Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
The 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup kicks off on Saturday with three play-in games (sort of) and regional bragging rights on the line (One-third of the final-round participants are from South America, so there’s an asterisk to Concacaf bragging rights.)
Default thinking leads to the idea that the United States women’s national team is the favorite in this tournament. The United States women’s national team has owned Concacaf tournaments, winning 14 of the 15 Concacaf competitions in which it has participated (the U.S. did not participate in World Cup qualifying in 1998 as hosts of the 1999 World Cup).
This U.S. team, however, is in the early stages of a complete makeover, a process currently being overseen by an interim coach who is working remotely with the impending coach to get the team ready for the Olympics. Winning the Gold Cup is plenty realistic, as is the idea of still calling the U.S. the favorite on home soil, but this tournament shouldn’t be a walkabout for the Americans. A unique…
