Team USA takes aim at a fourth consecutive FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup title when the tournament kicks off Wednesday in Sydney, Australia. This is the 19th edition of FIBA’s flagship women’s event, which began in 1953 and was won by the U.S., the nation’s first of 10 World Cup gold medals to date.
The 2022 tournament features 12 nations, including world No. 3 and host Australia, 2021 Olympic silver medalist Japan and 2021 bronze medalist France. Competition begins with round-robin play between two groups. The top four teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage, where they’ll compete in a single-elimination format.
On the line: The winner punches its ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics, while valuable FIBA world ranking points are also up for grabs.
The 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup will stream in the U.S. on ESPN+, with six games also airing on linear television.
Team USA features five players hot off the WNBA Finals, including the champion Las Vegas Aces’ dynamic trio of 2022 WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, 2022 WNBA Finals MVP Chelsea Gray, and All-Star MVP Kelsey Plum. The Connecticut Sun will be represented by triple-double history-maker Alyssa Thomas and 2022 WNBA Sixth Player of the Year Brionna Jones. On Tuesday, U.S. head coach Cheryl Reeve said it is unlikely all 12 players will be available for the team’s first game.
*Ages are as of Sept. 20, 2022
Fresh faces highlight Team USA’s roster for Sydney, where exactly half of the U.S. players will make their debut for USA Basketball in a major international competition: Brionna Jones, Alyssa Thomas, Sabrina Ionescu, Betnijah Laney, Kahleah Copper and Shakira Austin.
“We’re in a little bit of a transition,” said Breanna Stewart, the 2022 AP WNBA Player of the Year who’s won two Olympic gold medals and two World Cup titles as a member of Team USA. “But it really gives an opportunity for young players to come in and show what they’ve got and help take USA Basketball to the next level — and understand that everybody wants to beat us. Nobody wants us to win gold. And still, our goal every time that we are playing is to win the entire thing.”
The 2022 World Cup marks the first time since 2000 that the U.S. is without stalwarts Sue Bird (retired) and Diana Taurasi (injury), and it’s also missing veterans Tina Charles (opted out), Brittney Griner (detained in Russia since Feb. 17) and Sylvia Fowles (retired). Those five players have combined for a whopping 19 Olympic gold medals. Only five members of USA’s Tokyo 2021 gold-medal winning team are on the World Cup roster — Stewart, Ariel Atkins, Chelsea Gray, Jewell Loyd and A’ja Wilson — while Kelsey Plum (3×3 Olympic gold in 2021), Loyd, Stewart and Wilson are the only ones to have competed in the previous World Cup in 2018.
Additionally, the World Cup marks the first time at the helm for Team USA head coach Cheryl Reeve, who served as an assistant for the national team at the 2016 and 2021 Olympics and took over from Dawn Staley in December.
The FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Sydney features 12 national teams, with 38 games to be played over 10 days from Sept. 22-Oct. 1. The teams start with seven days of group play, with every team playing each team in their group once. Teams earn two points for a win and one point for a draw, with the top four teams from each group advancing to the knockout stage.
Ahead of the knockout stage, a draw will be used to determine the pairings and bracket placement for the eight teams in the quarterfinals: The two best-ranked teams of each group (Group A and Group B) will be drawn against the two teams ranked third and fourth of the other group.
The tournament continues with two semifinal games on Friday, Sept. 30, with the winner of each semi advancing to the gold-medal game on Saturday, Oct. 1. The losers of each semifinal will play for bronze, also on Oct. 1.
Group A:
Group B:
Notably missing in Sydney: No. 2-ranked Spain, which failed to qualify; Nigeria, whose federation withdrew the team over governance issues; and Russia and Belarus, which were banned from participating due to their invasion and ongoing war in Ukraine.
WASHINGTON — It was a fun night to be a Portland Thorn.
Portland defeated the Kansas City Current, 2-0, to win the 2022 NWSL Championship at Audi Field. With the victory, Portland becomes the first NWSL team to win three titles (2013, 2017, 2022).
“Not every game is that fun,” said Sophia Smith, who got things going in the fourth minute. Smith, who was named regular season MVP two days ago, made the most of a one-vs-one against Kansas City goalkeeper AD Franch and celebrated with a meme-worthy shrug (video below).
Cool, calm, collected. 😮 @sophsssmith
The NWSL MVP puts @ThornsFC ahead in under four minutes. 😤 pic.twitter.com/DQ68NPAQgm
— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) October 30, 2022
At 22, Smith also became the youngest player to score in an NWSL final.
“She can stop pushing now and she’d still be a very good player, one of the best players this country’s produced,” Portland head coach Rhian Wilkinson said of Smith. “My job is to keep pushing her and to make sure she’s the best player this country’s ever produced because she has that in her right now.”
“That’s always been one of my goals,” Smith said of Wilkinson’s remarks on her potential. “Every coach that I’ve played for understands that. I make that very clear to them that I feel like I can be (the best player) but that I need to be pushed and I need to be held to high standards every single day. And she does a really good job of that.”
Portland sealed the win after a Kansas City own goal in the 56th minute (video below).
Everything is coming up roses 🌹 pic.twitter.com/bM1B6dBLxj
— Portland Thorns FC (@ThornsFC) October 30, 2022
Kansas City created a handful of opportunities midway through the second half, but wasn’t able to convert. On the other end of the field, Franch made a spectacular save (video below) to keep her team in it.
