If USWNT loses SheBelieves Cup, then World Cup is hopeless

Five months remain until the 2023 Women's World Cup, and if it was not clear before, it should be now: It's crunch time.

February is a busy month internationally given that it's the penultimate FIFA window prior to the World Cup. For the U.S. women's national team, that means all that remains before head coach Vlatko Andonovski names his World Cup roster are games against Canada, Brazil and Japan this week in the SheBelieves Cup and a pair of friendlies in April.

Thus, the 2023 SheBelieves Cup packs an extra level of importance. It is the USWNT's final opportunity to simulate three games in a week, similar to the demand of the World Cup, and it also marks the best remaining tests for the Americans to prove they are legitimate contenders after three straight losses recently against England, Spain and Germany.

«Even though it's a friendly tournament, it's really important for us to want to win this tournament and continue to prove to ourselves why we belong at the top and why we do have the mentality that we have,» U.S. forward Alex Morgan said last week.

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In the past, Morgan's statement would feel more like a rebuttal against narratives that the rest of the world was catching up, but much has changed even since she and the U.S. won a second straight World Cup in 2019. In several ways, the world already caught up. Combine the shifting global landscape with a generational turnover within the U.S. program — one that will see the team aim for a third straight World Cup title without most of the group that won the previous two titles — and there are legitimate doubts heading into the summer.

Recent results exacerbate