The U.S. women’s national soccer team’s 2-0 loss to Mexico on Monday felt all too familiar. After a pair of encouraging matches that saw interim coach Twila Kilgore deploy a young, energetic lineup in more experimental formations to start the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup, the Americans rewound the clock to last year, when they were stuck in a cycle of rigid predictability that led to their worst World Cup finish.
Monday’s loss to Mexico felt a lot like that World Cup group stage finale on Aug. 1 against Portugal, half a world away in Auckland, New Zealand. As a faulty fire alarm caused mild panic and confusion in the stands that day, the Americans slogged through a scoreless draw with Portugal that laid bare all the immediate dangers that their preparations had portended. The U.S. ultimately needed the help of the post in second-half stoppage time to avoid a group stage exit that day.
The stakes were much lower for the USWNT on Monday, with their place in the Concacaf W Gold Cup knockout stage already booked, but the performance against Mexico was equally…