HUGE. SAVE. FROM. FRANCH. pic.twitter.com/Conz20T3a9
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) October 30, 2022
“We actually found our way into the game a little bit… but we lacked that kind of last piece,” said Kansas City head coach Matt Potter. “And then Portland showed why they’re Portland.”
Wilkinson cited the strength of her “leader-full” team. “We have incredible icons of the game on the field in Becky Sauerbrunn and Christine Sinclair… We knew Kansas’s very big threat was going to be transition and you could see (Sauerbrunn)’s leadership and how she was talking.”
Portland’s NWSL title win comes during a tumultuous time for the organization. The U.S. Soccer-commissioned Yates report, released on October 3, included damning evidence about how Portland’s front office failed to take action after former coach Paul Riley was accused of harassment and sexual coercion. Following the report’s release, President of Soccer Gavin Wilkinson and President of Business Mike Golub, were fired. Merritt Paulson, the owner of the Timbers and Thorns, stepped down as CEO of both organizations. Fan groups and some players — as well as all three of Oregon’s gubernatorial candidates — have called for Paulson to sell both teams.
Kansas City — in its second season as an NWSL franchise — had a historic run just to reach Saturday night’s final. No NWSL team had ever reached the championship game after finishing last in the standings one season earlier.
“Obviously it hurts,” said Lo’eau LaBonta, citing the Kansas City fans who backed the team this season. “When we were FC KC, we played for each other… (Now) we’ve got the support of the entire city behind us.”
Follow Alex Azzi on Twitter @AlexAzziNBC
WASHINGTON, DC — The Portland Thorns and Kansas City Current meet tonight in the 2022 NWSL Championship. Audi Field — home of the Washington Spirit — is hosting this year’s NWSL Final. See below for a preview of the game, details on how to watch, NWSL Championship history, and what’s at stake for both teams.
RECAP: Portland wins 2022 NWSL Championship, MVP Smith scores game winner
How to watch the 2022 NWSL Championship
For the first time ever, the 2022 NWSL Championship will air in primetime on network TV. Kickoff is set for 8pm ET on CBS. Fans can also livestream the game on Paramount+.
You know what time it is… 😏
YOUR CHAMPIONSHIP STARTING XI ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/kjI5vNE3vz
— Portland Thorns FC (@ThornsFC) October 29, 2022
Kansas City’s Championship XI.#CurrentRising pic.twitter.com/HYDqDKy39D
— KC Current (@thekccurrent) October 29, 2022
The Portland Thorns and Kansas City Current met twice in the regular season. Portland won the first game — the regular-season opener — 3-0, while the two teams drew 1-1 in their most recent meeting (September 18).
“We are a different team now than we were then,” Kansas City defender Alex Loera told On Her Turf. “I think the whole group is just like, ‘Why not us? Why can’t we be the ones to win it all? We’re here.’ I think everyone knows we have such a great opportunity in front of us.”
Portland Thorns: While Portland just missed out on the NWSL Shield, the team earned a bye to the NWSL Semifinals as the No. 2 seed. The Thorns qualified for the NWSL Final by winning last week’s semifinal against the San Diego Wave, 2-1, with Crystal Dunn scoring the game-winner in stoppage time.
Kansas City Current: After finishing last in 2021, Kansas City had a slow start to the 2022 regular season, going winless in their first five games. They then went on a 13-game undefeated streak, the second-longest in NWSL history, and qualified for the NWSL Playoffs as the No. 5 seed.
To reach the NWSL Final, Kansas City had to win back-to-back away games. In the quarterfinal round, the Current defeated the Houston Dash, 2-1, with a thrilling stoppage time goal from Kate del Fava. They extended their historic playoff run with a 2-0 semifinal win vs. the OL Reign, with Alex Loera and Kristen Hamilton tallying goals.
“I think we headed to every year expecting to play in this (NWSL Championship) game tomorrow, expecting to be challenging for the Shield. But the thing about this team is — those young players that have come in, whether they’re rookies, whether it’s their second or third year — they’ve had such an impact on this team and have a unique combination of experience and youth. It’s a joy to go to work every day and be around this team and how tight we have become over the course of the season. It’s an exciting group and definitely one of the most talented ones I’ve ever been a part of, but we have one more game to go.”
“In preseason, I kept saying, ‘Something feels different’… We went to Florida for a month and within the first couple days, I just had this feeling, for me, something’s very different about this season.”
“I think when you go into a championship match, everything’s so heightened and there’s so many extra things that are happening around the squad. As a veteran player, it’s kind of (my job) to bring us back to play soccer. We all know how to do this job. We’ve been doing it all season and obviously we’ve done it well enough to get to this point.”
“Obviously, coming off a not-so-great season previously, I think a lot of people wouldn’t have thought that we could get here. But as the season continued… I think that belief continued to grow with our winning streaks happening, just the way we were playing … We thought we can get here and here we are.”
“We’ve both been fortunate to play in some pretty big games in our careers and this added exposure is exactly what the women’s game needs… I was fortunate to play in the first championship game and I think — outside of the people in Portland — no one knew that the game was happening. So I’d say it’s what this league, it’s what us as players deserve. This, women’s sports, in general, all they need is a chance. People will watch, people will come if given the opportunity to do so. For this game to be on primetime — on a major network — it’s just going to continue to grow the game to continue to inspire those youngsters watching. I’m a firm believer that young kids need to be able to see to believe that it can happen.”
Follow Alex Azzi on Twitter @AlexAzziNBC