Laken Litman
College Football & Soccer Analyst
The United States women’s national team now has a chance to win another trophy this week. The Americans beat Australia 2-1 on goals from Lynn Biyendolo (formerly Williams) and Michelle Cooper, and will now get Japan in a SheBelieves Cup final showdown on Wednesday.
The USWNT seemed to have another shutout locked up until Michelle Heyman headed home Hayley Raso’s cross in the 80th minute. It was goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn’s second-ever start for the U.S., and she was tested by the Matildas throughout the day. The Americans tried to extend their lead late on chances from Korbin Albert and Ally Sentnor, but failed to finish and escaped with a narrow W.
Japan, meanwhile, has cruised through this tournament, crushing Australia 4-0 in its first match last Thursday and then defeating Colombia 4-1 earlier on Sunday afternoon.
As expected, coach Emma Hayes rolled out a completely different lineup. There were 11 changes from the group she started in Thursday’s 2-0 win over Colombia, which is just the sixth time in program history that a lineup has changed every single starter in consecutive games. And according to U.S. Soccer, this is the first time it’s happened in 25 years.
Of course, this wasn’t surprising given Hayes’ instruction to give more young players experience as she and her staff continue to expand and evaluate the pool ahead of the next World Cup in 2027.
“This was a lot of new players playing together,” Tierna Davidson, who was wearing the captain’s armband on Sunday, told the broadcast after the game. “This combination really hasn’t been seen before, so we knew that it wasn’t going to be perfect, but the resilience of everybody on the field to continue to work hard and put two goals away is something that im really proud of this group for.”
This was a particularly young and inexperienced group. It included another debut, this time by 19-year-old midfielder Claire Hutton, who Hayes believes “could have a big future for the national team.” Sisters Alyssa and Gisele Thompson made their first start together (Gisele earned her first cap vs. Colombia). It’s only the fourth time in USWNT history that sisters have started a match together and the first time since July 2021 when Sam and Kristie Mewis were in the lineup vs. Mexico.
Here are takeaways from the match:
Play of the game:
In the 68th minute, Cooper scored in just her second cap to give the USWNT a 2-0 lead. Hutton controlled the ball near the top of the box and sent a low pass to Sentnor inside. She dribbled through multiple defenders until she got a bit tangled, and that’s when Cooper came in and nailed the shot into the back of the net for what ended up being the game’s winning goal.
“I looked at Ally and said, ‘I’m so sorry!” because I basically stole it from you,” Cooper joked on the broadcast after the game.
Cooper said the same thing to Hayes, who told the young player never to apologize for scoring.
“She was like, ‘I was just so excited to score that I took the ball off Ally,’” Hayes said, smiling. “I said, ‘Don’t ever apologize. This is business. I appreciate you both want to help each other out, but we want to win and maybe you were in the best position to do that and you did score, so celebrate that.’
“And I’m sure Ally Sentnor will score many goals in the USWNT shirt.”
Turning point:
It only took 42 seconds for Biyendolo to score and give the USWNT a quick 1-0 lead.
Emma Sears streaked down the left wing and cut inside before finding Jaedyn Shaw who was making a run behind her. Shaw took a couple of touches before threading a cross to Biyendolo waiting in front of goal. There was some thought Biyendolo might have been offside, but there’s no VAR in the SheBelieves Cup so the goal stood.
Biyendolo nearly had another goal eight minutes later, but she was ruled offside.
This was also her first USWNT goal using her married name — she married her husband Marley, who is from Australia, in December.
Key stat:
Hayes has repeated the objective for this camp is to “deepen the playing pool by giving opportunities to less experienced players in high-pressure situations.”
This was certainly reflected in the youthful lineup that only included three veterans (Biyendolo, Davidson, and Crystal Dunn):
What’s next for the USWNT?
The U.S. heads to San Diego to play Japan in the SheBelieves Cup final on Wednesday, Feb. 26.
The last time these sides met was in the Paris Olympics quarterfinal last summer. That’s when Trinity Rodman showed off her individual brilliance by scoring the winning goal in extra time to secure the USWNT’s spot in the semifinal. This time, Rodman isn’t on the roster as she’s still recovering from an injury ahead of the NWSL season. But as we’ve learned through two games, Hayes is building depth so that when Rodman and the rest of the “Triple Espresso” aren’t available, there will still be quality options on hand.
The Americans are well aware of what facing Japan means: their opponent will be in a well-organized low block that is always difficult to break down. It will be a discipline test for this group of players, many of whom were not at the Olympics and have not played against this Japan squad.
“Well, it’s just the perfect game. It’s just what you want,” Hayes said of the matchup. “And I think Japan, you can see their current form, scoring lots of goals, the quality of their play is so, so high. I think they’re one of the top, top, top teams in the world.
“This is the perfect game for where we are at to learn a lot about ourselves because I am certain we will have to suffer because the way they dominate the ball, the way they progress up the pitch with their rotations [and] their dynamic advantages. I’m looking forward to watching because I love watching Japan play anyway. So, excited for the challenge.”
Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.
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