The U.S. Women’s National Team opened its Olympic Qualifying campaign on a winning note.
Goals from Christen Press, Lynn Williams, Lindsey Horan and Carli Lloyd lifted the Americans past Haiti on Tuesday night at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston. It was Vlatko Andonovski’s first competitive win as head coach of the USWNT.
It was a fast start for the USWNT, who scored in the opening 75 seconds. Despite losing her left shoe in the build-up play, Williams assisted on Press’ opener, a tap in from close-range. It was the USWNT’s first goal of 2020.
Who says you need two boots on to provide an assist ⁉️
Not Lynn Williams 🇺🇸 #CWOQ @lynnraenie @USWNT @Concacafpic.twitter.com/RwfpOXC4FH
— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) January 29, 2020
Haiti looked to have leveled the match in the 18th minute via a corner kick that bounced through everyone and into the net. However, referee Odette Hamilton disallowed the goal for offsides.
In the 58th minute, Haiti goalkeeper Kerly Theus made back-to-back saves to keep her side in the match, stopping Samantha Mewis’ effort. However, the USWNT would add to its lead as Megan Rapinoe made an immediate impact after coming on the pitch.
Rapinoe launched a corner kick into the box and Williams took advantage on a slight deflection from a Haiti player, before heading the ball in for a 2-0 USWNT advantage.
Lindsey Horan headed in Rapinoe’s second assist in the 73rd minute to add to the USWNT lead, before Lloyd got in on the action with a finish of her own late in the match.
Next up, the USWNT faces Panama on Friday, again in Houston, where it will try to take the top spot in Group A in its qualifying group. The U.S. currently sits second in the group due to Costa Rica beating Panama by a 6-1 scoreline earlier Tuesday.
not a good performance, looked like they hadn’t played in weeks and weeks, everything so direct and almost afraid to be patient in buildup. the final balls were bad, Williams did break thru with a couple but most were off target. the midfield couldn’t play through the middle, everything seemed up the flanks. and then we fouled harshly many times, looked like frustration…not a good look. Let’s see if they build off of this and credit to Haiti
Argh! Game recap article that never actually states the final score….
Haiti figured to be tough as last year they took our U-20 team into OT. They are big and athletic, so to be able to beat them, you need good passing. And that was not to be found until the 65th minute when Megan came into the match. In fact, I counted 12 passes which went straight out-of-bounds. That must be an all-time record for our USWNT!!!!
The U.S. caught a break on that disallowed Haiti goal. I would like to know how you can be offside on a corner kick which goes straight into the goal??
As Don said, we need to make sure we go into the Costa Rica Match with a goal differential advantage over Costa Rica in case we tie them, so we go into the Semi-Finals against a team we can beat for sure.
On a final note, if Carli Lloyd is going to play center forward, she will have to do better in close than she did last night. She had 5 open shots close in and misfired on all 5. We can get away with that against Haiti, but not in the Olympic knock out rounds. If she can’t come around, Gwen Williams should get a shot at C/F before the Olympics start.
We were less than impressive and 3 goals came late in the game. Next game is even easier so we will learn little there either though with the goal differential think, we will need to try and run it up if we can