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USWNT stars shine in year-ending win against Canada

The U.S. Women’s National Team ended 2017 on a high, collecting a 3-1 victory in its final match of the year, against rivals Canada on Sunday at Avaya Stadium.

Julie Ertz opened the scoring just 11 minutes into the match. As has been the case for all of her 14 international goals, she scored from a set piece, easily heading in Megan Rapinoe’s corner at the near post.

Canada came out quickly in the second half, grabbing their goal five minutes after the break. A classic counterattack was responsible for the Canadians’ goal, which Janine Beckie scored.

The home side responded well, though, scoring another to go ahead, courtesy of Alex Morgan. The 56th-minute strike came as Christen Press won the ball close to the penalty area, and found Morgan running towards goal. From close range, the forward finished for her 80th international goal.

The deal was sealed in the 80th minute, with substitute Carli Lloyd scoring her first international goal since April. Rapinoe sent a cross into the box, which found Morgan’s head. The header got enough power on it to find Lloyd in front of goal, and the team’s co-captain finished off the game.

Sunday night’s victory proved to be a strong response to Thursday’s draw at BC Place, in which Canada was frequently on the front foot. Though it was not perfect for the U.S. team, they managed to dominate the match, particularly in the opening 25 minutes, when Ertz scored her goal.

The USWNT continues on its unbeaten streak against Canada, which has not beaten the Americans in more than 30 tries. The reigning world champions end the year with their 12th victory in 16 matches, remaining unbeaten in their last eight.

Comments

  1. That was a good effort from the USWNT considering there wasn’t anything at stake except pride. Also there were at least 6 missing from the Olympic Team Roster. Moving Julie Johnston Ertz up to mid-field continues to pay dividends for the U. S. That header she scored on was as deft a touch as anything I have seen since the days of Bobby Charlton.
    Megan Rapinoe continues to be a tower of strength out at left wing. Having bigger players
    at midfield is beginning to show some dividends. Canada is as physical a team as Sweden
    and Iceland, if not more, and in Sunday’s match, the U. S. was not pushed around as it
    was in the first match. I would like to see the U. S. and Canada have more of the “Can-Am”
    Series before meaningful tournaments, so that they will be ready for anything. I can never
    remember Canada getting blown out by anyone. They play every team in the world tough.
    Only downside of the U. S. performance was the goal given up, where 2 defenders without
    the ball were out-run by a forward with the ball. I didn’t get a good look at who our defenders were, but that was a definite liability on a back line which has been one of the team’s strengths for at least 5 years. The entire Women’s Program in the Americas now needs to have a tournament in 2018 like the Gold Cup, so that there is more for some of the
    better teams to do than wait around for the W/C Qualifying, which is pretty much a done
    deal before the tournament even starts.

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