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USWNT 2, New Zealand 1: Match Highlights

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Photo by John Todd/ISIphotos.com

After coming off a dominant run through CONCACAF Olympic qualifying, the U.S. women's national team had its hands full Saturday night with New Zealand before rising star Alex Morgan came to the rescue.

Morgan scored in the 88th minute and again in stoppage time to help the U.S. women prevail by a 2-1 scoreline and avoid a letdown prior to the Algarve Cup, which kicks off later this month. The friendly, which was played in front of a sellout crowd of 20,667 at FC Dallas Stadium, was notable for another reason as well, as captain Christie Rampone notched her 250th cap to become the fourth U.S. player to reach that milestone.

Highlights from the match after after the jump. Enjoy:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4acuNc52es]

Comments

  1. You are probably not aware of this (I, too, was at the game), but voices get severely lost in wind. The way the stadium is designed, your voice WILL get lost. It’s a fact. Now, Portland, of course, is PORTLAND. It’s a bigger soccer city, so they’ll be louder. Considering Texas is more of an American football state, they did pretty well on their own. (Besides, I’m pretty sure that about 75% of the people were bandwagon fans.)

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  2. I was with you in those three rows. One of the best games I have ever supported. It was bitter cold for being in Texas and I can’t imagine how the same old kiwi’s always cheating felt. Rapinoe was the spark they so needed,once she came in it was a different game.

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  3. The crowds at US womens games really are extra lame in terms of US soccer crowds. That last womens game we went to, we tried and tried to get the crowd chanting. Then we resorted to trying to get them cheering. Finally my buddies went down to the first of several rows and tried to get the wave going. Nothing caught on. How these people dont realize that our women deserve better is beyond me.

    On the flip side the Canadian fans at olympic qualifying has some rowdy fans with nothing but lewd comments for Hope Solo and our other girls so maybe silence is bettter. I happen to believe the chanting should be a little bit more tame and respectful with the women than it is for the men. They arent making the big bucks after all.

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  4. Injured her R quad(s) in the CONCACAF tournament – the last three games of the tournament she played – but heavily favored her R leg – i.e. no live ball clearances with the right foot, no dead ball or drop kick clearances with the right foot – a lot of diagonal and square passes with the L foot, some with the R foot, gee-ingerly though, and lots of arm passes, overhand long, or underhand rolled out to wing backs. Nursing a R quad injury, that.

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  5. I was at the game and in one of the three rows of fans who actually cheered for more than the last 5 minutes of the game. I’ve been in louder libraries. 20,677 people can make an awful lot of quiet. We spent most of the first half being yelled at by angry soccer moms in spite of the fact that the most offensive thing we did was stand. Even if it was “sold out” there were plenty of empty seats around the stadium which thankfully the soccer moms moved to for the second half. Some of the kids in the crowd were starting to sing and cheer with us towards the end, so hopefully there will be more fans coming up in this generation who will cheer for their team before the goals go in! Had a really good time as always even with the wind in our face and freezing temps.

    As for the game, the US had more possession, but never really created much in the way of scoring opportunities or when they did they hit it straight at the keeper. NZ was looking for counterattacks and nearly got thru on a few of them. The US looked like they were still expecting another game of the caliber of their Olympic Qualifiers. When Rapinoe came on the US attack looked much more dynamic and that showed with the goals.

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  6. Yeah, I saw that too. I think she is nursing an injury, which she may or may not have felt during the game. After practice on Friday, she had a bag of ice taped to her leg. So maybe she played in 1H for the crowd (she is clearly at least tied Wambach in the heards of the fans), and the staff opted to play it safe in 2H.

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  7. Was she injured? I read somewhere (US website I think) that because it was a friendly the decision had been made before the game to have each keeper play 45 minutes each.

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  8. I’ve been questioning the wisdom of not starting Alex Morgan for quite a while, but after watching this dominant performance, I think the coach no longer has any excuses for not starting her. All prior excuses (youth, stamina, uncertainty of how she might handle the starter role) have been answered.

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  9. meh. the only thing you could niggle with is the fact that Solo stopped rather than continuing to run out, but she new she beat to the ball.

    Either way that back pass was poor. It happens.

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  10. Great win. I was streaming the game at work. And stayed a good 20 minutes after I was off just to finish the game. I felt that they were going to score, and once they tied it, I just new they would go for the win. Alex Morgan and Wamback up top play very well together. They find create chances for themselves. Can’t wait for their rematch against Japan. I hope USSOCCER continues to stream games.

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  11. I expected to see a different set of Highlights after the description. They dominated that game but couldn’t finish. Way to pull it out

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