U.S. women’s soccer team qualifies for 2023 World Cup

The U.S. women’s soccer team clinched qualifying for next year’s World Cup on Thursday with a 5-0 rout of Jamaica at Concacaf’s World Cup and Olympics qualifying tournament. The game was a major improvement over the tournament-opening 2-0 win over Haiti, and not just in terms of the score.

After a shaky defensive performance in the first game, the Americans put the clamps down this time. Centerbacks Naomi Girma and Alana Cook held Jamaica’s star striker Khadija Shaw to one shot, and the Reggae Girlz to just three overall (two on target).

And the U.S. attack fired from the start. Sophia Smith scored twice in the first eight minutes, the first a spectacular flick and the second a chip that was ruled to have just barely crossed the goal line. Two more potential U.S. goals by other players were disallowed for offside before halftime.

Rose Lavelle added the third in the 59th, Kristie Mewis scored a penalty kick in the 83rd, and Trinity Rodman capped things off in the 86th.

U.S. manager Vlatko Andonovski had lots of praise for Smith after the game, and noted that he had a meeting with the 21-year-old after the Haiti game to settle some nerves.

“She will be a starter for this team, just because we know how good she is now and we can see her potential and how good she can be in the future,” Andonovski said. “She does have the potential to be one of the best players in the world, and I think that she demonstrated that in in the first half.”

The other big story of the night was lineup rotation by Andonovski, and the first headline was at centerback: Naomi Girma started over veteran Becky Sauerbrunn. Dueling with Shaw was a test, and Girma passed it.

“She was spot-on in terms of her mentality and how to approach the game,” Andonovski said. “I was very happy with her performance. And it was good to see how not just individually she dealt with certain situations, with Shaw or the other forwards, but also how she was working with the back line.”

» READ MORE: Naomi Girma is a name to know for the U.S. women’s soccer team’s future, and its present

At right back Sofia Huerta stood in for Kelley O’Hara. Huerta would have had an assist on one of those first-half scoring chances that was offside.

“She was not as aggressive as we are used to going forward, but she had certain tasks and positions to fulfill which I thought she did a very good job [at],” Andonovski said of Huerta. “And positionally, she was spot-on. She was able to draw players and unbalance players from [Jamaica’s] midfield line and forward line.”

In the midfield, Andonovski picked two attacking midfielders instead of two defensive ones, starting Rose Lavelle and Ashley Sanchez in front of Lindsey Horan and giving usual defensive anchor Andi Sullivan the night off. And up top, Ashley Hatch started in place of Alex Morgan.

Finally, there was a swap at goalkeeper, as Alyssa Naeher returned to the net after Casey Murphy started against Haiti. When Andonovski was asked if he knows who will start Monday’s group stage finale against Mexico (10 p.m., Paramount+, ViX), he delivered an answer worthy of an Atlantic City poker table.

“I don’t, but even if I do I wouldn’t say right now,” Andonovski said. “But we will make the decision probably in the next couple of days.”

(Don’t be surprised if the odds board across the casino hall has Naeher as the favorite.)

Now that the ticket to Australia and New Zealand next year is clinched, the final group game is a formality where the dispirited hosts may try to salvage some pride. After Monday, it’s on to the knockout rounds. The Concacaf tournament’s winner qualifies for the 2024 Olympics, and the second- and third-place finishers will contest a playoff next year for the region’s second berth.

» READ MORE: Get to know more about Sofia Huerta, who has a bright future at right back for the USWNT

In the game between Haiti and Mexico, the 3-0 result by Haiti ensured the United States would advance out of the group stage, therefore guaranteeing the USWNT a World Cup slot. Haiti jumped out to a lead in the 14th minute off a penalty kick from Roselor Borgelia, then added another penalty kick goal by Nerilia Mondesir in the 67the minute of the second half before a freekick goal by Sherly Jeudy in the 78th minute shut the door on any chance of a Mexico comeback.