The highly anticipated inaugural 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup kicked off on 20 February in America, featuring 12 international women’s football teams from the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL regions competing to be crowned champions of North and Central America and the Caribbean.
The tournament hosts and defending FIFA Women’s World Cup champions United States entered as prominent favorites, boasting a world #2 ranking and a star-studded squad headlined by legendary forward Alex Morgan. Through an emphatic 5-0 opening match thrashing of the Dominican Republic and 4-0 demolition of Argentina, the formidable Americans have firmly established themselves as the team to beat at the tournament.
“No one matches the United States for talent and pedigree in the women’s game right now,” said BBC football expert Alyson Rudd. “With difference-makers like Morgan, Rose Lavelle, and Lindsey Horan, they have both the elite skill and big-game experience needed to prevail in a Gold Cup environment.”
The Gold Cup employs the same basic format as the men’s edition, with 12 participants across North America divided into three groups, followed by an 8-team knockout stage to crown the inaugural regional champion. In addition to hosts United States and their two closest rivals Canada and Mexico earning automatic qualification, guest nations from South America’s elite were also invited, including Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia.
With online sportsbooks in places like North Carolina now offering a variety of enticing North Carolina betting promos as well, viewers old and new have plenty of incentives to tune in to the 10 March final.
As the Gold Cup group stage winds down, the simmering question is not if the United States can win their group, but whether any opponent can even score a goal against them. Having conceded zero goals while scoring a tournament-best nine thus far, the Americans seem destined to at minimum match – if not better – their famous 5-0 drubbing of Thailand at the last Women’s World Cup.
Come March, when the trophy is raised, expect the United States women to be center stage and holding it. Through an overpowering performance thus far, the world’s #1 ranked team has left little doubt about their status as runaway favorites.
So as the CONCACAF W Gold Cup passes its halfway point, make sure to check local listings and keep watching – because the US women’s national team is must-see television for any football fan right now.
