Photo by ISIphotos.com
By TRAVIS CLARK
All winning streaks have an end, and for the U.S. women's team, Tuesday night's 1-1 draw against Sweden in Omaha, Neb. ended a stretch of eight straight wins at home.
In what was the first of two friendlies this week against the fourth-ranked nation in women's soccer, Amy Rodriguez scored in the 44th minute to give the USA a 1-0 lead heading into the halftime break.
But as the game picked up in the second half, Sweden counter attacked after Rodriguez hit the crossbar with a header, and Linda Forsberg beat U.S. 'keeper Nicole Barnhart to tie the game. The goal was the first conceded by the U.S. on home soil since November 1, 2008, and when the U.S. couldn't respond, the winning streak was over. This despite out-shooting the Swedes 18-8 on the night.
The second match is scheduled for this Saturday, July 17 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn. CONCACAF qualification for the Women's World Cup in 2011 (to be held in Germany) is scheduled to begin later this year.
U-20 WOMEN OPEN WORLD CUP AGAINST GHANA
The U.S. women's U-20 will set out to accomplish what the men's team could not — defeat Ghana in a World Cup match. The African nation is the first group opponent as the Under 20 Women's World Cup kicks off in Germany, with the USA opening its campaign on Wednesday at 12:00 p.m.
The defending champions are led by high-scoring Sydney Leroux, who won the Golden Shoe and Golden Ball at the 2008 tournament in Chile, scoring five goals and leading the U.S. women to its second U-20 Women's championship. She scored 23 goals last year as a sophomore at UCLA, as the Bruins made it all the way to the Semifinals of the Women's College Cup.
Here's a complete look at the U.S. schedule:
July 14- USA vs. Ghana, 12:00 p.m., ESPNU/ESPN3.com
July 17- USA vs. Switzerland, 12:00 p.m., ESPNU/ESPN3.com
July 21- USA vs. Korea Republic, 12:00 p.m., ESPN2/ESPN3.com
What do you think of yesterday's result? Can the U.S. women U-20s repeat?
Share your thoughts below.
Have u compared Barnhart’s WPS stats to Hope’s lately? Think again! Also, ESPN used field shadow line technology to prove goal scorer was offsides…naughty ref!!
U.S. didn’t look sharp especially the second half. Swedes had control of the ball much of the second half. The Swede goal was terrible. The Swedish player was well offside. U.S. is going to need to get these players on the same page; they aren’t there yet.
I watched off and on (there was some baseball game of interest going on too).
I thought the US tried to be too creative in the first half. And it was a bit alarming how many Sweden breakaways there were, three by my count, offside or not. Still, with the lineup tinkering going on, I’m not too concerned.
It was smart for them to play in a small stadium. The full crowd made for a good TV presentation.
Is that reason the same one that has her on a tear this season and second in the league with 7 goals? Just wondering.
You must not have tried real hard to find a link…on ESPNU and ESPN 3 or at US Soccer.Com’s match tracker:
http://matchtracker.ussoccer.com/?id=cc9039a1d1d14eb2b9e55d623376b3c9
got a link cant find any.
deja vue
USA goes down to Ghana early.
The above picture is pertinent to my interests.
The scorer of Sweden’s goal yesterday was WAY offside (replay showed it wasn’t even close) so good thing it was only a friendly. The US didn’t play well and had some problems at the back in the second half, but Pia Sunhage was trying new players, veteran players at new positions, and even played the backup goalkeeper. She is expanding the player pool, trying new talent from WPS, and experimented with different formations in the first and second half yesterday showing how intelligent she is as a coach. Hopefully we’ll be able to win the WC next year, but it will not be an easy task in Germany.
Re: the U20 WWC, the US team looks okay, but it is probably not the strongest team we’ve ever had with lots of injuries so who knows if a repeat is possible. Leroux is the Rossi of the Women’s game. The Canadians still talk about her to this day on various message boards for switching from Canada to the US but she wanted to win a World Cup one day so who can blame her?
I mean Swedes – LOL
If Hope Solo had been playing the Swiss would have never scored the equalizer.
I watched the match…very poor display in the final 10-15 min by the US. Amy Rodriguez is painful to watch…not a very smart player. It’s sad that people consider speed as being good…there is a reason why she got benched on the Breakers and then traded at the first opportunity.
I watched about half of it. US was a little schizophrenic- going from periods of controlling the ball and passing to playing a little out of control.
Second half Swedish keeper was shaky- should have capitalized.
I’m gonna fess up and admit that I didn’t see the match (I hope to catch a replay).
The result is an ok one. After seeing the match then I will have a better idea about the performance.
I am really happy about the fact that we are playing the likes of Sweden and Germany in friendlies as opposed to playing Mexico or Canada for the umpteenth time.
No disrespcet to either of our neighbors but a game against an elite European side is a better litmus test for our team than seeing our neighbors, yet again. And again. And again.
It’s not a knock on their play. It’s just that we’ve seen them so many times that I am not sure how much we really learn about ourselves when we play them. And the number of times that we played Mexico was way too many. I’m niot even sure that the hardcore fans were caring after the first couple of games.
wE WILL WIN BOTH CUPS, the senior womens world cup and U20’S WC.