The U.S. Women’s National Team wrapped up a two-match series against Mexico in entertaining fashion, recording a 6-2 victory on Sunday at BBVA Compass Stadium.
Once again, the first goal of the match came in its opening minutes and from Mallory Pugh. In the third minute, Megan Rapinoe found the 19-year-old just outside the penalty area. From there, Pugh managed to get around a Mexican defender to put her team up 1-0.
Mexico, however, was beginning to find opportunities, and by the 17th minute, the match was tied. On a corner, Monica Ocampo found herself in good space near goal, and with U.S. goalkeeper Jane Campbell poorly positioned, she fairly easily finished.
The thrilling nature of the first half continued, as Mexico ended up taking the lead only seven minutes later. Again on a corner, Kiana Palacios was unmarked in front of goal and, like Ocampo, benefitted from shoddy play on Campbell’s part and finished from close range.
The U.S., however, was not done yet, and found their own equalizer just a minute later. Fittingly, it was the result of more questionable defending on a set piece, this time Lindsey Horan capitalizing by scoring a header from close range.
In the 34th minute, the U.S. were back in the lead. After a bit of a scramble in the box that saw Alex Morgan miss from close range, team co-captain Carli Lloyd found herself near the goal to score her team’s third goal of the day. The goal was Lloyd’s 100th of her national team career.
The lively first half saw one final goal, as the U.S. began padding its lead. A minute before halftime, Rapinoe sent the ball along the goal line to Morgan. From there, the forward quickly put it away, putting an end to first half action.
The U.S. kept going in the second half, though at a much slower rate. Rapinoe grabbed a goal of her own in the 64th minute to make it 5-2, and in impressive fashion. Morgan was stopped by Mexican goalkeeper Cecilia Santiago, but the ball found Rapinoe further up the field. Knowing the goalkeeper was off her line, the American chipped it from distance to score.
Morgan wrapped up the scoring show in the 69th minute, grabbing her 12th goal in her last 13 international games. It was Rapinoe once again with the assist, as her corner kick found Morgan who was in front of goal again to finish.
The match, additionally, saw debuts for Haley Hanson, Tegan McGrady, and Hailie Mace, but on the opposite end, saw Morgan Brian and Horan come off with injuries.
The U. S. had an overall good effort against a Mexico Team that refused to go into a bunker
defense and pressed the U. S. all over the field. This, off course, gave the U. S. some chances for fast-breaks and through-balls, and we were able to capitalize on some of our
chances. The only weak link in the U. S. Team was at the goalkeeping position, where seldom used Jane Campbell made a blunder so bad, that she had some of the AYSO kids in the stands buzzing about it. Down 1-0, Mexico had a corner kick and the kick came in, curved so that it would go right into the hands of the GK standing on the goal line. However, Campbell retreated to the back of the goal netting where she positioned herself about 8 feet behind the goal line. So the corner kick came in and curved past where she was suppose to be and into the goal. What possessed her to take such a useless position out of the field of play will probably remain a mystery unless she makes a statement. However, on a subsequent corner kick 7 minutes later, she was in the correct position, but fell down so that a Mexico player moved into where she should have been standing and gently nodded the ball into the goal for a 2-1 lead. These events caused the commentators to sound off, saying among other things, “The U. S. should NEVER give up goals like those against a team like Mexico.” Jill Ellis must have also felt that way and pulled Campbell out of the match in the 2nd half.
Another sorry looking team member was Morgan Brian. While she went out with an injury in the 2nd half, she appears so physically inept on the field, one would question either her health or her physical conditioning. Its hard for me to believe that she was the #1 Draft Pick in the NWSL in 2015. Jill Ellis needs to keep an eye on her to see if she should even be invited back for any more USWNT training camps.
I thought that Hailie Mace played with a lot of confidence on the back line, and I see her definitely fitting into the USWNT picture by the time of the World Cup, at which time she will have graduated from UCLA.
With players rounding into shape, I can now see a starting line-up with a lot of scoring potential. I see Rapinoe, Morgan and Pugh on the front line, with Lloyd, Ertz, and Horan at Mid-Field. There are 7-8 able-body defenders who can be on the back line against any team.