re: Is the US Womens "dominance" only because the WC hasn't been around long?

We haven't won it since 99, but we've won 3 straight gold medals, and you know the Olympics mean something in women's soccer and isn't a glorified U-23 tournament. And we've finished no worse than third in any World Cup and won the Algarve Cup multiple times since then.

Despite the narrative spun by guys on Deadspin and elsewhere, the USWNT is very successful. The biggest problem was simply Ellis deferring to Wambach and playing her more than 15 minutes a game. We really were going 10 on 11 for long stretches of the early games.

I assume she will not be around for 2016, and that gives the US an excellent group of 16 players, with incredible depth at wing, fullback, and forward. DCM will continue to be our biggest problem, but Brian seems up to the task in her finesse-based style.