The CONCACAF Women’s Championship will end Wednesday exactly as everyone knew it would when the tournament kicked off 10 days ago — with the U.S. playing Canada.
Both easily won their semifinal games Sunday, with Canada blasting Panama 7-0 and the U.S. blowing out Jamaica 6-0 on a rainy night in suburban Dallas. With the tournament serving as the regional qualifier for next summer’s Women’s World Cup in France, simply making it to the final means both teams will be going to the World Cup too.
But that doesn’t make Wednesday’s final meaningless. In fact, given the heated rivalry between the two teams, it may be the most important game of the year for both.