USWNT begin quest for historic Olympic title with CONCACAF qualifying

On Tuesday, the U.S. Women’s National Team will start their journey to the Olympics with a qualifying match against Haiti.

The U.S. women’s national team proved last year they are the best team in the world, and this summer, they’ll have the chance to prove it again. In 2020, the USWNT could pull off something never before accomplished in the sport.

Less than a year after dominating their way to their fourth Women’s World Cup title, the USWNT is returning to the pitch in an attempt to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. No team has ever won a World Cup and Olympic gold in consecutive years.

It shouldn’t be hard for the USWNT to qualify, especially when you consider the other teams in the CONCACAF region. But the qualifying tournament is the first step in the team’s journey. Everything starts here.

Tournament Format

The CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament has two stages as eight teams vie for two spots in Tokyo.

The first portion of the tournament will take place in Texas. Group A, which features the U.S., Costa Rica, Haiti, and Panama, will play at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston. Group B, which features Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, and St. Kitts and Nevis, will play at H-E-B Park in Edinburg.

The USWNT will kickoff their tournament on Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 7:30 p.m. CT against Haiti. They will go on to play Costa Rica on Friday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m. CT before finishing group play against Panama on Monday, Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. CT.

The top two teams from each group will then travel to California for the semifinals and the final. The semifinals are the crucial matches, as both team’s who reach the final will qualify.

On Friday, Feb. 7, the teams will compete in two semifinal matches at Dignity Health Sports Park. The winner of each of those games will qualify for the Olympics and go on to play for bragging rights in the tournament final, which will be played on Sunday, Feb. 9.

The Roster

Last week, Andonovski announced his 20-player roster for the Olympic qualifying tournament. The roster is a little smaller than the 23-player roster that represented the team at the Women’s World Cup, and with a new head coach, there are some small changes.

There were five players who were on the Women’s World Cup roster that did not make it onto the Olympic qualifying roster. Alex Morgan isn’t on the roster because she is pregnant with her first child, but she hopes to be back from her pregnancy in time to play in this summer’s tournament in Tokyo. The other omissions were defender Tierna Davidson (Chicago Red Stars), midfielders Morgan Brian (Chicago Red Stars) and Allie Long (Reign FC), and forward Mallory Pugh (Sky Blue FC).

Some were surprised to see the omission of Davidson and Pugh. While none of the four omitted players received any minutes once the USWNT made it to the knockout rounds of the Women’s World Cup, Davidson and Pugh are considering two rising young stars on the team.

Andonovski also added midfielder Andi Sullivan and forward Lynn Williams to the roster. Sullivan was one of the final cuts from this summer’s Women’s World Cup roster and is another player who could be a rising star on the national team. Williams has been one of the top strikers in the NWSL for years and could be a strong asset for the team’s attack, especially alongside North Carolina Courage teammate Jessica McDonald.

The New Head Coach

This tournament will be the first meaningful set of matches for Vlatko Andonovski, who is replacing former head coach Jill Ellis. Ellis has big shoes to fill. In her six years as head coach, she won 106 of her 132 matches and brought home two Women’s World Cup titles. But the Olympic gold eluded her in the one tournament she coached.

Andonovski is a familiar face to NWSL fans. At FC Kansas City, he won two NWSL championships (2014 and 2015) and was named NWSL Coach of the Year (2013). He spent the last two seasons at Reign FC. He took the team to the playoffs both years, although he failed to bring a title back to Tacoma. In 2019, he was once again named the NWSL Coach of the Year.

Right off the bat, Andonovski will be seeking to do what Ellis couldn’t: bring a gold medal back to the U.S.

Redemption for 2016

The USWNT will be looking for a bit of redemption in this tournament after falling early in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

There were plenty of people who thought the team would go all the way in 2016, but they were handed an early exit by Sweden in the quarterfinals. Sweden played a defensive style of soccer and forced the U.S. into penalty kicks, which Sweden won 4-3.  They went on to win the silver medal, with Germany taking home the gold and Canada taking bronze.

The 2016 tournament marked the first time that the U.S. didn’t take home a medal, and this year, the four-time gold-medal winners will be looking to set that right.

How to Watch

On Monday morning, a day before the tournament begins, CONCACAF finally announced an agreement with FOX Sports to broadcast and stream the matches in the U.S., in addition to other upcoming events in the region (men’s Olympic qualifying, Gold Cup, CONCACAF Champions League).