CONCACAF W Championship draw: USWNT to face Mexico, Jamaica and Haiti in World Cup, Olympic qualifiers

The two groups for this summer’s CONCACAF W Championship are set after Tuesday night’s draw in Miami. The United States leads off Group A, with Mexico, Jamaica and Haiti. Canada leads off Group B, joined by Costa Rica, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago. The tournament will run from July 4-18 in Monterrey, Mexico.

For the first time, the eight nations in the CONCACAF championship will be fighting both for World Cup and Olympic spots. The top two teams from the two groups will directly qualify for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, with the two third-place teams heading to the new FIFA play-in tournament involving teams from other confederations.

The winning team of the W Championship will also earn the single direct qualification spot for the 2024 Summer Olympics to be held in France, while the second and third place teams will face off in a play-in match in 2023.

🏆 The Champions will be lifting this trophy! 😍 🤩#WeBelong #ConcacafW pic.twitter.com/DObz2PZDsM

— Concacaf W (@ConcacafW) April 19, 2022

CONCACAF will release the full schedule for the tournament “in the coming days.”

This new format of World Cup and Olympic qualifiers in CONCACAF is part of a change in the federation’s overall women’s soccer strategy, but they also had to happen with the expansion of the World Cup to 32 teams for the 2023 tournament. Here’s the breakdown of how qualification for these 32 slots breaks down, with 29 teams earning direct qualification, and 10 teams heading to the new FIFA play-in tournament to determine the final three participants.

CONCACAF has largely focused their reforms on ensuring more national teams actually play more games. By expanding the qualification process to the W Championship, and the introduction of a women’s Gold Cup competition (also with its own new set of qualifiers), the confederation stated that there would be a 118% increase in the number of international matches played compared to the previous four-year cycle.

There’s never much worry about the USWNT playing matches during every international window, but it stands to benefit from increased competition within their own confederation. A more challenging qualifying tournament and fewer lopsided results would be a win, but being able to tap more CONCACAF teams for friendlies and having those games be more competitive will also help the entire North American women’s soccer ecosystem.

With the groups set and 76 days to go until the W Championship kicks off, here’s an overview of the eight teams competing this summer and how they earned their trip to Monterrey.

Group A

United States

Current FIFA ranking: 1

Qualifiers: Bye directly to W Championship 

The youth movement has been on for the USWNT — and while April’s friendlies against Uzbekistan weren’t exactly a full test of the team’s readiness for a World Cup, they did provide meaningful minutes to build chemistry across the forward line and between the lines. History is on the team’s side — the U.S. is 32-1-0 all time in World Cup qualifiers and 23-0-1 all time in Olympic qualifiers (that single loss to Mexico forced the team to qualify for the 2011 World Cup via a play-off with Italy).

The compression of four-year cycles due to the delay of the Olympics to last summer has head coach Vlatko Andonovski embracing evaluation opportunities. The expectations are the same as ever: winning. World Cup qualification, thanks to four direct slots, isn’t really a question here. But avoiding that home-and-away play-in for the 2024 Olympics means winning the whole thing (and maybe making a statement against Canada along the way).

Mexico

Current FIFA ranking: 27

Qualifiers: Winner, Group A, 4-0-0, +34 goal differential

Mexico didn’t allow a single goal through their four group stage matches, but they also only faced a single shot on goal through four games. That situation will change in July. Will hosting the W Championship play a factor for the team? Possibly, but the most important factor for the continued evolution of the national team is how Liga MX Femenil can and has accelerated better performances on the international stage.

Two players to watch this NWSL season: Maria Sánchez with the Houston Dash, and Diana Ordoñez with the North Carolina Courage. Sánchez brings plenty of skill and goal scoring, and Ordoñez had one of the best national team debuts of all time, scoring on her very first touch in their match against Anguilla.

Jamaica 

Current FIFA ranking: 51

Qualifiers: Winner, Group C, 4-0-0, +22 goal differential

Another four wins here for another group winner, though Jamaica allowed two goals through four games (one each from Grenada and the Dominican Republic). Jamaica also has two games to look back at from 2021, thanks to playing two other CONCACAF teams last year. They played the USWNT in Houston in the run up to the Olympics, losing 4-0 and then played Costa Rica to a scoreless draw in an October friendly.

