Photo Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
It’s funny how soccer works sometimes. Had the United States women’s national team been able to hold off a late surge from Brazil to escape PayPal Park with a draw Tuesday night, it may have been viewed as a gutsy result. If Yazmeen Ryan’s service from the right side had been sharper, perhaps Emma Hayes’ side could have eked out a win. Then again, had Brazil had their finishing boots on, it may well have been a lopsided win for the guests.
As it was, Amanda Gutierres tapped in a soft but well-measured cross from Luany in the fifth minute of stoppage time to give Brazil the 2-1 victory. Here are three quick thoughts from the match.
This is a proper cycle of development
Any discussion about prior youth movements within the U.S. team pale in comparison to the overhaul head coach Emma Hayes is undertaking. With the World Cup still more than two years away, and several key contributors injured or pregnant, Hayes is rewriting the book on how to handle a full cycle as U.S. head coach. Tuesday’s starting lineup was the least experienced U.S. XI by senior caps since a B-team went to the Algarve Cup in 2001 to allow the regulars a chance to focus on WUSA preseason.
The results were mixed. No one looked entirely out of their depth, but none of the lines looked particularly sharp. The Emily Sonnett-Tara McKeown central defense pairing did not immediately click, and so far NWSL Best XI defender McKeown has not looked the part of an international defender. Alana Cook replaced her at halftime with mixed results.
In midfield, Hayes went with three defensive-minded starters — Korbin Albert, Lily Yohannes, and Claire Hutton. It was an understandable experiment but one that would be surprising to see again. Little that played out Tuesday night suggests they are likely to see much time together. Yohannes was pushed up higher than usual and was not a big factor in the match. Her best moment came when she played Catarina Macario behind the defense in an example of the best work she does pulling strings from deeper in midfield.
Messy defending on the goals
Sonnett’s gambit to attack the ball cost her team on the game-winning sequence. Once she was beat and left behind, her partner Cook was isolated and had to figure out what to do as Brazil countered. She wound up caught between two ideas and Gutierres trotted into space no attacker should ever occupy alone at any point of any match, let alone stoppage time. Once Luany made a good cross, it was easy pickings for the winner.
The first goal was a bit more troublesome. During a long stretch where the U.S. insisted on playing it out of defense using keeper Mandy McGlynn, they were on the back foot when Gisele Thompson came all the way out near the center stripe to challenge the ball on the U.S. right. That only works if the defender wins the ball, or gets proper coverage in behind. Neither happened.
McKeown went wide and Hutton dropped back to mark Brazilian attackers while Sonnet slid over to sweep. But McKeown also got beat and then she and Hutton took each other out by running for the same space as Kerolin slipped free. Meanwhile, Sonnett broke back centrally to get back in front of goal. That left Kerolin all by herself. She made an extraordinary finish, but it was still one created out of space the U.S. never should have given her.
Macario making things happen
The U.S. came out of the chute flying and had their goal after only 34 seconds. Macario made the pivotal touch in midfield, one-timing it to spring Alyssa Thompson down the left side. But Macario wasn’t done there. Thompson made a dynamic run but hesitated to shoot—something she did at least one other time in the match. The ball popped out of the hands of keeper Natascha Honegger and Macario, following up the play, finished it off.
Alyssa Thompson and Macario were joined up top by Michelle Cooper, who saw less of the ball as it spent more time on Thompson’s side. She did well in one buildup to use her body to shield her defender but the shot was off the mark.
Considering that if the entire pool was healthy and available, none of those three would likely start, the historic depth of American forwards feels firmly intact.
