LOS ANGELES — The journey in the CONCACAF Gold Cup hit a roadblock for the United States women’s national soccer team on the final day of group play.
With first place on the line Monday, the USWNT suffered a 2-0 defeat to Mexico. It was just the second loss against Mexico in 43 meetings, the first loss ever for the national team in California, the first loss against a CONCACAF opponent since 2000 and snapped an 80-game winning streak on U.S. soil against CONCACAF opponents.
Sunday kicks off a new week, with the team’s focus still on winning the tournament. The USWNT will face Colombia in the quarterfinals (5:15 p.m., Paramount+, ESPN+) at BMO Stadium.
“The standards for this team is very high and the expectation is to win in this program, all of the time,” USWNT interim coach Twila Kilgore said. “But reality is, sometimes when you’re working on things, it doesn’t quite come off. Sometimes the opponent is really good and there’s those moments and we understand that how we respond to them is everything. While we’re known for winning, we’re also known for competing, bouncing back and being proud who we are and we will continue to step forward in the right direction.”
USWNT forward Alex Morgan said the team took advantage of the time in between the end of group stage play and the quarterfinals to refocus.
“We’re in a really good place,” she said. “Actually I think the way that the tournament unfolded, with losing that last game to Mexico and the length in time in between games, gave us the opportunity not only to kind of close the loop on Mexico and start to focus on Colombia, but also work on ourselves and supporting each other.”
The USWNT and Colombia met in October in a pair of friendlies. The first ended in a scoreless draw and the second was a 3-0 USWNT win, thanks to three second-half goals.
Colombia, which advanced to the quarterfinals of last year’s Women’s World Cup, finished second in Group B. The top two teams…
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