No. 2 USWNT prepares for the Concacaf W Gold Cup semis

The GIST: The inaugural Concacaf W Gold Cup semis kick off tonight with two must-see matches between four regional powers from San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium.

• As a refresher, this first-ever tourney pits the continent’s best against each other as a tuneup for the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics. Fan-footy-tastic.

No. 11 Brazil vs. No. 35 Mexico — Tonight at 7 p.m. ET: Brazil is learning to fly even without their fearless leader, Marta, who retired from international competition after the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. As Canarinhas have been displaying their famous footwork all tourney long, seriously outscoring their opponents along the way.

• Meanwhile, Mexico is demanding attention as they thrive on the cheers of their large fanbase and capitalize on their competition’s mistakes. But their defense will have their hands full against a flourishing Brazilian offense.

No. 2 USWNT vs. No. 10 CanWNT — Tonight at 10:15 p.m. ET: While the Americans boast the historic edge, having won 53 (!!!) of their 64 previous games against Canada, anything can happen when these two transitioning squads take the pitch tonight.

• The USWNT expects this game to be physical, especially considering CanWNT’s strong defense, meaning they’ll need to play with their recently-reignited fire (particularly on offense) to top the rebuilding Canucks.

• That said, the red, white, and blue can come in confident that their own rock-solid backline will stymy our neighbors to the north, who notoriously have trouble scoring. LFG.