The USWNT beat Mexico 3-0 in front of a crowd of 26, 332 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ in the final of three send off games before the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France which begins next month. Tobin Heath, Mallory Pugh and Christen Press were the goal scorers for the US.
The starting XI for the US consisted of Alyssa Naeher, Kelley O’Hara, Abby Dahlkemper, Becky Sauerbrunn, Crystal Dunn, Julie Ertz, Samantha Mewis, Rose Lavelle, Tobin Heath, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe and is likely to be the lineup when the USWNT faces Thailand in their opening match on June 11, with perhaps one change in the midfield. There has been much discussion over these send off matches about whether or not Samantha Mewis should be a starter on this fairly deep USWNT roster. Very few people are arguing that she should, with the question being “instead of who?” The answer seems like it would be Lindsay Horan, but it is, and has been hard to argue against starting Horan. Mewis did start in place of Horan against Mexico, but there were some reports from media in attendance, that Ellis was trying to manage Horan’s training load, so that may also have played a factor in the decision. Still, it will be interesting to see who the starter against Thailand is and if that changes as the tournament progresses. It should be noted though, that Horan came on as a second half sub for Rose Lavelle and not Mewis, so the idea of them playing together is not impossible.
The USWNT had been criticized during these send off matches as getting off to a slow start and seeming reluctant to actually shoot the ball. While the team did get off to a slow start against South Africa and New Zealand in the previous two matches, it was less of an issue here as Tobin Heath put the US on the board in the 11th minute. A distribution error from Mexico goalkeeper Cecilia Santiago allowed Heath to easily beat the remaining defender and place a low strike from the middle of the box into the lower right side of the goal to give the US an early lead. This was Heath’s 30th goal in her 150th cap for the US and got the crowd in her home state of New Jersey, very, very, loud.
Despite the early start things did settle down significantly for the US as the game wore on. While they had been able to score early, the pace did seem to slow later in the first half and there still seemed to still be times when players appeared to have an opportunity to put a shot on goal, but for whatever reason chose not to. Also keeping the US from adding to their early tally was Santiago, who had some really solid saves, including a few chances where it seemed like a goal was imminent. Overall it was a solid first half for the US, though despite not adding to their one goal lead. There was a lot of good ball movement and team play, which are things you want to see heading into the World Cup.
There were five substitutions to start the second half; Christen Press for Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd for Alex Morgan, Lindsay Horan for Rose Lavelle, Mallory Pugh for Becky Sauerbrunn and Allie Long for Crystal Dunn. With those subs came a number of positional changes, non perhaps more surprising as Tobin Heath dropping back to play LB to start the second half. Jill Ellis had teased this move in a press conference around the time the World Cup roster came out, but it was a move that surprised many and had people questions whether Ellis was trying out a “worst case scenario” kind of situation. Perhaps this was partially the case, but media in attendance reported after the game that Dunn needed to come out due to a stiff ankle and that Ellis did not want to use a defensive sub for her, so slotted Heath there instead. It probably isn’t anything we will see on the regular, but in a pinch, could work out as putting Heath at LB didn’t seem to really factor in positively or negatively during the match.
With so many subs at half time, the US was off to a slow start to the second half as the substitutions and positional changes needed time to adjust and pick up the chemistry that was there at the start of the game (though Carli Lloyd did almost double the US lead within seconds of the start of the second half, but her shot was cleared off the line after passing by Santiago). While perhaps not ideal to introduce so many subs in your last friendly before the World Cup, as we learned in 2015, you never know which players and which combinations of players will be needed to get the job done, and the US settled into a groove and picked things up as the half went on.
After having what looked like a sure goal cleaned off the line in the opening moments of the second half, Lloyd thought she had put one in for sure in the 67th minute as she once again beat Santiago and appeared to have scored into an open net, but she was called offside and the goal was not counted, much to the dismay of Lloyd and the crowd who thought they had just witnessed the second of the New Jersey natives score in the match. While Lloyd wasn’t able to get her goal during t he game, she did pick up an assist in the 76th minute. Lloyd again beat her defender and charged toward goal, but Santiago came out and cut off her angle, allowing Lloyd to instead pass the ball over to a group of players in front of the goal, with Pugh being the one to put it over the line and give the US their second goal of the game.
Christen Press netted the third goal for the US in the 88th minute after receiving a nice pass from Julie Ertz toward the top of the box. Press turned, made a move past her defender and buried a low shot into the net.
Though there were still some slow moments and potential opportunities left on the table, this was arguably the best they looked during these send off series games. Though they scored more goals against New Zealand in the previous friendly, this win seemed to be more on the USWNT effort and less on issues that their opponents were having. While there still may be some questions and areas which may leave some fans uneasy, it was a solid win and a good way to wrap up their series of friendlies and a good note to head off to France on.
The USWNT kicks off their World Cup title defense on June 11, 2019 against Thailand 3pm on Fox
