Treble-chasing Team USA christened their 2015 FIFA WWC campaign with a 3-1 win against Australia yesterday.
With Group D being branded as this year’s ‘Group of Death’, it was extremely important for the second best team in the world to get off to a strong start. An 87th minute goal sealed a sharing of the spoils between Nigeria and Sweden earlier that day, putting the Americans in pole position to be at the top of their group come match day two. One big miss in the US starting XI was Alex Morgan, who has been harbouring a knee injury recently and didn’t want to be risked by her manager so started on the bench.
Contrary to most people’s predictions, it was Australia who asked all of the questions in the opening stages of the fixture. The Matildas were extremely direct and aggressive in their attacking mentality, and Hope Solo was tested multiple times early on in the US goal.
Solo’s fellow defensive unit looked extremely shaky and nervous in the early exchanges and were having trouble in both keeping hold of possession and doing something meaningful with the ball when they did have it.
However, it was the USA who struck first. Megan Rapinoe won the ball and spun away from her defender with a lovely piece of skill. Taking a touch inside on her right foot, she had a shot from a little over twenty yards out that immediately took a deflection off the Australian centre-back leaving the keeper with nothing to do but helplessly watch the ball land in to the other side of her net.
The Americans couldn’t afford to celebrate for long, though. Almost directly after the opening goal, a long ball into the box and a really good run in behind from Samantha Kerr resulted in an exceptional chance for Australia, but yet again Solo was up to the task. This highlighted one of Team USA’s biggest problems in the first half: man-marking in the box, a weakness Australia nearly exploited on a few occasions.
And eventually the Matildas got their well-deserved equalizer. A series of quick passes inside the box ended up falling to captain Lisa De Vanna, who smashed the ball in to the back of the net. After a hard fought forty-five minutes, drawing at one apiece going in to the break was just about fair.
But that said, the second half played out a lot differently than the first, to say the least. Team USA had more of the possession, and Australia reacted to the situation with a direct counter-attacking strategy.
After a quiet start to the second 45 in terms of goal-mouth action, the Americans were able to retake the lead after Sydney Leroux provided a much needed spark for the tournament favourites, showing off her blistering pace down the left-hand side. As she neared the byline, she laid it off perfectly for Christen Press, who slotted the ball neatly into the far corner with a first time effort.
And just 15 minutes later, Rapinoe scored a dazzling solo goal to seal the three points for Team USA. After beating her defender, two swift touches saw Rapinoe switch the ball onto her left foot and immediately take a shot that was hit with too much power for Melissa Barbieri in the Australian goal.
Rapinoe was arguably the star of the show having played a hand in all three goals for her side. A fact that will please coach Jill Ellis as USA legend Abby Wambach cut a frustrated figure during the game, proving ineffective all evening and squandering chances the world is so used to seeing her bury.
Wambach will be hoping to put this poor performance behind her as USA play Sweden, who sit just three places below them in the FIFA world rankings, in their next fixture.
