In any sport, the top ranked team comes into a tournament with a bullseye on its back. (How often does the regular season #1 win the NCAA men's basketball tournament?) Germany is the only team to have repeated as a WWC champion. I'd love to see the U.S. win. But the odds are not with them. It would be a tremendous achievement to play through.
Women's soccer is much healthier internationally than men's soccer (on the field, not financially or in terms of fan support). Men's soccer is pretty much all Europe with an honorable but increasingly dated argument from Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Women's soccer is much more diversified, with a lot of terrific teams in Europe, a solid representation from Asia, plus Canada and the U.S. in the Americas.
The U.S. is the top program in terms of historical results, but parity is the reality today. Go USA.
We’ll know much better how we stand after Sweden.
Till then I hope we don’t score too many goals because I am a big Law of Averages type of person.