The U.S. Women's National Team closed out their Group A play in the 2022 Concacaf W Championship Monday night with a 1-0 victory over Mexico. Thorns FC defender Becky Sauerbrunn wore the captain's armband for the Americans and played the full 90 minutes in the shutout. Forward Sophia Smith played 64 minutes in the match as the USWNT went a perfect 3-0-0 in group play. Midfielder Sam Coffey, called up to the team earlier in the day as an injury replacement, will be available for the knockout stages.
Already topping the group earlier with their second win in the tournament – a 5-0 romp over Jamaica on July 7 – the U.S. qualified for next year's FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. For the Concacaf W Championship, they now move on to the tournament semifinals against Costa Rica on July 14 (4pm PT, CBS Sports Network, Paramount+).
Speaking of Las Ticas, midfielder Rocky Rodríguez faced Thorns teammates Christine Sinclair and Janine Beckie in their Group B finale with the Canadians coming out on top 2-0. All three players started the match with Sinclair subbing out at halftime, Beckie going 76 minutes and Rodríguez getting a full match in.
Both teams had already punched their ticket to next year's World Cup with Canada finishing 3-0-0 to win Group B and Costa Rica going 2-1-0 to take second. With Rodríguez facing the U.S. in the semifinals, it'll mark her second straight match facing Thorns teammates.
Meanwhile, Canada take on Group A second place finishers Jamaica on July 14 (7pm PT, Paramount+) in the other tournament semifinals with both matches taking place at Estadio Universitario – the home field for Liga MX side Tigres UANL.
Kuikka and Finland lose 1-0 to Denmark at Euros
In the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 in England, Thorns defender Natalia Kuikka started and played the full 90 minutes as Finland dropped a 1-0 loss to Denmark at Stadium MK in their second game of Group B play.
Finland will finish the group stage with a match on July 16 against Germany at 12pm PT.
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