The USA women’s soccer team is its own worst enemy. It became so good, winning back-to-back World Cups, it inspired other countries around the world to beef up their women’s soccer programs. You get as good as USA women’s soccer by starting at the youth level; by making soccer “cool” for girls.
And in making women’s soccer profitable for those who excel. The USA team has several millionaires among its ranks.
The USA having its earliest exit ever from the World Cup was more about the competition being so much better, not the demise of the USA team.
It was also a bit of a transition year for the American women. Perhaps too many veterans stayed too long at the expense of a youth movement. Many of those veterans won’t be around for the next World Cup in 2027, hopefully making the team younger and better.
The USA didn’t go down without a fight, losing 5-4 on penalty kicks to Sweden. One of the missed kicks during two rounds of penalty kicks was by one of those veterans, Megan Rapinoe.