USWNT vs. Japan: Top Storylines and Predictions for 2024 SheBelieves Cup
The United States women's national team begins its quest to land its second trophy of 2024 at the SheBelieves Cup on Saturday.
The USWNT faces Japan inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta as part of two semifinal matches. Brazil and Canada play in the other match.
Alex Morgan and Co. captured the Concacaf W Gold Cup in March and will use the SheBelieves Cup games as more preparation for the Summer Olympics in Paris.
Japan last played the USWNT in the 2023 SheBelieves Cup, where it suffered a 1-0 loss.
The tournament has a different format than previous years. There is a four-team bracket in 2024 instead of a round-robin format in which the team with the most points won the event.
USWNT After Second Trophy of 2024
The USWNT is after its second trophy in two months.
The Americans cruised to the Concacaf W Gold Cup crown earlier this year and now they face a tougher test in the SheBelieves Cup.
The USWNT won four straight SheBelieves Cups, but all of those victories have come against world-class competition, including last year's field of Japan, Brazil and Canada.
A good amount of the focus on the two SheBelieves games will be on the Olympic preparations.
New manager Emma Hayes is closer to arriving and the pressure is building for players to be a part of the Olympic roster.
The USWNT could use a strong performance against Japan since it went to penalties against Canada and only won 1-0 over Brazil in the final two Gold Cup games.
A win over Japan would put the Americans into the SheBelieves final. That would give the younger players in the squad an extra game in a pressure-packed scenario to prepare for the Olympics.
Japan is also ramping up toward the Olympics. It played well against the lesser opponents on its schedule, but it fell to Brazil, Sweden and the USWNT in the last year.
Race for Olympic Roster Spots Heats Up
The SheBelieves Cup serves as a final audition for some players when it comes to making the Olympics roster.
Only 18 players can make the Olympic tournament roster, which is five players less than a typical World Cup squad.
Forward may be the toughest position to narrow down players for the Olympic roster because there are so many options from Morgan to Trinity Rodman to Sophia Smith and others.
Smith, Rodman, Morgan, Catarina Macario, Jaedyn Shaw and Mallory Swanson are all available for the SheBelieves Cup.
Shaw scored four goals at the Gold Cup and Morgan's two was the only other multi-goal tally from an American forward. Lindsey Horan scored three times from midfield.
Morgan may have the most to prove because she was initially left off the Gold Cup roster before she arrived as a replacement player.
Leaving Morgan off the Olympic roster seems like a wild decision given her career track record, but that speaks to how deep the forward pool is at the moment.
The two SheBelieves games could make or break some players' cases to get on the plane to Paris.
Prediction
United States 2, Japan 0
The USWNT has only lost to Japan once in 39 previous meetings.
Thirty of those meetings resulted in victories, so it seems likely the Americans will advance to the SheBelieves final to face either Brazil or Canada.
Although the USWNT struggled for parts of the Gold Cup, it proved it could rally from those shortcomings to win a trophy.
With a motivated Morgan in the squad and a loaded forward line in place, the Americans should create a decent amount of chances against Japan.
A win is expected for the Americans as they continue to push forward toward an important Olympics after last year's World Cup round of 16 elimination.