualified for the 2023 FIFA World Cup and clinched a spot in the semis with a 3-0 win over Haiti and 5-0 defeat of Jamaica.

But for Mexico, the game mattered. Coming into Monday’s match in last place in Group A, they needed a win to have a chance at finishing third in their group and advancing to the 10-team intercontinental World Cup qualifying round. The odds weren’t in their favor in the last 17 minutes after Jacqueline Ovalle was issued a red card for cleating Rose Lavelle’s ankle and Mexico went a player down. Regardless, they found dangerous attacking opportunities that put the American defense to the test.

Canada and Jamaica will meet in the other semifinal, also on Thursday. Canada finished first in Group B with three wins over Costa Rica, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago.

All semifinalists have qualified for the World Cup. Now, the four teams will compete for the Concacaf trophy and a guaranteed spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Can the USWNT finish the job? Here are our main takeaways from the group stage.

Naomi Girma and Midge Purce need to go to the World Cup

The USWNT has brought in a lot of new players this year, all of whom have impressed at one point or another and proven capable of contributing to a World Cup title. While players like Emily Fox and Alana Cook have consistently been on the pitch, two others haven’t got the start every time but have stood out when they’ve had the chance.

Naomi Girma has thrived at reading plays and delivering long balls into the attack, such as her precise, over-the-top assist to Sophia Smith in the July 7 match against Jamaica. Throughout the tournament, she’s also prevented teams from penetrating into the attacking third by reading and intercepting passes. On Monday against Mexico, she was tasked with shutting down one-v-ones and clearing balls out of the box. The center back duo has been one of the USWNT’s steadiest units at Concacaf so far, with Girma joined by Cook and Becky Sauerbrunn in a two-player rotation. They haven’t conceded a goal yet.

Forward Midge Purce started her first game of the tournament on Monday, and she didn’t let it go to waste. After scoring in the opener against Haiti, Purce tried for another against Mexico, but it rang off the post. She isn’t afraid to take players on one-v-one and she makes her presence felt end to end, most notably when she dribbled from the half to Mexico’s endline and sent a perfect low cross to the foot of Lindsey Horan in the box for a shot that the goalkeeper saved.

A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE USWNT. 😲

Midge Purce's impressive run to feed an open Lindsey Horan goes right into the arms of Itzel González. 👀 pic.twitter.com/bAEfO3i7aw

— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) July 12, 2022

What has to be better

The USWNT, at times, has lacked creativity. Against Mexico, they passed back more often than usual, even when they had space in front of them to draw opponents in. Mexico’s physical defense was difficult to break down, but getting through low blocks isn’t a new problem for the U.S.

It became most troubling when Mexico went down a player to the red card and the USWNT still struggled to find the back of the net. Mexico often found themselves in the USWNT’s defensive third in the final 10 minutes.

There are likely a number of factors contributing to the USWNT’s difficulties up front, but the lineup rotations have been puzzling. At the beginning of Concacaf, head coach Vlatko Andonovski indicated that the starting lineup would remain similar throughout the tournament, but it has proceeded to change every game. With a roster as deep as the USWNT’s, it can be important to give multiple players a chance to warm up to the competitive environment, but constant changes can also have an adverse effect on chemistry. Rose Lavelle, one of the team’s most creative players in the midfield, was taken out of the starting XI Monday, at a time when they could have really used her.

The XI to close out Group A. 🇺🇸

— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) July 12, 2022

Can the USWNT win Concacaf?

The USWNT squad in its current form is not ready to win a World Cup, as Andonovski said himself Monday night. They have a lot of work left to do when it comes to tactics, but the individual talent on the roster runs deep, and it’s enough to find a way to win Concacaf.

Costa Rica will load their backline like they did against Canada, and the U.S. might struggle with it on Thursday. But a few quick passes in the box worked for Canada. The U.S. is definitely capable of that, too.

If the USWNT ends up facing Canada in the finals on Monday, it will be their toughest competition yet. Canada has been practicing a defensive formation with two players in the six position, and they also have two of the best center backs in the world in Kadeisha Buchanan and Vanessa Gilles. The USWNT should consider starting the midfield trio of Lavelle, Andi Sullivan and Ashley Sanchez for maximum creativity on the ball to break through Canada’s Olympic gold-winning defense.

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

Longtime USWNT fixture Carli Lloyd took to Instagram Wednesday morning to announce that she’s pregnant with her first child. 

"Baby Hollins coming in October 2024!" she wrote. The caption framed a collaged image of baby clothes, an ultrasound photo, and syringes indicating what she described as a "rollercoaster" fertility journey.

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In a Women’s Health story published in tandem with Lloyd’s post, the Fox Sports analyst and correspondent opened up about her struggles with infertility and the lengthy IVF treatments she kept hidden from the public eye.

"Soccer taught me how to work hard, persevere, be resilient, and never give up. I would do whatever it took to prepare, and usually when I prepared, I got results," Lloyd told Women’s Health’s Amanda Lucci. "But I found out that I didn’t know much about this world. I was very naive to think that we wouldn’t have any issues getting pregnant. And so it began."

