The SheBelieves Cup ends this afternoon as the U.S. Women’s National Team takes on Colombia for the championship title. Canada and Argentina played to a draw in regulation, with Canada winning via penalty kicks, and both sides knew what needed to be done in this game. For Colombia, not only do they have to win this afternoon, but they ultimately need to win by 3 or more goals to lift the trophy after trailing on goal difference. For the U.S. women’s soccer team, all they have to do is not lose by three points, but we all know their mentality is to win the game, stay undefeated, and end the game with a throwback to dominating style to be crowned champions.
As has been the theme at this World Cup, the U.S. women’s team started the game aggressively, putting pressure on Colombia in the first 10 minutes of the game. They didn’t get many clean looks in front of the goal, but they pushed the ball forward and found space for Alyssa Thompson to cook for her. And, as has been a theme at this World Cup, after an initial opening domination, Colombia entered the game and it was their turn to make the U.S. a little nervous as they piled on the pressure over the next 10 minutes and came close to opening the scoring multiple times.
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The Washington Spirit’s Leicy Santos and Linda Caicedo predictably put on a show in the first half. Their ability to break down defenses and organize some pinpoint creative passing was what posed the most questions in the first half. Fortunately for the United States, although Colombia had many chances, they were unable to complete the final penalty kick, and the two teams entered the half without giving up points. For the USWNT, while victory is obviously the goal, all things considered, breaking even is a win, as they only need to avoid conceding and losing three points to walk away with the SheBelieves title. That said, this is a team we’ve seen across all tournaments that is no stranger to close games and fully expect them to perform well in the second half as they look to pull off the win that makes it the undefeated trophy of the tournament.
As expected, Team USA dominated the second half. Some changes around the 60th minute saw a new line-up and some different styles of play come into the game to try and get past a pesky Colombian side who had been in control until that moment. However, as we have discussed with this team, they are happy to get into the final stages of games and often know how to wear down their opponents, and they did a good job of finding chances in the second half and it looks like that will be the case again this afternoon.
It took 82 minutes for the United States to finally find the goal they had been looking for. Jadine Shaw drew several defenders into the Columbia box and found Alyssa Thompson with a wonderful pass at the top of the box. Thompson wasted no time letting the ball fly, sending a screamer to the upper 90 for a layup that the goalkeeper could do nothing about and Thompson gave the U.S. women’s soccer team the final lead.
That single goal was enough for the U.S. women’s soccer team to defeat Colombia in a very competitive match. Even without a goal, the U.S. would have been on track to lift their eighth SheBelieves Trophy, but the win made it even sweeter as they won all three games and did so in perfect fashion without conceding a goal from start to finish. It might not have been the completely dominant performance that many were hoping for, but it’s a great way to kick off the official path to the 2027 FIFA World Cup as the team prepares for some of the more important and tougher games ahead.
