CHESTER, Pa. — The U.S. women’s national team may have honored one of its best-ever players on Thursday night, but couldn’t deliver a victory to start a busy October window.
Portugal claimed a first-ever win in 11 tries over the USWNT, downing Emma Hayes’ squad 2-1 at Subaru Park. Goals from Diana Gomes and Fatima Pinto helped Francisco Neto’s squad overturn an early strike from Rose Lavelle.
“They made it really difficult for us,” USWNT midfielder Lindsey Heaps said to media postmatch about Portugal. “I think it’s great for them, how they play, they overloaded us. I think we could have solved things a bit earlier on, but we’re going to have to be better and be more of a team as well.”
Longtime USWNT forward Alex Morgan was honored prematch after announcing her retirement back in September 2024. Morgan scored the first of her 123 international goals in Chester back in October 2010.
The USWNT benefitted from a deflected pass to open the scoring after 33 seconds.
Catarina Macario tried to lay a pass out wide, but a deflection off of a Portugal defender fell to the wide-open Lavelle. Lavelle turned a drilled a low shot into the bottom-right corner for a 1-0 lead.
It marked the seventh-fastest goal in USWNT history.
Lavelle came close to doubling her tally and the USWNT’s lead in the ninth minute. The veteran midfielder drilled a shot across the 18-yard box which forced Portugal goalkeeper Ines Pereira to make a two-handed save off of the post.
Despite the USWNT owning possession, Portugal started to open things up as the first half went on.
Tatiana Pinto’s one-on-one effort was kicked away by Phallon Tullis-Joyce before the equalizing goal came shortly after. Gomes rose highest on a Portugal corner kick to head home Kika Nazareth’s cross, tying the match at 1-1.
The Americans upped their offensive pressure in the second half with Alyssa Thompson’s dangerous cross almost sneaking its way in.
Yazmeen Ryan, Claire Hutton, Lily Yohannes, and Emma Sears all entered the match after the hour mark, but it was Portugal who would silence the U.S. faithful.
Fatima Pinto’s deflected rebound effort snuck into the bottom-right corner, giving Neto’s squad a 2-1 advantage. The USWNT failed to defend well on a corner kick yet again, allowing their European opponents to take advantage.
“I think it was tough for us to take on the chin,” Tullis-Joyce said about the team conceding twice off corner kicks. “I think the match overall is a big learning experience for us, especially on how to defend set pieces better. They were some unfortunate goals to concede.”
Hayes squad tried to muster up a late equalizer, but were unable to do so, suffering their third defeat of 2025. It marked the first time that the USWNT has suffered three or more losses in a single calendar year since 2022 (England, Spain, Germany).
“It felt really individual,” Lavelle said about the team’s performance against Portugal. “I think everyone was trying to fix everything by themselves. We got to make sure that we are sticking together, playing together. Credit to Portugal, they’re obviously a great team, but we need to do better ourselves.”
The USWNT will meet Portugal for the final time this month, seeking a bounce-back result on Sunday in East Hartford, Connecticut. A second-straight loss on Sunday would mark the first back-to-back defeats for the USWNT since 2022, and although Thursday’s performance wasn’t close to their standards, they are eager for revenge.
“I’d love to play them again,” defender Emily Sonnett said. “It’s another opportunity in a few days. We’re going to get people’s best games and for us, we need to hear what the coaches have to say, get our debrief, and step out there again.”
This was a good game, I was shocked how organized, aggressive, and had several space to do one and two touch passing. Completely was not expecting them to come out the corner strong and scoring like this.
The US was terrible in transition defense. They were regularly being put under pressure. Heaps is slow. No Girma to protect and organize. It seemed a lot of helter skelter defending. Patterson was not as good as previous outings and was targeted. She wasn’t good going forward either.
Yohannes looks like she is playing on another level. She is must see. Please sharpie her into the 11.
Portugal came in losing 6 of 7 with the one being a draw. They were outscored 28-5 in those matches and hadn’t won since last December.
Watched some of the game the US were pretty poor.
On this day, Portugal was the better team. Their defense was organized, their press was effective, and their aggressiveness and physicality threw off the US rhythm. Granted, the US was still missing key players, but really did not look sharp in this game.