For years, Team USA has been the team everyone else in women’s basketball has tried to catch. However, following recent encounters, France’s Aminata Gueye believes the gap is no longer as intimidating as it once was. In fact, the Golden State Valkyries star is already predicting a major upset at the 2030 World Cup, insisting that the Americans are no longer invincible.
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“The barrier has been broken,” Gueye said, speaking on the popular French weekend sports debate radio show Les Grandes Gueules du Sport. “We’ve seen their real weaknesses and what could stop them. They’re no longer invincible like they used to be. In 2030, at the World Cup, we’ll beat them!”
Of course, the record still points to Team USA as the undisputed dominant force in women’s basketball. The Americans have won eight consecutive Olympic gold medals, dating back to the 1996 Atlanta Games. They have also not lost an Olympic game since 1992, maintaining an incredible 61-game Olympic winning streak.
With their victory in Berlin in September 2026, they have also now secured a fifth consecutive FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup title, following their triumphs in 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022. That brought their overall World Cup title count to 12.
In fact, with both competitions, Team USA’s dominance becomes even more remarkable. The Americans have remained undefeated in major tournament play since their defeat in the 2006 World Championship semifinals, extending their winning streak across the Olympics and World Cup to more than 70 consecutive games.
However, while Team USA has continued its historic winning streak, the margin of victory has shrunk significantly over the last couple of tournaments. Perhaps the clearest example came in the 2024 Paris Olympics final, when France came within inches of ending the Americans’ remarkable 61-game Olympic winning streak.
The United States narrowly survived that encounter with a 67-66 victory after Gabby Williams’ buzzer-beating attempt saw her foot land on the three-point line, meaning the shot counted for two points instead of three. Had Williams been a little further behind the line, her basket would have tied the game at 67-67 and forced a five-minute overtime period.
That near-upset was in fact, the major talking point ahead of the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup final in September. And for a while, it looked as though France might finally dethrone the Americans. The French side built a 14-point lead in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 45-43 advantage, putting Team USA under considerable pressure.
However, the Americans found a way to turn things around in the third quarter. Head coach Kara Lawson made defensive adjustments at halftime, and the difference was immediate. Gabby Williams, who torched the United States for 16 points in the first half, was scoreless in the third quarter and managed just four points throughout the entire second half. And then Team USA subsequently closed the third quarter with a commanding 73-57 lead before eventually securing a 97-79 victory.
France was, however, not the only national team to prove a formidable challenge for the Americans during the 2026 World Cup, either. Team USA also received a major scare from Italy during the group stage, narrowly escaping with a 55–52 victory in what turned out to be one of their toughest games of the tournament.
The Americans struggled considerably in that encounter, shooting a tournament-low 29% from the field and converting just one of their 12 attempts from beyond the three-point line. Their 55-point total was also their lowest in a World Cup game since 1971. Italy, meanwhile, even managed to take a 50–48 lead in the fourth quarter before late free throws and a clutch jumper from Chelsea Gray eventually sealed the narrow three-point victory for the United States.
With performances like these, it is becoming increasingly difficult to argue that the gap between Team USA and the other leading nations in women’s basketball remains as wide as it once was. France and Italy have both demonstrated that the Americans can be pushed to their limits, and more importantly, that their weaknesses can be identified and exploited.
For Gueye, 2030 seems to be the ultimate turning point where France will finally eclipse the Americans’ dominance and establish themselves as the new force in international women’s basketball. Will they?