Canada renews rivalry with U.S. at the CONCACAF W Gold Cup

After facing opponents ranked 50th or worse at the CONCACAF W Gold Cup, Olympic champion Canada renews its rivalry with the second-ranked U.S. today in San Diego in the tournament semifinal.

“You have to respect, obviously, the quality that they’ve got,” said Canada coach Bev Priestman. “And it’s the test that we need.

“You think where we want to be July 25th (the start of the women’s football tournament at the Paris Olympics), it’s going to take these tests along the way like we’ve had with Brazil and other top nations that really stretched us. We want to be stretched. These are the games you live for. As a coach, as a player. And it’ll be an exciting one.”

The early semifinal at Snapdragon Stadium sees No. 11 Brazil take on No. 35 Mexico. Brazil has held the upper hand in the past with a 14-2-1 career record against the Mexicans, who last won in 2019 at the Universiade Tournament by a 2-0 score.

While the 10th-ranked Canadians dispatched the Americans 1-0 in the Tokyo Olympic semifinal in August 2021, their career record against the U.S. is 4-53-7. Still the 18 meetings since 2011 — during which Canada has gone 1-14-3 —- have featured three ties, six one-goal wins for the U.S. and one one-goal win for Canada (at the Tokyo Olympics).

The Americans have won the two meetings since Tokyo, 1-0 in the CONCACAF W final in July 2022 and 2-0 in the SheBelieves Cup in February 2023 (when the Canadians were at loggerheads with Canada Soccer over lack of progress in labour negotiations).

Priestman just wants her players to be themselves on the field today.

“Us at our best, giving our best on a good day, we can beat the States,” she said. “That’s all I’m going to ask of the group

— is to take our identity, our strengths into this game. Go and deliver them. Go and be as brave as you were (in Tokyo) … We do that, we win the game.”

The U.S. is currently a team in transition, upset 2-0 by Mexico in the group stage.

“We’re very familiar with Canada … It’s just one of those opponents that you play so consistently that we know what to expect,” said U.S. interim coach Twila Kilgore. “We can expect a battle.”

Emma Hayes, currently in charge of England’s Chelsea, is set to take over the U.S. starting in June with friendlies against South Korea in Commerce City, Colo., and St. Paul, Minn.

Kilgore, who will join Hayes’ staff as an assistant coach, has been in charge since Vlatko Andonovski stepped down last August.