{"id":18869,"date":"2022-07-19T06:56:01","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T06:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/uswnt-qualifies-for-2024-olympics-and-quashes-some-concern-with-a-vengeance\/"},"modified":"2022-07-19T06:56:01","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T06:56:01","slug":"uswnt-qualifies-for-2024-olympics-and-quashes-some-concern-with-a-vengeance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/uswnt-qualifies-for-2024-olympics-and-quashes-some-concern-with-a-vengeance\/","title":{"rendered":"USWNT qualifies for 2024 Olympics, and quashes some concern, with a vengeance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alex Morgan scored the only goal of the CONCACAF W Championship between the US and Canada. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

The US women’s national team retained its regional title and qualified for the 2024 Olympics on a Monday night that began with unease.<\/p>\n

The Tokyo Olympics had spawned it. The past two weeks in Monterrey, Mexico, at the CONCACAF W Championship, had aggravated it. The USWNT, by its own coach’s admission, remained a work in progress. \u201cIf you ask me if we’re ready to go into a competitive World Cup tomorrow,\u201d Vlatko Andonovski said last week, \u201cwe’re probably not ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in Monday’s final, the US women offered reminders of unmistakable truths.<\/p>\n

They are still the most talented team in North and Central America, and perhaps in the world.<\/p>\n

They have, somehow, passed title-winning DNA down from generation to generation, including this one.<\/p>\n

They are an unfinished product, but still a fearsome one.<\/p>\n

They beat Canada 1-0 on an Alex Morgan penalty, and the scoreline undersold their dominance. Mallory Pugh could have scored as well; Sophia Smith should have. Throughout 90 tense minutes, shots sailed just wide of posts, and balls stopped mere feet short of goal lines. The near-misses spanned the entire first half, and got increasingly agonizing after halftime.<\/p>\n

The breakthrough finally arrived after 77 minutes. Rose Lavelle, galloping into the penalty box, was clipped from behind<\/a>. Morgan converted from the spot with confidence.<\/p>\n

But it had been coming all night, ever since Pugh slapped a half-volley toward goal from a sharp angle in the very first minute. It had been coming since Sofia Huerta began fizzing in crosses from the right, and Lindsey Horan began bossing the midfield.<\/p>\n

It didn’t quite come when the US concocted a near-perfect counterattack<\/a>, or when Smith rounded Canada’s valid goalkeeper, Kailen Sheridan. But throughout the night, the USWNT’s quality rose to the surface. they created more than three Expected Goals worth of chances to Canada’s 0.5<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whereas preliminary rounds and Thursday’s semifinal brought results but not convincing performances, Monday delivered both and more: a vindicated, celebratory postgame huddle; some revenge for Tokyo 2020 heartbreak; and a trophy lift beneath confetti.<\/p>\n