Soccer in Canada has never been better.
The country hosted a wonderful Women’s World Cup in 2015 and will be a co-host for the men’s World Cup in 2026. Christine Sinclair, 35, is one of the best women’s players of her generation and Alphonso Davies, 18, might be one of the best players of his future generation.
According to leaks from Todo Sobre Camisetas and Footy Headlines, Mexico will look to reclaim the Gold Cup in 2019 wearing black jerseys. Back in 2015, El Tri debuted black home kits to be worn at the Copa America — the first time in nearly 50 years that Mexico had abandoned its traditional green for something more radical.
Last we saw the Panama women's soccer team, Yenith Bailey was doing everything she could to try to get the tiny Central American nation to its first ever women’s World Cup. Panama fell just short, finishing fourth place in the Concacaf Women’s Championship, missing out on the final automatic berth.
The USWNT has lifted the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship after defeating Canada 2-0 in the final, wrapping up an 18-day competition with a record of five wins, zero defeats, 26 goals scored and zero conceded. The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France awaits.
The USWNT booked passage to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup with an imperious 6-0 victory over Jamaica on Sunday night, and setup a much-anticipated CONCACAF Women’s Championship final against Canada in the process.
With automatic qualification hanging in the balance, the U.S. raced out to a 5-0 lead by the 33rd minute, and it would be ridiculous to single out an individual for praise in the face of such overall team excellence.
Panama kept Canada in check for 44 minutes Sunday, but a seven-goal, 34-minute spell ended the Central American’s hopes of an astonishing upset at the semifinal stage of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship. By advancing to the final, Canada secured automatic qualification to the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, where it’ll look to improve on a quarterfinal showing at the 2015 finals on home soil.
On a rainy night on Thursday in Cary, North Carolina, the U.S. women’s national team blasted 59 shots toward the goal of Saundra Baron, a 24-year-old former East Carolina University goalkeeper. The Trinidad and Tobago net minder blocked a Tim Howard-esque 15 shots and was saved by the post countless other times in a heroic performance.
And the USWNT still scored seven goals and probably should have had many more.
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.