OT: Soccer - Highlights of USWNT 2-1 Win over NZ

Submitted by I Bleed Maize N Blue on

On a cold Saturday afternoon in FC Dallas Stadium, the USWNT hosted New Zealand for a friendly.  The lovely, the talented Alex Morgan drew an early penalty shot, but Abby Wambach hit the post.  NZ got Hannah Wilkinson in behind the D, but she shot over the goal.

Early in the 2nd half, LB Kelley O'Hara sent a horrible backpass to the box, too far up for G Nicole Barnhart (planned sub for Hope Solo) to get to it, and Wilkinson pounced on it for the 1-0 lead.

Alex Morgan did her late-game heroics thing again, scoring on headers in the 88th and 93rd minutes for the win.

 

Highlight video link

USSoccer.com recap

Christie Rampone became the 4th player to earn her 250th cap for the USWNT.  (Kristine Lilly, 352, Mia Hamm, 275, Julie Foudy, 271.)

Alex Morgan rocks!

 

Next up: the Algarve Cup starts 2/29.  The US is in Group B with Denmark, Norway and Japan.  Group A is Germany, Sweden, China, Iceland.  Top three teams from each group play for the championship, 3rd and 5th places.  4th place teams play the top two of Group C (Portugal, Irleand, Wales, Hungary) for 7th and 9th, and the bottom teams of C face each other for 11th.

DeadMan

February 13th, 2012 at 12:19 AM ^

I call dibs on Alex Morgan. 

 

But, uh, shouldn't we be crushing New Zealand like we did to everybody in CONCACAF?

I Bleed Maize N Blue

February 13th, 2012 at 12:50 AM ^

Well, NZ wouldn't have had that goal if we didn't serve it up to them.  We outshot them 19 to 7 (shots on goal 9 to 1).  They only had 1 corner.

Soccer is funny sometimes in that a team can dominate play but not score, and end up tying or losing.  Abby should have scored on the penalty.  The goalie guessed wrong, and the whole left side of the net was open, but she hit the post.  Still, they got the goals for the win, if at the last possible minute.

The Olympic qualifying was indoor, so no weather.  This was one game, not a tournament where we had a chance to warm up on some snacky cakes.  We had chances, but didn't seem to have the same rhythm.

DeadMan

February 13th, 2012 at 1:11 AM ^

Looking a little bit closer at New Zealand, they aren't too bad. They did okay in the world cup and are ranked in the 20s from what I saw. So I guess that makes this score line a little bit better. But I am worried about the trajectory of the US women's team. It seems like we struggle in games like this far too often. We had to go to a playoff to get into the World Cup, and we absolutely threw away the final, too. It's clear that this version of the team isn't as good as it used to be. Hopefully we can get a 3rd gold.

T-town Wolv

February 13th, 2012 at 1:34 AM ^

is very experimental under Pia right now. The 4-3-2-1 system just went into effect and the kinks are being worked out. Just like with Klinsmann on the men's side. It may look bad or sloppy now but give it a year. Just look at how much more consistent the men's side is looking as a whole. The system is in place, let it work.

DeadMan

February 13th, 2012 at 1:42 AM ^

Is it the same formation that we rampaged through CONCACAF with? Because if it is, that would not even come close to explaining the scoreline. Granted New Zealand is better than some of the teams we played, but they're not better than Canada, who we beat 4-0, or Mexico, who we also beat 4-0.

Otherwise, it's probably just a bad day with a couple of bounces going NZ's way. It's par for the course given the recently history of this team.