Just over a month before the Olympics, the US women’s national team tried to mimic the cadence of the competition with its Summer Series. The level of opposition – Portugal, Jamaica, Nigeria – may not have provided a proper dress rehearsal, but the match schedule and weather conditions in Texas were meant to prepare the US for what would be expected in Japan.
Apparently, the most appropriate preparation may have taken place a couple of months earlier. The United States may have recovered a 1-1 draw against Sweden in a friendly on 10 April in Stockholm, but it was clearly the second best day. It was a game that served as a wake-up call, but was also widely welcomed by US players and staff. They needed to see what work took and they needed a proper challenge before the games started counting. Three days later, they responded with a win in France that was never in doubt, and everything seemed fine again.
After a shocking 3-0 defeat to Sweden at their Olympic debut on Wednesday, the US response, once again, was solid, if perhaps not quite as spectacular.
A comfortable 6-1 win over New Zealand at Saitama Stadium, with First Lady Jill Biden among the few in attendance, set the United States back on course and at least calmed any sense of impending doom. Sweden beat Australia 4-2 in the first group match on Saturday, nearly clinching first place and a more favorable knockout path, and leave the US group final against Sam Kerr & Co. to determine which of the two it is more likely to finish in second place.
Rose Lavelle and Lindsey Horan scored in the first half, which also included four US goals disallowed for offside, and while New Zealand had a couple of close calls that will leave manager Vlatko Andonovski wanting a little tighter approach, the opening of the game clearly played in the hands of the United States and allowed for an energetic release.
Andonovski made five changes to his starting lineup – team rotation into a condensed tournament as always expected – with Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, Julie Ertz, Tierna Davidson and Emily Sonnett taking over from Christen Press, Alex Morgan , Sam Mewis, Becky Sauerbrunn and Kelley O’Hara.
O’Hara, Kristie Mewis and Adrianna Franch were omitted altogether from 18, with Catarina Macario, Casey Krueger and Jane Campbell elevated to the squad of the day.
The United States opened the 2016 Olympics against New Zealand, winning comfortably 2-0, and it appeared to be more of the same on Saturday with the United States leading the way since the opening whistle. The best opening chance actually happened to Football Ferns, with Hannah Wilkinson pulling a chance from the edge of the box that forced Alyssa Naeher to a diving save in the seventh minute.
A couple of minutes later, Lavelle opens the scoring. This group, attacking in the open, is a frightening proposition and the opportunities for it against Sweden have been minimal at best. New Zealand, ranked 22nd in the world, do not possess the same ability to choke an opponent as the Swedes, and they proved it, with Tobin Heath playing Lavelle in space before she delivers a nice shot at the near post.
What followed was rather comical, with Lloyd, Heath, Rapinoe and Horan all having their goals nullified for offside calls. What happened next wasn’t that funny from a US perspective. The open nature of the game left the US a little touchy in the back, and Wilkinson nearly made the Americans pay after beating Abby Dahlkemper with a header in the area. His shot went just wide of the post in the 43rd minute, and when Horan scored a set-piece a couple of minutes later, that was indeed it. The result was sealed in the 63rd minute when Abby Erceg headed into her own goal defending a Lloyd header, although New Zealand ruined Betsy Hassett’s clean sheet at the 72nd minute, made possible by a mistake. by Dahlkemper in the back.
Press’s goal in the 80th minute, Morgan’s goal in the 88th minute and an own goal in injury time restored the most comfortable advantage and ensured the United States access to the group final with a higher goal difference than Australia.
“I don’t remember this team losing 3-0 in recent history, so it’s a bit of a shock, but everyone is positive,” Andonovski said after the Sweden defeat. “We still have games ahead of us. We have to bounce back. We have to forget this game and focus on the next one.”
The focus was mostly there, and now the question is whether it can be harnessed to a greater extent. Australia, who led Sweden 2-1 at one point on Saturday, are likely to be a little more clinical if the US concedes the same opportunities to the Matildas as they did to Football Ferns. Coached by former US manager Tom Sermanni, New Zealand fell 2-1 against Australia in the first game, which was their first game since March 2020 due to the effects of the pandemic. No matter the talent gap, New Zealand was playing from behind in other intangible facets as well. From here on it is a crescendo in the level of the opponents, and the mistakes made both Wednesday and Saturday cannot be tolerated. Dahlkemper, in particular, played incredibly out of character and world-class strikers beckon on the horizon.
By virtue of the defeat against Sweden, the USA have put themselves in a position to aim for the most difficult side of the group. The wild 3-3 draw between the Netherlands and Brazil on Saturday should put the United States and Holland in the running for a rematch of the 2019 Women’s World Cup final in the quarter-finals, should the group final go as many do. they waited. Holland and Brazil are both on four points and both play against opponents they should easily beat on the final day of group play; as long as Brazil does not close the gap deficit, it will take the second. The USA, if they finished second in Group G, would face the winner of their group.
From a micro perspective, the United States will take this result. Ertz playing throughout the game and doing so with his typical level of dominance after making his first appearance in two months against Sweden is a clear advantage and perhaps has the biggest long-term implications. His absence from the start against Sweden has led to a domino effect across the pitch, such is his importance for this team. Goals from the bench for Press and Morgan will bolster confidence if they are brought back to the starting eleven, and a lopsided result means a draw against Australia would almost certainly be good enough for second place in the group. But from a macro point of view, there is still something to do in this tournament and to refine. At the very least, things have stabilized after a shock to the system.
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