USWNT set for all-important semifinal of Olympic qualifying tournament

The U.S. women’s national team dominated Group A of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament. Now, the USWNT face Mexico in a do-or-die semifinal.

The U.S. women’s national team are on the march, and right now, it doesn’t look like anyone can stop them. Now, the USWNT’s Olympic hopes come up to a do-or-die match.

On Monday night, the United States won Group A of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament and punched their ticket to the semifinals, Friday night in Carson, Calif.

In their three group stage matches, the USWNT outscored their opponents 18-0. Some fans were a little concerned by the team’s slow start against Haiti, in which Christen Press’s goal in the second minute was the only score of the first half. There was another goal that got called back, but that goal was for Haiti.

But the world champions turned it on against Haiti in the second half and they haven’t turned it off since. Lynn Williams started up the scoring again in the 67th minute and Lindsey Horan added on another goal less than ten minutes later. Carli Lloyd topped things off with a stoppage time goal to seal the win.

On Friday, the United States faced off against Panama, who made it to the third place match in the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship (which also serves as World Cup qualifiers). Panama ultimately lost the third place match on penalties against Jamaica, the World Cup spot just out of reach. This tournament was much more difficult for them and the U.S. applied the pressure early. Horan opened up scoring in the third minute and didn’t stop. By the end of the night, the score line was 8-0, featuring a hat trick from Horan and additional goals from Williams, Rose Lavelle, Press, Jessica McDonald, and Tobin Heath.

Heading into their final group stage match on Monday, the USWNT were looking more confident, having knocked off the rust from the beginning of the tournament. Costa Rica came into the match tied on points, having defeated both Panama and Haiti as well, but they chose to rest top players for their guaranteed semifinal.

As with every previous match, the U.S. scored early. It started with a goal from Press in the fourth minute and that lead was doubled by Lloyd in the 10th minute. Press would go on to score one more goal in the first half and the second half featured two goals from Sam Mewis and a tap-in from McDonald.

Now, the USWNT have their sights set on the all-important semifinals. With both finalists securing Olympic qualification, the semifinals are more important than who ends up prevailing in the tournament’s final.

On Friday night, the USWNT will face off against Mexico, who finished in second place in Group B, while Canada (the Group B winners) will face off against Costa Rica.

Mexico won their first two matches against Jamaica (1-0) and Saint Kits and Nevis (6-0). They lost their final match to Canada (2-0), but kept things competitive. They will almost certainly be the most difficult competition the U.S. has faced so far.

The winner will move on to the finals – likely against Canada – and will have secured their spot in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The match between the USWNT and the Mexico will kickoff at 10 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1. The USWNT are 90 minutes from qualifying for Tokyo and a chance at a historic title.