The United States women's national team will play in the 2019 Women's World Cup final on Sunday against the Netherlands and are the strong favorites to take home a fourth title, including what would be back-to-back championships. With three straight 2-1 wins in the knockout stage over Spain, France and England, the U.S. will once again test itself against European competition, taking on the surprise finalists.
The U.S. has many reasons why it should be confident, but here are three reasons why the U.S. will win on Sunday. I also covered the possibility the Netherlands pulls off the upset, which you can check out here.
1. The U.S. is the best team and has proven it
This is by far the best, most talented team at the World Cup. Be it the No. 1 world ranking, being the reigning champs or having knocked out contenders England and France, this is the most elite team in France.
Just look back at what this team has done. Three games in the knockout stage in which they faced some adversity and had to hold on to one-goal leads in all three games, with a different starting lineup in reach game due to tactical or injury decisions. Great teams start fast and deliver a massive punch early, and the U.S. has done that by scoring within the first 12 minutes of every game it has played at the tournament.
The Netherlands is a strong team, but the U.S. is the best. They proved it four years ago, and they plan to prove it again on Sunday.
2. Jill Ellis just doesn't lose at the World Cup
Jill Ellis has a lot of two things: wins and doubters. The USWNT boss seems to have more doubters with each game, be it for not starting Lindsey Horan against France, for going with all backups in the second World Cup game against Chile or what have you.
But what more does she need to do to prove herself? The England-born manager, who was 2015 FIFA Women's Coach of the Year, has a long list of accomplishments. But none is more impressive than this: Ellis has never lost a game at the World Cup as coach of the U.S.
That's right -- she's 6-0-0 in the 2019 World Cup and went 6-1-0 (draw against Sweden in group stage) in 2015. That's 12-1-0 in two World Cups and potentially 90 minutes away from becoming the first women's coach to win the tournament two times.
3. They'll be as prepared as ever thanks to adversity
There is always some concern when a team cruises through games and how it will handle adversity. That concern no longer exists for the U.S. After dominating the group stage, they were level 1-1 with Spain and England, but managed to win. Against France, with the hosts dominating late, the U.S. weathered that storm to move on.
This team isn't used to adversity, but it welcomes and embraces it. Megan Rapinoe recently said that when the U.S. is down 2-0 in the 80th minute, they believe they are going to win. They are hardly ever in that predicament, so can you imagine the confidence level when they are tied or ahead? This team is a well-oiled machine that has handled every situation brilliantly at the tournament. They are confident, they are tested, and many of them are champions. On Sunday, they plan to be champs again and have everything they need to do it.
You can see the match on Sunday at 11 a.m. ET on fuboTV (Try for free). CBS Sports will be provided coverage of Sunady's final, so be sure to check back for updates, stories, odds and more.
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