The U.S. women’s national team suffered a heartbreaking loss to ends its April window.
Emma Hayes’ squad fell 2-1 to Brazil in the second of their pair of friendly matches in California during this international break. Catarino Macario scored the lone USWNT goal in the result.
Did you think Trinity Rodman’s fifth-minute goal at SoFi Stadium in LA was fast? The USWNT got off to an even quicker start at a sold-out PayPal Park in San Jose. Again, Alyssa Thompson did the hard work with a long run inside from the wing, with Macario applying the finishing touch this time around. Within one minute, the USWNT was up 1-0.
It marked the fastest goal in USWNT history, per USSF.
This time though, Brazil would fight back, eventually punishing the hosts after repeated giveaways in their own half. Gio Garbellini provided a cheeky throughball assist, causing Tara McKeown to run straight into USWNT teammate Claire Hutton, while Kerolin guided home a curling finish.
Still, Brazil had problems defensively. Same as at SoFi, Thompson would not relent. Brazilian manager Arthur Elias responded by subbing off two of his three defenders with nearly ten minutes remaining in the opening half.
The changes allowed Brazil to control a mostly disjointed second half for both sides. Late in stoppage time, Amanda Gutierrez capitalized to score the dagger for a 2-1 Brazil win. It marked the first Brazil win over the USWNT since 2014.
The USWNT closes the international break with one win and one loss against the No. 8 ranked team in the world.