Winning the Women’s World Cup may be harder than ever before considering the strides that women’s soccer has made in the last four years, but the game’s closing quality gap does not scare the U.S. women’s national team as they chase an unprecedented three-peat.
“I think it’s such a good thing,” USWNT midfielder Kristie Mewis said Monday. “We want this. We want all women’s teams to get better and better, and we want to get better and better.”
Soccer federations around the world have increased investment into their women’s national teams since the 2019 World Cup, especially after FIFA chose to expand the field from 24 to 32 teams for the 2023 edition. Mewis said that it speaks to the global rise of women’s soccer and provides extra motivation for the reigning champions to maintain a high level of quality as they prepare for competition Down Under.
“I think that it’s super special and such a time right now to be in women’s sports and to be following women’s sports, so it’s a really, really good thing,” the midfielder added. “We encourage it but we obviously still want to be the best. We’re going to keep pushing the limit and everybody else can try to follow us.”
The team will lean on its experience…
