For Mexico, how things have played out in the past week of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship has been nothing short of a disaster.
Storms clouds seemed to loom for the team right from the start in its opening Group A match against the U.S. No one really expected the Mexicans to beat the Americans, but they were certainly supposed to give them a game. They couldn’t do that.
The USWNT completed its demolition of Group A with a convincing 7-0 win over the women Soca Warriors at Sahlen Stadium in Cary, North Carolina last night. Head coach Jill Ellis decided to return to her preferred line up — the starting XI she went with for the opening 6-0 win against Mexico — for the team’s final group game.
Where were you when the bomb dropped?
It was, on the whole, a riotous day on this planet of ours. Australia had necessitated extra time to get past Syria in the AFC playoff. Holland was officially bounced after failing to defeat Sweden by a margin of seven (although Arjen Robben tried his damnedest).
Shortly after 7:30 pm ET, Lionel Messi’s hopes of even appearing at the 2018 World Cup appeared doomed after Romario Ibarra had given Ecuador a first-minute lead over a desperate Argentina side in Quito.
One year ago, the U.S. men’s national team traveled to Cuova in Trinidad and Tobago on the final day of Concacaf World Cup qualifying. All the USMNT needed was a win or draw or at the very least have Mexico or Costa Rica get a win to keep its World Cup hopes alive.
None of it happened, and it was the darkest day in the history of the USMNT.
It has been exactly a year since the USMNT lost to Trinidad and Tobago in Cuova to be knocked out of the 2018 World Cup. It was the first time since 1986 the U.S. failed to reach a World Cup (men’s or women’s) and it sent shockwaves through the country.
The USMNT’s first competitive match after more than 600 days will be played in Minnesota on June 18. The 2019 Gold Cup schedule, venues and dates were announced Tuesday and the U.S. is going to be setting up in the Midwest for the 15th edition of Concacaf’s championship tournament.
Since losing to Trinidad and Tobago to be knocked out of the 2018 World Cup one year ago Wednesday, the USMNT has played some meaningless friendlies with a bunch of young kids and an interim coach.
As was detailed in a recent piece by Kevin Baxter in the Los Angeles Times, Mexico’s senior side is in the midst of a massive transition after the 2018 World Cup squad featured nine players who were at least 30 years of age.
As a 10-year member of the USWNT and a key contributor at two previous World Cups, attacker Tobin Heath is one of the more wizened veterans of the 20-player group selected to earn America’s place at the 2019 Women’s World Cup via the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship.
With 138 caps to her name, Heath is the fifth most-capped player on the USWNT’s Women’s Championship roster. At the age of 30, she’s the sixth oldest.
The 2018 Concacaf Women's Championship schedule kicks off Thursday in Cary, North Carolina, with the USWNT facing off against Mexico. The tournament doubles as qualifying for the 2019 World Cup. It’s kind of a big deal, with two of the world’s top five teams involved, fighting for three and a half World Cup berths.
Here’s everything you need to know, from the Concacaf Women's Championship schedule and preview to why it matters and how to watch it.
An upset in sports is a tale of the split-screen day. One team — the emboldened underdog — rides the highest of highs, storming the field and reveling in its victory as it has just pulled off the seemingly impossible. The other team — the deflated heavyweight — is humbled and humiliated, slumping off into the locker room and being forced to grapple with a reality it had never considered.
November 5, 2010, was one of those split-screen days.
Mexico, the emboldened underdog. The United States, the deflated heavyweight.