The USWNT are heading to the Olympics: Takeaways from CONCACAF qualifying

The U.S. Women’s National Team officially qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. What did we learn from the USWNT’s qualifying matches?

The reigning World Champions are Olympics-bound.

On Friday night, the U.S. women’s national team (USWNT) officially qualified for the 2020 tournament in Tokyo with a 4-0 win over Mexico.

With that victory, they qualified for their seventh consecutive Olympic tournament. When they arrive in Tokyo this summer, they will look to become the first country to follow-up a World Cup title with an Olympic gold medal.

On Sunday night, the USWNT took things one step further with a 3-0 victory over Canada to earn their thirteenth CONCACAF title.

This tournament gave us a glimpse of what we can expect from the United States this summer.

One takeaway: the USWNT has depth.

Throughout the tournament, goal scoring was headlined by players like Lindsey Horan (6 goals), Christen Press (5 goals), Lynn Williams (3 goals) and Sam Mewis (4 goals). The score sheet wasn’t filled with the usual names from last year’s World Cup winning side, but that didn’t make the team any less dominant.

Even with Alex Morgan out due to pregnancy, and Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd only scoring once each across the five games, the USWNT were still clearly the best team in the tournament. The team doesn’t need to rely on their superstars to win.

In fact, so many players on the Olympic qualifying roster performed so well that it will definitely leave some tough competition for not just starting spots but seats on the plane to Tokyo.

Press has often been overlooked in her career because she plays in a similar position to Morgan. But with five goals and the Golden Ball in her hands after this tournament, she has certainly made the case that she should be a starter in Tokyo. And with Morgan hoping to come right back into the team from her pregnancy a couple of months before the tournament starts, we shouldn’t be surprised to see Press starting up top for the U.S. this summer.

Williams also made her case that not only should she be on the roster, but she should be considered as a starting striker. Williams, one of two players on the roster who wasn’t at last year’s World Cup, has been a consistently great player in the NWSL and the Australian W-League. She has performed for the USWNT, but hasn’t necessarily been given a chance in big moments.

With new manager Vlatko Andonovski limited to an 18-player roster for Toyko, Williams will likely be a borderline decision. She has proven she has the talent, but might get pushed out in an overcrowded talent pool.

Another takeaway: Andonovski has kept the USWNT on track.

The new boss made a few changes to Jill Ellis’s roster World Cup roster, including the additions of Williams and Andi Sullivan, both of whom just barely missed the trip to France this summer. But for the most part, the United States is still playing under the system Ellis designed. Andonovski admitted that he wanted to make some tweaks and changes, but that might not happen until after the Olympics.

With Olympic qualification finished, the United States will now look ahead to the SheBelieves Cup in March, where the USWNT will face off against Spain, England, and Japan.

The U.S. may have dominated Olympic qualification, but Japan, Spain, and England will likely prove tougher competition and a high-level test for players to make their case for Olympic inclusion.

From there, Andonovski will have to thin his roster even further to 18 ahead of the games in July.