It is the ultimate countdown.
Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and the U.S. girls’s nationwide basketball workforce will defend its dynasty in Berlin on Sunday in a World Cup championship in opposition to France.
However this weekend, the pursuit of gold carries a distinctly heavier, and distinctly American, weight.
Taking the court docket on the twenty fifth anniversary weekend of the September 11 terrorist assaults, head coach Kara Lawson is not simply seeking to defend a historic 35-game World Cup profitable streak.
“And so far as unity, I feel unity is not only unique to the ladies’s basketball group,” Lawson stated. “I feel it’s unity for our nation as nicely. I feel our workforce hopefully is creating unity throughout our nation. Individuals being proud about how we play and the way we symbolize the purple, white and blue.”
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Caitlin Clark and USA head coach Kara Lawson are seen in the course of the FIBA Girls’s Basketball World Cup 2026 quarterfinals match between america and Hungary in Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2026. (NurPhoto through Getty Photographs)
The French stand in the way in which of that hope.
France enters Sunday’s championship undefeated. They only dismantled host-nation Germany 86-64 within the semifinals and jumped the U.S. for the highest spot in FIBA’s energy rankings heading into the ultimate stage.
The French are additionally out for revenge.
Sunday marks a direct rematch of the unforgettable 2024 Olympic gold-medal thriller—a sport the People narrowly escaped 67-66 solely as a result of French star Gabby Williams’ toe grazed the 3-point line as time expired.
CAITLIN CLARK, ANGEL REESE SHOW UNITY FOR TEAM USA AT WORLD CUP AMID TENSE HISTORY
The ‘younger and turnt’ crew
Caitlin Clark #12 excessive fives Angel Reese #15 of the USA Basketball Girls’s Nationwide Staff throughout a sport in opposition to Hungary on Sept. 10, 2026, at Berlin Area in Berlin, Germany. (NBAE through Getty Photographs)
American girls’s basketball followers have been captivated by the surreal imagery of watching Clark and Reese play collectively as teammates on this World Cup.
Within the workforce’s dominant 108-56 quarterfinal blowout in opposition to Hungary, the pair checked in collectively and fully overwhelmed the Hungarian protection, combining for 19 factors and highlighting their rising on-court connection.
They’ve come collectively after three years as the game’s greatest rivals, with legions of followers which might be usually at one another’s throats on social media. However now, the duo and their followers are on the identical facet, supporting America.
“We’ve performed in opposition to one another so many instances, so I’m certain we all know one another’s sport just like the again of one another’s hand,” Reese advised TNT Sports activities on Thursday after a win over Hungary. “She dishes it off to me, I acquired one to her immediately, so, it’s enjoyable. We simply proceed to construct chemistry as a result of we all know we’re going to be USA teammates for some time.”
Clark advised The Related Press earlier than the quarterfinals, “We’re each fiery, fiery opponents and we wish to win and it is one of many issues I actually admire about [Reese’s] sport. She’s aggressive and she or he has an incredible motor, like she has the most effective motors within the league. She works simply as arduous as anyone on the court docket.”
Their emotional funding has been on show in a pair of clips captured by X person Michal Caro.
Throughout their blowout win over Hungary, Reese and Clark had been seen chatting and laughing whereas sitting on the bench.
Then, throughout a tense dogfight in opposition to Spain within the semifinal, the duo was seen sharing frustration and anxious expressions on the bench.
Clark and Reese spotlight the group nicknamed the “younger and turnt” crew, which has turn out to be a fan favourite time period for People this World Cup. The nickname originated from fellow younger teammate Paige Bueckers, who coined the time period throughout a USA Basketball coaching camp in December 2025.
However their youth additionally earned them a spot outdoors of the workforce’s beginning lineup, as Reese, Clark and Bueckers, have all come off the bench within the U.S.’s 5 video games thus far. Lawson has remained dedicated to beginning the veterans for the U.S.’s World Cup run, sparking debate amongst followers amongst social media.
Nonetheless, Lawson has additionally recommended she could be open to adjusting the lineup.
“I feel that our beginning group’s finished a fairly good job of getting us off to good begins, and rotationally from sport to sport we might change issues, however I like the place we’re proper now,” Lawson stated Wednesday earlier than the quarterfinal.
The French’s hopeful revolution
France’s key gamers view Staff USA as summer season teammates, exercise companions and every day WNBA rivals.
Marine Johannès, a New York Liberty participant, has spent years sharing a locker room and taking part in alongside Staff USA veteran chief and Liberty teammate Breanna Stewart.
Johannès was prepared and anticipating to tackle the U.S. within the championship earlier than the People had even punched their ticket to the ultimate.
