The 2024 W Gold Cup Final (USWNT vs Brazil, a Wambach-Doyle Perspective)
At 5:15 pm, the match kicked off, the USWNT against Brazil. The first few attempts by the Brazilians on the goal went wide - Alyssa didn't even have to do anything. Alex Morgan's attempt on goal was blocked, and a few minor fouls occurred on both sides, but overall, the first half continued relatively uneventfully.
AT was finding herself bored, considering this was supposed to be a final, and as the first half went into stoppage time, the ball flew at Lindsey Horan, who headed it straight past the Brazilian keeper.
Goal.
"Fucking finally."
Abby raised an eyebrow at Chase, who was lounging in a seat with Axo on his lap.
"What?" Chase protested.
"Watch your language, please." Abby gestured to Hannah who was literally right next to him cause well Axo, obviously.
When Chase opened his mouth, Glennon gave her firstborn a look. "Don't even bother, my boy. She can and she will, grown up or not."
Chase shut his mouth again, looking annoyed, and sighed. "Yes Mama.”
As they turned back to the TV, the halftime whistle blew, and as the first half ended, the USWNT were up 1-0 over Brazil thanks to Lindsey Horan's perfect header.
"Chase, come with me please."
Chase eyed Glennon doubtfully. "Sure, alright Mama," he said. "Watch Axo for me, will you, Little Monkey?”
"Uh huh. We'll be fine, won't we Axo?" Hannah accepted the dog on her lap, removing the hood of her "USWNT" puppy onesie to scratch the white Yorkie behind the ears.
Axo snuggled deeper into Hannah's lap for answer, seemingly uncaring whether Chase or Hannah held her.
When Glennon had led Chase away, Clarisse shook her head. "He is grown up enough to know better. Bonjour, Axo," she greeted the puppy, who sniffed at her.
The puppy, liking Risse enough, thought it was a good idea to lay spread out across both of their laps, which had Hannah rubbing the dog's belly. They were in this position when Glennon and Chase returned, just moments before the start of the second half.
As the second half kicked off, Lynn Williams came in for Rose Lavelle. The USWNT had control of the ball for the next few minutes - mostly Emily Fox - though it didn't get near the goal. In the tenth minute of the second half, however, Antonia was fouled on by Alex Morgan, who received a yellow card.
AT looked ready to say something about that, but at a look from her mamas, she subsided.
Hannah, however, did not receive such a look and jumped up in indignation, though thankfully she had passed Axo back to Chase, "Not fair!" Clarisse was surprisingly quicker than Abby, pulling her chou back down on her lap and whispering in her ear, "Ma chou, fair or not it will be dealt with, she's okay, she isn't hurt. Now, please calm down before I have to deal with you too, hmm?"
"Okay, Bee. Sorry.”
As everyone tuned back in to the match, it was to see that Alex was being subbed off.
She was replaced by Sophia Smith, the Thorns forward looking to make a difference and extend the lead at her first opportunity.
Just after the hour mark, Sophia managed to make the shot on goal she'd been looking for, but Antonia stopped her from scoring, clearing the ball away. Sophia was clearly irritated at being beaten to the ball, but there was nothing AT could do for her, except mutter "Wish I was there" under her breath.
"What was that, little one?”
"Nothing, Mama Tobin.”
The Brazilian side made the next substitution with Geyse coming in for Gabi Nunes five minutes later.
Thankfully, nothing came of this, the ball bouncing back and forth between both squads.
Six minutes after that the USWNT made a double substitution, Midge Purce and Jaedyn Shaw on for Trinity Rodman and Sam Coffey, respectively.
Nothing much of importance happened for the next eight minutes until Debinha was subbed off in favor of Bia Zaneratto, her fellow Current forward with a smile in the seventy-ninth minute.
This was followed by another substitution less than a minute later as Julia Bianchi came on in the eightieth minute. The player, familiar to everyone in the room due to her time in the NWSL, replaced Duda Sampaio.
A few minutes later, Korbin Albert fouled on Debinha, winning Brazil a free kick. AT literally facepalmed, watching this, as Geyse took the chance and made the shot. It went wide of the goal, so Alyssa didn't have to deal with it, but AT still thought fouling on Debinha had been foolish.
"Good luck asking for her jersey now." AT commented dryly, shaking her head at her friend.
"I would be less worried about asking for her jersey and more worried about Meredith finding me afterwards." Hannah commented.
"Oh, Specks? Yeah, she's a bit possessive of her girlfriend. Just make sure you've got Marta on call when you ask and Specks will back down," Tobin advised.
The match seemed to be inching towards a close when the USWNT made one final substitution, Casey Krueger replacing fellow NWSL defender Crystal Dunn.
As predicted before the substitution the rest of the match seemed to limp to a close. Then it was over and the USWNT had not only beaten Brazil to become the first women's Gold Cup champions, but had also gotten revenge for La Tri.