Photo by Jerry Lal/USA TODAY Sports
By CAITLIN MURRAY
It was a good night for the U.S. Women’s National Team on Friday as they regained their form and cruised past Guatemala, 5-0, in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying in Chicago.
But depending on the upcoming diagnosis of an Alex Morgan injury in the first half, it could end up being a bad night after all.
Racing toward goal shoulder-to-shoulder with defender Londy Barrios in the 38th minute, Morgan was tripped up and rolled her left ankle, the same ankle that sidelined her for seven months late last year and into this year as Morgan slowly recovered from a stress fracture.
The star striker had to be stretchered off and substituted. Morgan was reportedly seen using crutches after the match and told reporters her ankle felt better, but a scan was planned for Saturday.
After a surprisingly difficult World Cup qualifying opener against Trinidad & Tobago two days earlier, the USWNT were eager to return to their usual dominant form. A 5-0 win over Guatemala is a step in the right direction, but certainly not the 13-0 win the USWNT recorded for Olympic qualifying in 2012, a year they went onto win the gold medal.
Tobin Heath served as the unlikely leader for the Americans on Friday, leading a second-half push and tallying a brace that included a nifty back heel goal destined for highlight reels.
In the 57th minute, a Megan Rapinoe corner kick found the foot of Carli Lloyd, who volleyed it toward the goal area. At the far post, Heath let the ball bounce through her legs until flicking it from behind with the back of her foot into the net.
Heath opened scoring for the Americans just seven minutes into the match, poking a loose ball into net. The pair of goals marked Heath’s first brace with the USWNT.
Lloyd, Rapinoe and Whitney Engen each scored goals of their own in the second half after the USWNT mostly struggled for the first part of the match. The Americans had 21 shots overall to none by the Guatemalans, with the USWNT’s second half marking a turning point from poor form early in the tournament.
With the win, the Americans sit atop their group with six points and their road toward qualifying for the 2015 World Cup in Canada looks increasingly smooth.
The USWNT will finish group play against Haiti on Monday at 7:30 pm ET in Washington D.C., live on Fox Sports 1.
Here are the match highlights:
Misread the title….I was hoping that she was getting a statue in her honor put up by some town.
Overall a better effort than the first game. Lloyd, Rapinoe, and Heath were the standouts. In the first half, they settled way too much for kicking it wide and crossing it in. When they got away from that and started work a bit harder in the center, they were able to open things up more. Lloyd was a key contributor in making that happen.
Jack, while I agree that the 1st half was disjointed, I don’t see the future looking so bleak. There were some chances that didn’t make the scoresheet that would have with better referee work. Alex Morgan drew a stone cold penalty when blatantly shoved to the ground on a corner and Press had a goal called back for a very weak foul.
The fact is that the US created a whole pile of chances and finished some but not all of them. Interestingly, I’m a big fan of Leroux and was pleased with her work rate but she seemed to fall apart in the box. The narrow win over T&T looks a bit better now that they have beaten Haiti. We do not look at the top of our form right now but the flowing movement and passing in the 2nd half was quite impressive. Also, Tobin Heath coming in off the wings with the ball at her feet is one of the prettiest things in soccer. Brek Shea should take notes.
Nice.
We once again struggled offensively in the first half against a weak team. At the end of the half, it was 1-0 and while we had all the possession, we were getting few quality chances. In the second half, the USA looked a lot better and scored four goals. Rapinoe was easily the WOTM. She was everywhere and directly involved in many, if not all the US goals. Jill Ellis did a good job of managing minutes for her players and sat down some of the starters from the first game.
Questions still remain on why the US team, that is vastly more powerful than the first two opponents, has struggled so much to get on the board? Granted it is sometimes more difficult to score in a half field game where there is no counter attach but in this CONCACF WC qualifying, that will most likely be the case in most games so the USA needs to figure that out. One shutters to think what the result would be if we were facing Canada or Germany or other European powerhouses with this type of play.
I loved seeing Tobin Heath get a brace. Her ball skills are amazing, but she’s seldom in the right position to score. Leroux’s cutback and cross to Lloyd was top class as were many of Rapinoe’s passes. Overall, good job USWNT.