“If I am trustworthy, we now have nothing to lose. We truly know they’re a fantastic workforce. They received each World Cup for years and years. They’re actually proficient. Everyone knows that. We’re taking part in with these gamers all season within the W, we all know how good they’re,” Johannès advised reporters after her workforce defeated Germany within the semifinal, hours earlier than the U.S. took the court docket in opposition to Spain. “It is one sport. Nothing to lose. We’re going to play arduous, and we’ll see what occurs.”
France’s star, Williams enters Sunday’s closing taking part in among the most dominant basketball of her profession. Within the semifinals, Williams helped orchestrate France’s commanding 86-64 blowout of host-nation Germany, fully silencing a raucous, high-energy dwelling crowd in Berlin.
“I have been via fairly just a few moments like that. I do know what that sort of strain is like,” Williams stated. “I do know what’s wanted in these moments.”
Born in Nevada, Williams got here up via America’s premier girls’s basketball establishment, UConn, the place she received two nationwide championships and shared the ground for years with present U.S. star Napheesa Collier.
Her time within the WNBA has given her hands-on expertise defending and scoring in opposition to nearly each participant on the American roster. For Williams, going through Staff USA is not a showdown in opposition to an unfamiliar juggernaut, however a chance to settle a rating with gamers she has grown up alongside after Olympic heartbreak in 2024.
A nation and sport on edge
For all of the tactical matchups on the court docket, Sunday’s championship carries a distinctly heavier cultural weight in a extremely polarized calendar yr for girls’s basketball—and for america in a heated midterm yr.
The WNBA season that preceded this World Cup break was outlined by tribalism. Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas punched Clark within the throat, prompting a suspension and overwhelming backlash from Clark’s massive passionate fan base. Toronto Tempo coach Sandy Brondello was suspended after calling Reese a “protected species” igniting much more race-related discourse on social media.
Then got here the Sophie Cunningham rallies and a nationwide phenomenon over the incursion of the “Save Girls’s Sports activities” motion into the WNBA.
Tensions escalated when Chicago Sky participant DiJonai Carrington was ejected for hitting Cunningham and subsequently sparked a racial controversy by posting about “white privilege” on social media.
The friction spilled straight into the stands when former NBA participant Enes Kanter Freedom, who was attending a sport to publicly help Cunningham, was ejected from the sector following a heated courtside confrontation with Chicago guard Natasha Cloud.
After which it was introduced that WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert could be retiring on the finish of the yr, signaling a necessity extra change within the WNBA shifting ahead.
However now because the event has progressed, People who might have discovered themselves on reverse sides of the Clark-Reese debate at the moment are collectively lobbying for the 2 stars to begin collectively, and the intrigue has led to record-breaking TV scores for the FIBA World Cup.
Based on TNT Sports activities U.S., the USA-Italy sport averaged 1.3 million viewers and peaked at 1.7 million. The USA-Czechia sport averaged 1.2 million viewers, peaking at 1.4 million, whereas the USA-China opener averaged 577,000 and peaked at 694,000.
And on the coronary heart of Staff USA’s mission is unapologetic patriotism.
Stewart, who has been representing the nation internationally since she was 14 years outdated, emphasised that setting apart rivalries to placed on the American jersey stays the final word honor.
“It feels nice. I feel that any time I can symbolize Staff USA I wish to,” Stewart stated forward of the knockout rounds. “I’ve had the unbelievable alternative of having the ability to do it for a very long time and since I used to be actually younger, and each time I get the decision I wish to present up.”
OutKick can verify that the whole Staff USA roster has stood proudly for the nationwide anthem forward of the quarterfinal and semifinal video games.
The timing of the ultimate, happening the identical weekend because the twenty fifth anniversary of 9/11, was felt by Lawson and her gamers.
Lawson famous that she closely felt the somber weight of the second all the way in which in Berlin, and hopes a gold-medal end can supply a second of therapeutic for People again dwelling.
“I feel, you recognize, being part of USA Basketball for therefore lengthy, there’s a fantastic pleasure in it,” Lawson stated. “I imply, from after I was 17 years outdated till now, being part of it in several capacities, you recognize, I feel—I don’t know if there’s anybody prouder to symbolize the U.S. than I’m on this capability.
“And so we take into consideration that. And I felt the presence of the U.S. right here, regardless that we’re in Europe. I felt it, and positively felt it yesterday in 9/11 and, you recognize, a somber anniversary.”
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When the ball ideas off in Berlin in opposition to France, Staff USA can be preventing to guard a 35-game World Cup profitable streak and a multi-decade basketball empire. However extra importantly, they are going to be taking part in for a divided nation tuning in again dwelling, hoping to supply an undisputed second of American greatness.
