The United States Women’s National Team became the first nation to qualify for the knockout stages of the 2024 W Gold Cup after following up their opening 5-0 thrashing of the Dominican Republic by defeating Argentina 4-0 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California on Friday. The Stars and Stripes will face Mexico in their final game in Group A, with a draw need to ensure they finish in first place. The result in Monday’s game will also determine which team they face in the quarterfinals, the first knockout round.
Which teams make it through to CONCACAF W Gold Cup quarterfinals?
The W Gold Cup is unusual in that 12 teams are taking part, which complicates matters somewhat when it comes to the format. CONCACAF ultimately decided on three four-team groups, which means only four teams will go home before the quarterfinals get underway.
The top two teams from each group progress to the last eight, which is fairly common practice in major international tournament. But as there are only three groups, that leaves two spots still up for grabs, which will be taken by the two best-third place teams. They will be decided by the number of points won in the different groups (followed by goal difference, then goals scored if teams are still tied).
How are teams paired in the CONCACAF W Gold Cup last eight?
The eight qualifiers will then be ranked from one to eight based on their performance in the group stage, again using the criteria mentioned above.
The qualifier with the best record will face the one with the worst in the last eight, with second facing seventh, third taking on sixth and fourth playing fifth. There is nothing in the CONCACAF W Gold Cup regulations to stop teams who played each other in the group stage meeting again in the quarterfinals, which could theoretically happen depending on how they are ranked.
The USWNT will hope – and expect – to beat Mexico in their last group game. If they do, there’s a good they will finish the group stage as the top-ranked team, in which case they would face the eighth-raked team in the quarterfinals. It’s still too early in the tournament to say which team they will play, but the chances are they will be paired against a third-placed team (Argentina, Puerto Rico or Costa Rica at the time of writing), which shouldn’t hold too many fears.