SI:AM | A Stunning Loss for the USWNT

Plus, the blown call that decided Knicks-Pistons.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. It felt great having the New York Yankees on the TV in the background again while I worked yesterday.

In today’s SI:AM:

🧑‍💻 Thank you, Peter King

💥 The bold move the Vikings should make

📝 MLB extension candidates

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Dos a cero

The men’s soccer rivalry between the United States and Mexico is among the best in the sport, with El Tri holding a slight edge in the series (36 wins for Mexico, 23 wins for the U.S., 17 draws). The women’s version of the rivalry, though, has been decidedly one-sided. Before last night’s Concacaf W Gold Cup match, the USWNT and La Tri had played 42 times. Mexico had only won once.

Well, make it twice now. Mexico won last night’s game, 2–0, to earn its first win over the U.S. since November 2010. The U.S. held the majority of the possession, but Mexico was the more threatening team, getting off 13 shot attempts to nine for the Americans. La Tri was also awarded nine corner kicks, compared to just one for the U.S.

“We just didn’t play nearly our best,” Alex Morgan said. “We found some pockets here and there, but not nearly enough. Didn’t execute on the chances we had. I don’t think we tested the goalkeeper, I think we got broken down way too easily.”

The game was the final match of the group stage for both teams and cemented Mexico as the winner of the group. The U.S. will still advance to the knockout stage, though, by virtue of having finished second in the group. Knockout stage matchups will be set after the group stage concludes tomorrow night.

While the U.S. is still alive in the tournament and could very well end up winning its 18th major championship, the loss was a stark reminder of the team’s current standing in the world. The days of the USWNT being a dominant global force are over. The gap between it and the rest of the world has grown significantly more narrow. We saw that at last year’s World Cup, when the U.S. won just one game (3–0 over Vietnam) en route to a shocking round of 16 exit.

“I think it just shows how far the game is coming and there’s no easy games anymore,” USWNT interim coach Twila Kilgore said last night. “And if we don't take care of business and we don’t execute, this is to be expected. We’ll step up and take ownership in that, and I think anytime you have a group that is willing to take ownership in things like this, it’s a good thing for the future of the tournament.”

It’s important to put results like this in perspective, though. The USWNT is still among the best national sides in the world, currently second in the FIFA rankings behind World Cup champion Spain. Last night’s loss was the team’s first regulation loss in a non-friendly since August 2021 in the Olympic semifinals against Canada. The USWNT these days is more like Alabama under Nick Saban (world-class, but capable of occasionally being upset) than UCLA under John Wooden (almost literally unbeatable). And that’s a great position to be in, but it’ll take some time to get used to thinking of the USWNT as anything less than invincible. With the Olympics just five months away, a gold medal is a possibility but far from a certainty.

The best of Sports Illustrated

John Iacono/Sports Illustrated

• Albert Breer paid tribute to longtime SI writer Peter King, who is retiring after more than four decades covering the NFL.
• Conor Orr argues that trading Justin Jefferson may be the only way for the Vikings to break out of their cycle of mediocrity.
• Tom Verducci has a list of the MLB players most likely to get contract extensions before Opening Day.
• In his latest Forde Minutes, Pat Forde weighs in on court storming, teams on the bubble and more.
• The Knicks escaped with a close win over the Pistons last night, thanks in large part to a blown call that the referee admitted later was wrong.
• Purdue’s Zach Edey will not use his fifth year of college eligibility and will turn pro after this season. 
• UMass will join the MAC next year as a full member, ending its run as an FBS independent.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Drake Batherson’s patience to score after a frantic scramble for the puck.

4. Shane Pinto’s impressive backhand deflection.

3. Antavion Collum’s game-winning three for McNeese State against Lamar. The Cowboys improved to 25–3 with the win.

2. The wacky conclusion to the Pistons-Knicks game.

1. The even more chaotic finish to the Philadelphia Catholic League boys championship.

SIQ

On this day in 1999, which team became the last in Premier League history to field a starting lineup composed entirely of English players?

• Arsenal
• Aston Villa
• Sheffield Wednesday
• Leeds United

Yesterday’s SIQ: Thirty-five years ago this week, on the same day that he bought the team, new Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones fired coach Tom Landry, who had led the team for how many years?

• 18
• 23
• 29
• 34

Answer: 29. Landry, a former New York Giants safety, was hired as the Cowboys’ first head coach when the team joined the NFL in 1960. He compiled a record of 250–162–6, the fifth most wins of an NFL coach, and won two Super Bowls.

But when Jones bought the team from Bum Bright, he brought a new coach with him. Jones hired Jimmy Johnson, his old teammate and roommate from the University of Arkansas, who had been coaching the Miami Hurricanes. Immediately after completing his purchase of the franchise in a meeting with Bright in Dallas, Jones hopped in his private jet and flew to meet with Landry at his vacation home outside Austin. Here’s how Joe Nick Patoski described that meeting in a 2012 Texas Monthly article.

Jones introduced himself to Landry, informing him, “I’m here and so is Jimmy.” It was Jones’s clumsy way of saying Johnson was in and Landry was out.

“You could have saved your plane trip down here,” Landry replied. “You could have handled this whole thing a lot better. This whole thing is just a bunch of grandstand tactics. You could have saved your gas.” His blue eyes burned holes into the Arkansan’s skull. “You’ve taken my team away from me,” he said.

Just like that, Landry was gone. In April, after Jones made it clear that he’d be running the show, the team’s original general manager, Tex Schramm, resigned to complete Jones’s coup. For more on Jones’s takeover of the franchise and his decision to fire Landry, read this article by William Oscar Johnson from the March 6, 1989, issue of Sports Illustrated.