The Inagural Concacaf W Gold Cup Final is set! How’d we get here?

The Inaugural W Gold Cup is nearing its conclusion. After three jam-packed weeks, Sunday will see the final match played between the USA and Brazil! The tournament has been a successful one. There have been some great matches, and great teams show their class! We even have seen the emergence of the next powerhouse in Concacaf, Mexico. As we look toward the final, we should reflect on how we got here in the semifinal round!

USWNT, W Gold Cup — Players for the United States celebrate during the penalty shootout in a CONCACAF Gold Cup women’s soccer tournament semifinal match against Canada, Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Recapping the W Gold Cup Semifinals

Brazil 3 – 0 Mexico

Two of the W Gold Cup’s most electric teams met in the semifinals. Brazil has had a flawless tournament so far. They won all three group stage matches scoring seven and conceding none, then Brazil took on and demolished rivals Argentina 5-1. That set up their semifinal matchup with Mexico.

Mexico drew their opening match 0-0, then went on a tear. They beat the Dominican Republic 8-0 and USA 2-0 to win the W Gold Cup’s Group A. In the quarterfinals, they met Paraguay and played a thrilling match that ended in a 3-2 victory for La Tri.

The two nations met in the semifinals of the W Gold Cup and it was clear that Brazil was on another level. They played tiki-taka soccer moving the ball quickly, resulting in their first goal in the 21st minute. The Brazilian dominance continued as they drew a red card from Mexico in just before the half-hour mark. Brazil then scored again before halftime, and early in the second half cruising to a 3-0 win.

Brazil was just better than Mexico on the day, but Mexico is a team to watch in the coming months and years. As Canarinhas moves on to face the winner of USA vs Canada in the W Gold Cup Final!

Canada 2 (1) – (3) 2 USA

The second semifinal saw a rivalry renewed as Canada and the USA met! Canada was another team that had the perfect W Gold Cup so far. They won all three matches in Group C play racking up 13 goals and keeping shutouts in all three matches. That trend continued in the quarterfinals, though they needed an extra 30 minutes to score and beat Costa Rica 1-0.

The USWNT had an up-and-down tournament to this point. They played in two dominant wins over the Dominican Republic and Argentina but then lost to Mexico 2-0. As they came into the quarterfinals of the W Gold Cup, they needed a bounce-back game and found it in their impressive 3-0 win over Colombia.

As all eyes turned to this semifinal against Canada, rain could be seen. In fact, the Brazil-Mexico semifinal match played on the same field, saw the beginnings of torrential rain. USA and Canada took the field, which looked like a swimming pool, and played a full 90 minutes, then 30 extra minutes, and had a PK shootout. Regina Ham has a full recap of the game that probably should have been postponed.

https://phillysportsnetwork.com/2024/03/07/uswnt-swims-to-win-over-canada/

The USA prevailed thanks to PK heroics to make the W Gold Cup final to take on Brazil, which should be a thrilling matchup!

USWNT and Brazil are set to meet in the first-ever final!

Tonight we will see who will be the first ever champions of the W Gold Cup. Will the USA continue its continental dominance, or will Conmebol invitee Brazil take the title? Here’s the match information.

USA vs Brazil | Sunday, March 10 | 8:15 pm EST

Both of these teams love to play an open style of soccer, so we should see the ball move a lot in a back-and-forth matchup. Make sure to catch the action on Paramount+ to see who will be their first nation to hoist the W Gold Cup!