There’s always one name front and center with Jamaica, and for good reason: Khadija “Bunny” Shaw scored 10 goals and added four assists through the Reggae Girlz’ qualifying run to the W Championship.

Haiti

Current FIFA ranking: 61

Qualifiers: Winner, Group E, 4-0-0, +44 goal differential

Haiti defeated Honduras 6-0, Saint Vincent 11-0, then the British Virgin Islands by a whopping 21-0 (three different players had hat tricks, one scored four, one scored five) before wrapping up their group stage play with a 6-0 win over Cuba. Teams shouldn’t be overlooking Haiti this summer, as they also had a comprehensive defensive performance (and just like Mexico, only allowing a single shot on goal through four games).

Forward Roselord Borgella finished the lead-in to the W Championship with 11 goals (good for a joint first place finish with Nicaragua’s Yessenia Flores). While Issy FF is currently 10th in the standings in the French league, Borgella is the team’s leading scorer. If she keeps up her form, Haiti could absolutely be a factor, especially for one of those play-in tournament berths.

Group B

Canada

Current FIFA ranking: 6

Qualifiers: Bye directly to W Championship

Canada hasn’t feared the USWNT for a while, but the large majority of the Gold medal-winning squad will return for the W Championship this summer, including key player Jessie Fleming. The team also got in a pair of friendlies against Nigeria during the April window, first winning2-0, then forcing a 2-2 draw.

Quinn has shown their quality in the midfield for both club (OL Reign) and country, particularly over the past year, but also keep an eye on forward Janine Beckie as she heads to Portland Thorns FC for the 2022 season. Not only does it promise more time training and playing alongside Christine Sinclair, but almost certainly more regular minutes than what she was getting at Manchester City.

Costa Rica

Current FIFA ranking: 36

Qualifiers: Winner, Group B, 4-0-0, +22 goal differential

Costa Rica also didn’t allow a single goal through their four matches, but they weren’t also dropping double-digit tallies on opposing teams like some other squads. Las Ticas have a chance to qualify for their first World Cup since 2015, and the expanded field is the perfect chance to make that happen. A second-place finish in Group B has to be the minimum this summer, and pushing for the Olympic play-in game would be a sweet bonus.

Portland’s Raquel Rodríguez continues to be a leader for Costa Rica, and contributed six goals through the four matches.

Panama

Current FIFA ranking: 58

Qualifiers: Winner, Group D, 4-0-0, +24 goal differential

Panama is aiming to qualify for its first women’s World Cup. The team had a strong February, before coming back even better for their 9-0 win over Aruba for the first of the two April group stage matches. Their momentum slowed a bit in their final game, though thanks to two second-half goals from Yerenis De Leon and Karla Riley, they secured their final win over El Salvador.

Riley’s been a consistent scorer for Panama through the group stage, but also look for Lineth Cedeño as well on the top line. She had a hat trick against Belize in February.

Trinidad and Tobago

Current FIFA ranking: 73

Qualifiers: Winner, Group F, 3-0-1, +16 goal differential

The only team to drop a result through the group stage, Trinidad and Tobago posted a 13-0 win over Turks & Caicos on Apr. 9 (while resting a solid chunk of their regular starters). Three days later, they needed a 90th minute equalizer via Lauryn Hutchinson to eke out the draw against Guyana that sent them to the W Championship. If nothing else, Trinidad and Tobago can definitely lay claim to the most dramatic path to this summer’s tournament.

Trinidad and Tobago is going to need some real upset energy to push for a play-in tournament spot, but they did hang in with Panama for a pair of draws across two friendlies with Panama last October. Head coach Kenwyne Jones noted that “the occasion” of that final match against Guyana perhaps got to the team a bit. A tournament setting will only provide a greater challenge, and he hit on the theme of composure a number of times in his post-game press conference.

(Photo: Brad Smith / ISI Photos / Getty Images)