Brazil and Mexico will kick off the semifinals of the inaugural Concacaf W Gold Cup as each groups intention to make an announcement on Wednesday.
Each have handled this competitors as an opportunity to rebound from current disappointments and have succeeded to this point, since they every boast undefeated data coming into the match. Brazil, a longtime heavyweight in girls’s soccer, has a special level to show than Mexico, a program constructing a brand new chapter amidst the speedy growth of the ladies’s recreation. Because of this, the match will act as a barometer on the state of each groups — and maybe girls’s soccer within the area as an entire.
Here is what that you must know earlier than tuning in.
The way to watch
Storylines
Brazil: Brazil are below new management with Arthur Elias, who took over for Pia Sundhage after the group did not advance from the group stage eventually yr’s Girls’s World Cup, and are trying to embrace youth forward of the Olympics. Marta didn’t make the squad for this competitors, however the group has not lacked for objectives, scoring 12 occasions in 4 video games. The goalscoring tasks have been cut up up, too — nobody has greater than two objectives.
Their hardest take a look at to this point was in opposition to Colombia, who they beat 1-0 within the group stage, however Mexico will provide one other problem as a group that has tactically been as much as the problem to this point on this competitors. The query going through Brazil is that this: Can they efficiently reset after final yr’s disappointment, or will an on-the-rise Mexico present a stumbling block alongside the best way?
Mexico: After lacking out on the 2023 World Cup, Mexico opted to reboot the whole program and are reaping the rewards of that mission to this point. Pedro Lopez has put out a tactically spectacular group that maximizes the expertise at his disposal, as was on full show of their 2-0 win over the U.S. girls’s nationwide group.
They’ve been a high-scoring group all through and at present have 13 objectives in 4 video games, in addition to the event’s joint-top goalscorer Lizbeth Ovalle, who has 5 objectives. La Tri hit a bit of little bit of a stumbling block after they conceded twice of their 3-2 win over Paraguay within the quarterfinals, however there isn’t any query that Mexico is the story of the event to this point. This match in opposition to Brazil will likely be telling in regards to the standing of their rebuild to this point, however a loss will do little to decrease their standing as a group to observe over the following few years.
Prediction
Count on a aggressive match that can seemingly be determined by the narrowest of margins, although each groups needs to be counted on to attain. There could be little to separate the groups earlier than a dreaded penalty shootout, and it could be arduous to foretell who wins from there however Mexico might need an edge contemplating their spectacular run and the momentum that comes together with it. Choose: Brazil 1, Mexico 1 (a.e.t.), Mexico advance on penalties