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USWNT secures Olympic berth with shutout win over Mexico

The U.S. Women’s National Team stamped its ticket to the 2020 Olympics with a 4-0 win over Mexico in Carson, Cali. on Friday night.

It was the USWNT’s seventh all-time Olympic berth, which also sets them up with a Concacaf Olympic Qualifying Finals date against Canada on Sunday.

Rose Lavelle opened the scoring early for the Americans, beating Mexican keeper Emily Alvarado far-post with a shot from outside the box in the fifth minute.

The quick start didn’t end there as the USWNT doubled its lead in the 14th minute. Midfielder Samantha Mewis finished a corner set up by Megan Rapinoe to double the lead, and that would be all of the action in the first half despite a barrage of chances put up by the USWNT.

It would take nearly an hour before the team found another goal, and it was Mewis once more. She picked up a brace with a powerful set-piece shot from outside the box after Rapinoe made a dummy run to leave a clear path. Alvarado dove to her right, but was unable to get to Mewis’ low drive.

The final say belonged to Christen Press in the 73rd minute, just moments after stepping on in substitution. Finishing off a run through traffic, she caught Alvarado off her line and tucked in a chip shot from close-range, marking her last six appearances with as many goals.

Christine Sinclair and the Canadian Women’s National Team will be standing in the way of newly-installed USWNT boss Vlatko Andonovski’s first chance at Concacaf hardware. Through group stage and semi-final play, Canada also managed to stay perfect en route to a +23 goal differential over four games.

Comments

  1. Lloyd is a fierce competitor who is trying to prove she still deserves to be a starter on this team. We all know she can still be a super-sub, she’s been doing that for the last two years.
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    I say let her play this tournament out and start tomorrow. Hopefully she gets over whatever has been causing her shooting yips recently. If not, Vlatko has some tough decisions to make but justifiable either way he goes.
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    I want to see Lloyd dominate the games this summer and have one more really solid tournament as a starter. Hopefully she can keep it all together for just a little longer!!!

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  2. That was an overpowering performance against a Mexico Team which was really up for this match. My biggest takeaway from this match was the US ability to score on set pieces. Twice the combination of Rapinoe/Mewis connected here. That was something that was missing at the 2016 OLYMPICS!!! Another big positive was the way Alyssa Naeher handled herself in goal. With an absolutely flawless performance, she sucked up every ball coming close to the goal like a vacuum-cleaner. She has now distinguished herself as a definite World-Class Goalkeeper.

    The only disappointment I had was with Carli Lloyd’s performance at C/F. After the US had 2 early goals and needed 1 more to virtually have an insurmountable lead, they had to wait about 50 minutes as Carli kept misfiring time after time from short range. While she has been one if my all-time favorites on the team, this match was the BIG ONE, and she couldn’t produce. It may be that time has taken it toll on her knees. Based on recent performances, and with nothing really at stake on Sunday, I would try someone else at C/F, maybe Lynn Williams, in an effort to invigorate that position. Also, with Ertz, Mewis & Lavelle appearing to have locked down the Midfield positions, how about trying Lindsay Horan at C/F. She is too good of a goal-scorer and Soccer Player in general to keep on the bench. She is physical enough to play the C/F position without getting run off the ball. I say give her a chance at C/F.

    Also, I think Sunday’s final is a good chance to experiment with some players, as the result means nothing since both teams have qualified for Tokyo. 5 years from now, no one will remember who won Sunday’s match, only how each team did at Tokyo. There is a good chance we could meet Canada in Tokyo with only 12 teams there and 6 matches if you go all the way. So lets find out who can play well against Canada now and be ready if and when the time comes.

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