LOS ANGELES — We still got it.
We as in us, the United States, the four-time women’s World Cup champion and four-time Olympic gold medalists, world No. 2 – and victim, last week, of an inspired and improved Mexican squad.
Winners again Sunday, though, 3-0 over Colombia.
Savor this one, ladies. Celebrate it, American fans.
That’s the thing about the rest of the women’s soccer-playing world upping its game like it has in the past few years: Wins are wins are wins, sure, but you better believe that every payoff now is earned. Hard-fought and hard-earned and something to cherish.
“This is how we strive to play, but I’m also not gonna ignore the games where we don’t play the way that everyone expects us to,” U.S. forward Trinity Rodman said after the United States’ convincing shutout in a CONCACAF W Gold Cup quarterfinal match at BMO Stadium, where the crowd of 16,746 fans were mostly on the United States’ side this time.
“It would be dumb of us to think there are not going to be those games where teams exploit us; that’s gonna happen. So I think just responding to those and coming out the next game even harder is what we want.”
Sunday’s response was big. This wasn’t the version of Colombia that the United States had come up against in many of its previous meetings, 10 victories, two draws and no losses.
These are the Colombian darlings of last year’s Women’s World Cup, where they were quarterfinalists – beating Germany and knocking off Jamaica and lasting one round longer than the United States.
No. 28 in the world, officially, but dangerous as all get out, with Linda Caicado out there threatening to strike, the lightning-quick 19-year-old Real Madrid star who’s a magician with the ball at her feet – something she didn’t have much Sunday.
Whether it’s Mexico, Colombia or Canada – the United States’ opponent in the semifinals at San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium – the U.S.’s interim coach Twila Kilgore was…
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