Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
United States women’s national team interim coach Twila Kilgore and, by extension, impending head coach Emma Hayes, got everything they could have asked for out of the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup.
The U.S. lifted the trophy on Sunday after defeating Brazil, 1–0 in the final, and while that triumph is validation of the process for a team in transition, it served only as punctuation to a prologue that truly mattered. If there is such thing as a good loss, the United States’ 2–0 defeat to Mexico immediately gave this new-look U.S. team a taste of adversity and scrutiny. They responded with their best tactical performance of the tournament against Colombia in the quarterfinals, then adapted to absurd field conditions to advance past Canada by any means, and ground out a win over Brazil in the final, despite being outplayed in the first half.
The Gold Cup was a chance to simulate the Olympics, Kilgore said, and all of those variables are possible a few months from now in France. Part of the Gold Cup…
