The first-ever defeat in California. The second-ever defeat to Mexico. The first loss on American soil in nearly a quarter of a century.
All of those narratives applied on Monday night in Carson, CA, marking a historic stumble for the U.S. women’s national team as it lost 2-0 at the hands of Mexico in the final group stage match of the inaugural 2024 W Gold Cup. Both countries will move on to the quarterfinals as the top two finishers in Group A, but Mexico will be doing so as group winners.
Prior to Monday night’s game, the USWNT held a 40-1-1 all-time record against Mexico, suffering their only defeat to their southern neighbors in Cancun back in 2010 during World Cup qualifying. That loss was a bit different.
“It was on a baseball field in Cancun with things being thrown on the field and more of a long ball situation,” Alex Morgan recalled the game ubiquitously viewed as a fluke before contrasting with Monday’s loss. “Mexico just beat us all around today with their aggression, with getting to the first and second balls, with executing set pieces, throw-ins, restarts, whatever it was.”
That was the story of the night. Aided by a couple of world-class goals, Mexico dominated the USWNT in every aspect of the match, bar possession.
The first Mexico goal came from a massive Becky Sauerbrunn mistake, gifting the ball to Lizbeth Ovalle who proceeded to chip a closing Alyssa Naeher into an empty net. Self-admittedly, Sauerbrunn “probably should have done anything [other] than what I did.” The second Mexico goal was even more stunning as Mayra Pelayo let fly from just over 20 yards to put an exclamation mark on El Tri Femenil’s historic victory in stoppage time.
Mexico head coach, Pedro López, described the victory as a “dream result” which he expects to earn a lot of new fans for El Tri Feminil. For the USWNT, it was just the latest evidence that the rest of the world is catching up, or perhaps they already have.
The resulting growth in women’s football can be appreciated by the USWNT players, even if they wish it wasn’t on the back of their defeat. “People say that everyone’s catching up with us, like, of course, and that’s what needs to happen in women’s football,” Morgan declared. “But yes, do we want to stay on top? Absolutely.”
According to interim head coach Twila Kilgore, finding the path back to top-dog status is, “just about getting right back to the agreements we’ve made, keeping it simple, and executing.”
That journey will begin in the quarterfinals next weekend at BMO Stadium where the USWNT will be desperate for a bounceback win to right the ship.
“We’re not going to forget this one. It’s gonna live on it’s a tough pill to swallow,” Sauerbrunn acknowledged, “but sometimes you get the best results from learning from the tough times.”
The USWNT will be hoping for just that in a return to winning ways on a tournament-winning run. If they’re able to do so, Monday night’s loss may become water under the bridge. Until then it will remain a historic moment in the hunt to knock the Americans off their perch at the top of women’s soccer.
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