Ovalle’s golazo, Puerto Rico comeback, among top moments

MIAMI, Florida – The 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup group stage reached its conclusion on Wednesday night, as teams now start to turn their attention to the knockout round.

However, before doing that, here is a look back at the top moments from the group stage.

Ovalle’s ‘golazo’ sparks Mexico's historic win

It is fitting that in this groundbreaking, first-ever W Gold Cup, there would be a history-making result. That’s what happened in the Group A finale between Mexico and the United States in which Mexico registered a 2-0 win against the four-time Women’s World Cup champions.

At the heart of it was Mexico’s Jacqueline Ovalle, who scored an absolute ‘golazo’ for Mexico’s opener by rounding U.S. GK Alyssa Naeher and chipping over two U.S. defenders and into net, evoking memories of another famous chip in Mexican football history against the U.S., that of Giovani dos Santos in the Final of the 2011 Concacaf Gold Cup.

Mexico never looked back and added a late second goal to snap their streak of 16 straight losses against the U.S. and their first win versus their northern neighbors since 2010.

Perfect group stages for Canada and Brazil

Group B and Group C saw Brazil and Canada, respectively, deliver breathtaking performances in the group stage, each finishing with three wins from three matches and no goals conceded. Brazil edged Puerto Rico 1-0 in their opener, followed by another narrow 1-0 win against Colombia, before breaking out for a five-goal haul against Panama in their group finale, 5-0.

Canada were in control of Group C from the start, defeating El Salvador 6-0, followed by a 4-0 triumph over Paraguay. Canada then completed their dream group stage campaign with a 3-0 victory against Costa Rica to outscore opponents 13-0, making them the highest-scoring team in the tournament thus far.

Puerto Rico rallies for late win vs. Panama

Women’s football in Puerto Rico is growing by the day. The various Youth National Teams from the country have enjoyed success in recent years in Concacaf competition, and now the Senior Team made a big impression in this W Gold Cup. After eliminating 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup side Haiti in the Prelims, Puerto Rico then earned their first group stage victory in dramatic fashion.

In their second match in Group B, the Boricuas found themselves down 1-0 to Panama going into the final 20 minutes, but a goal in the 73’ from Madison Cox brought them level. Just when it looked like things would end in a draw, Danielle Marcano scored in the 90+3’ to give Puerto Rico a most dramatic comeback win.

Leon notches milestone hat-trick vs. Paraguay

The first hat-trick in W Gold Cup history was produced by Canada’s Adriana Leon, who led all players in scoring in the group stage with five goals. Her three scores came in just 33 minutes of action.

Her first goal came in the 25’ when she was well-positioned in front of net and volleyed home a right-footed shot. Leon was back at it in the 49’ by getting a touch on a ball that was pinballing around the area and guiding it into net. She then finished the hat-trick in the 57’ in style with a right-footed rocket into the top right corner of net.