After this summer’s European Championships, here are the squads the USA women’s team needs to worry about

This past weekend wrapped up a record-breaking summer for women’s soccer in Europe. England played exceptional host to the 2022 UEFA Women’s Euro, breaking several records (attendance, viewership, goal tallies) for the historic event and taking home the trophy along the way. The country has seen an unprecedented eruption of celebration and excitement in the days since.

Fans of the women’s game have a lot to look forward to now. The attention, promotion, and quality on display surpassed all the Women’s Euro tournaments gone before, and that success appears likely to build. Interest and investment is projected to continue growing for women’s soccer in the sport’s most competitive region. In turn, that will impact growth in other regions.

But now that the Euro trophy has been lifted over Europe, all eyes turn to next summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, where the momentum generated this summer takes the ultimate global stage. The crème de la crème of the sports worldwide convenes Down Under in just 12 months. The competition is assured to be fiercer than ever before. Rest assured, when the teams arrive there, all competing hearts will be out to dislodge the reigning champions from the perch they’ve held since 2015.

» READ MORE: U.S. women’s soccer team qualifies for 2023 World Cup

The team the others are targeting is the world’s most successful women’s soccer team of all time and currently is ranked No. 1 in the world, regardless of England’s current glory. It is, of course, the United States.

So, which teams should the Americans have their eyes on? Also, do the U.S. players really have anything to fear?

Fans of the women’s game have been banging the Spanish drum for a while now. The enthusiasm of their fan base is impossible to resist. Spain has professionalized the domestic game at an incredible pace and its crown jewel, Barcelona, which basically is the national team, is a dominant joy to watch.

But Spain has fallen short of expectations in recent major tournaments. Lyon brushed Barcelona aside in the Champions League this May. La Roja lost to England in this summer’s quarterfinal. And, for what it’s worth, Spain lost to the United States in the Round of 16 the last World Cup in France.

But accelerated interest and investment keeps growing stronger in Spain. The Spaniards have a strong national identity surrounding their team, which solidifies their style and builds cohesion. Again, they all play together at the same club. Losing to the eventual victors this summer and in 2019 in France are profoundly respectable departures. Spain also was the team that came closest to dislodging both teams from their championship marches.

Add to all that the fact that, because of injuries, Spain was missing two of its biggest stars this July — Jenni Hermoso and Alexia Putellas — and United States may want to to keep close tabs on Spain.

Sweden is a team brimming in historic beef with Team USA. Whether launching a subpar Tokyo Olympic performance in falling to the Swedes, 3-0, or departing the previous Olympics in Brazil, ousted by Swedish penalties, the USWNT has learned the hard way how tough Sweden can be to beat. Sweden is a team that has proven multiple times capable of stinging the most frequent world champion exactly where it hurts.

True, Sweden was inconsistent this tournament. The Swedes lacked lethality in finishing their chances, nearly lost to tournament underdog Belgium, and crumbled before the hosts, 4-0, in the semifinal at Bramall Lane. But with a long-established domestic league, Sweden’s depth of talent remains among the strongest in the game. Kosovare Asllani is a mastermind going forward, joined in the attack by absolute game changers like Fridolina Rolfo and Stina Blackstenius. Their shots on goal and chance creation eclipsed nearly every other team present this summer. When the players start to convert those chances into goals, they’ll be nearly impossible to stop.

The Germans play an up-tempo, pressing and counterattacking style of soccer that can be as suffocating for their opposition as it is fun to watch. Alexandra Popp easily was the most dangerous striker in this tournament. Her ruthless finishing in front of goal had her tied with Golden Boot recipient Beth Mead for goals (each with six), but she fell short of the trophy on tally of assists. Had she not suffered a muscular injury minutes before the final, the result may have gone a very different way.

Behind Popp, a midfield as formidable as any in the game resides ready to punish any other team’s flummox, led by the masterful machinations of Lena Oberdorf and flanked by Lina Magull and Sara Däbritz. Fully healthy, this is a team that can defeat absolutely anybody. The Germans easily are the most decorated national team behind the United States, and, come next summer, they’ll be sure to make a terrifying run toward adding another World Cup star.

The inevitability of England’s victory this summer felt reminiscent to me only of the United States itself in the last World Cup. England’s path felt nearly assured, and not simply because of depth of talent or deftness of management, but because of its confidence, mentality, and will.

This easily is the most talented England squad yet. That is testament to the hard work put in over the past decade to invest in the game and shift mentalities about “who football is for” in the place its fans assure the world the sport calls home. With England’s first major trophy secured, “football is finally home,” and the excitement is everywhere.

England is a team with momentum on its side now. It will be thirsty for revenge against the “Yanks” who have dominated their sport on the women’s end for so long, knocking England out of the last World Cup in thesemifinal.

USA vs. England in the next World Cup is a matchup the narrative gods only could dream of, and sporting gods willing, we could get our wish. In the meantime, though, England and the U.S. announced Tuesday they’ll face off in a friendly Oct. 7 at Wembley Stadium this in London. (The Washington Post reported that U.S. Soccer also is in negotiations with Spain for a game there on Oct. 10.)

» READ MORE: Alex Morgan is ready to remind the world what she’s got in World Cup and Olympics qualifying

The U.S. team is in an era of rebuilding, migrating between generations and developing its squad as it launches an ambitious campaign to win three consecutive FIFA World Cup championships next year. The Americans would be the first team to ever do so. No matter the development of the game in Europe, the threat of the teams mentioned above or others — a list that could include France, the Netherlands, Brazil, or Australia for that matter — there is a strong feeling that the United States really might find its way to that historicachievement and be the squad lifting the trophy Down Under.

It will be a battle among the toughest ever competition to do so, though. There will be trials and pitfalls along the way before the Americans get there — trials that would be necessary in their evolution toward an even more historic success. All the teams still have 12 months of development left to see who is strongest before the tournament starts. For a select few teams, the trophy is there for the taking. Let the race begin.