Canada women look to dethrone Americans as CONCACAF champs

Canada had the better of the U.S. en route to winning Olympic gold in Tokyo last summer. Now the Canadian women look to build on that success by taking the CONCACAF title away from the top-ranked Americans.

The North American rivals blazed an identical trail in reaching Monday's CONCACAF W Championship final, each winning four games while outscoring the opposition 12-0. The U.S. and sixth-ranked Canadians dispatched No. 37 Costa Rica and No. 51 Jamaica by identical 3-0 scores in semifinal play Thursday.

Canada and the U.S. rank 1-2 in shots (Canada 59, U.S. 54), assists (Canada 11, U.S. seven) and corners kicks (Canada 39, U.S. 29) at the eight-team tournament. The Americans lead in passes with 1,652, compared to No. 2 Canada's 1,573 (next best was Mexico at 864).

Nine different Americans have scored at the tournament, compared to eight for Canada.

It's the two teams' first meeting since Aug. 2, 2021, when Canada won 1-0 on a Jessie Fleming penalty in the Tokyo Olympic semifinal. Canada went on to claim gold in a penalty shootout win over Sweden while the Americans settled for bronze after beating Australia.

"I definitely think our confidence going into this match is at an all-time high," Canadian midfielder Desiree Scott said Sunday. "You know you obviously have that confidence coming from the Toyko Olympics.

"Obviously nothing is ever given, it's earned. And we know that coming into this final. But I think the mental space of the squad is a confident one and we're really pumped for this final."

U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski said he remembers the Olympic loss, as he does all setbacks to use them as a "learning opportunity going forward." But he said the semifinal in Kashima has not been a topic for conversations among