Lloyd went on to discuss her road to pregnancy in great detail, sharing the highs and lows of the process and expressing gratitude for the care and support her family and medical team provided along the way. She rounded out the piece with a nod toward others navigating the same challenges, encouraging people to share their own pregnancy journeys, painful as they may be.

"My story is currently a happy one, but I know there are other women who are facing challenges in their pregnancy journey. I see you and I understand your pain," she said. "My hope is that more and more women will speak up about this topic, because their stories helped me. I also wish for more resources, funding, and education around fertility treatments. There is much to be done, and I hope I can play a role in helping."

The 41-year-old New Jersey native retired from professional soccer in 2021, closing out her decorated career with 316 international appearances, the second-most in USWNT history, in addition to 134 international goals. A legend on the field, Lloyd walked away from the game with two World Cups, two Olympic gold medals, and two FIFA Player of the Year awards.

On Tuesday, FIFPRO announced the launch of Project ACL, a three-year research initiative designed to address a steep uptick in ACL injuries across women's professional football.

Project ACL is a joint venture between FIFPRO, England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), Nike, and Leeds Beckett University. While the central case study will focus on England’s top-flight Women's Super League, the findings will be distributed around the world.

ACL tears are between two- and six-times more likely to occur in women footballers than men, according to The Guardian. And with both domestic and international programming on the rise for the women’s game, we’ve seen some of the sport's biggest names moved to the season-ending injury list with ACL-related knocks.

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Soccer superstars like Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead, Catarina Macario, Marta, and England captain Leah Williamson have all struggled with their ACLs in recent years, though all have since returned to the field. In January, Chelsea and Australia forward Sam Kerr was herself sidelined with the injury, kicking off a year of similar cases across women’s professional leagues. And just yesterday, the Spirit announced defender Anna Heilferty would miss the rest of the NWSL season with a torn ACL. The news comes less than two weeks after Bay FC captain Alex Loera went down with the same injury. 

Project ACL will closely study players in the WSL, monitoring travel, training, and recovery practices to look for trends that could be used to prevent the injury in the future. Availability of sports science and medical resources within individual clubs will be taken into account throughout the process.

ACL injuries in women's football have long outpaced the same injury in the men's game, but resources for specialized prevention and treatment still lag behind. Investment in achieving a deeper, more specialized understanding of the problem should hopefully alleviate the issue both on and off the field.

With recent transfers Talia von Oelhoffen and Kiki Iriafen joining first-team All-American JuJu Watkins and the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class at USC next season, the Trojans look to transition from an up-and-coming squad to a legitimate title contender. 

Former Oregon State graduate student von Oelhoffen is the latest collegiate talent to commit to the program, announcing her transfer Monday via ESPN. She follows ex-Stanford leading-scorer Iriafen in the jump to the pair’s one-time Pac-12 rival.

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The 5-foot-11 Washington native was a two-time All-Pac-12 guard during her time at Oregon State. But after the recent dissolution of the Pac-12, the Corvallis side found themselves without a permanent home conference going forward. Many big name players opted to take their skill elsewhere as a result, with von Oelhoffen’s fellow ex-Beaver Raegan Beers announcing her own departure to Oklahoma on Monday.

According to DraftKings, USC is now tied with UConn for the second-best betting odds to win the 2025 NCAA women’s tournament. Dawn Staley’s tested South Carolina side, poised for a repeat performance, holds down the number one spot.

Last year, LSU loaded up in the transfer portal after beating Iowa to win the 2023 national championship. The Tigers were clear favorites coming into the 2023-24 season, but were bounced in the Elite Eight by Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes. Shortly thereafter, star transfer Hailey Van Lith opted to transfer a second time, this time signing with TCU. 

Yet while history proves that an excess of star power doesn’t always translate to on-court chemistry, on paper, USC sure looks ready to hold their own — in 2025 and beyond.

The United States and Mexico have withdrawn their joint bid to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, per a Monday afternoon release from U.S. Soccer and the Mexican Football Federation.

According to the statement, they will instead focus on developing a "more equitable" bid for the 2031 tournament, with the ultimate goal of "eliminating investment disparities" between the men’s and women’s tournaments.

The federations went on to cite the upcoming 2026 Men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as an opportunity to build support for local infrastructure, improve audience engagement, and scale up media and partnership deals in preparation to "host a record-breaking tournament in 2031."

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"Hosting a World Cup tournament is a huge undertaking — and having additional time to prepare allows us to maximize its impact across the globe," said U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone. "Shifting our bid will enable us to host a record-breaking Women’s World Cup in 2031 that will help to grow and raise the level of the women’s game both here at home as well as across the globe."

The decision leaves just Brazil and a joint bid from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands in the running for the 2027 host spot. Brazil — the rumored frontrunner — has never hosted a Women’s World Cup, while Germany hosted the 2011 tournament as a solo venture. 

Furthermore, this postponement doesn’t mean the U.S. is a shoo-in for 2031, as it's been previously reported that 2022 UEFA Women's EURO host England is considering their own Women's World Cup bid. FIFA is scheduled to confirm the winning bid after the FIFA Congress votes on May 17th.