USWNT Began Their '23 World Cup With 3-0 Win Vs. Vietnam, Thanks To Sophia Smith (2G, 1A)

 

    You might have heard: the USWNT is trying to become the first team ever (men's or women's) to win three straight World Cups, no pressure or anything. Tonight, they opened their 2023 World Cup journey with a routine 3-0 victory over Vietnam in Auckland, New Zealand. American forward Sophia Smith had an incredible World Cup debut as she scored the first two goals for the USWNT then assisted on the final strike by midfielder and co-captain Lindsey Horan. The U.S. was far from perfect as they missed a penalty kick not to mention that they owned 66% possession for the game but only had three goals to show from it. Still, nobody got hurt and eight players made their World Cup debuts for the USWNT so the bottom line is that they will move on to bigger and better things soon enough.   

    In reality, this was a mismatch of epic proportions as evidenced by the final stats: the US outshot Vietnam 28-0 but only seven of those were on goal so you can see specifically where they will have to improve starting on Wednesday (9, Fox) when they face the Netherlands in a rematch of the 2019 Women's World Cup final. American goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher gets credit for one of the most fraudulent shutouts in sports history. The winner of that is basically guaranteed to win Group E since the other team in it is Portugal who is playing in their first World Cup therefore you cannot expect them to upset the U.S. or the Netherlands (most likely). Vietnam and Portugal figure to be at the bottom of the group barring some crazy results.

    Smith did not wait too long to open her World Cup account as she made it 1-0 in the 14th minute. It was a beautiful goal as Horan looped a pass to forward and fellow co-captain Alex Morgan who flicked it into the box where Smith outran her defender and unleashed a well struck low shot with her left foot. Vietnam did their best to waste time (not a bad tactic in soccer when you are that overwhelmed) in the first half and it seemed to pay off until forward Trinity Rodman (yes, she is Dennis' daughter) earned a penalty kick in the 44th minute. Morgan stepped up to take it (I think that whomever earns a penalty kick should almost always take it) but her shot was stopped by Vietnamese goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh. Luckily for the USWNT-like we saw in the 2022 men's World Cup-there was ample stoppage time. Smith scored her second goal seven minutes (!!) into stoppage time before the halftime whistle. Thanh punched the ball but it fell to Smith and while her shot was not a great one by any means, there were enough bodies to screen Thanh who had the ball go through her legs once again. 

    Teams have five substitutes to use in this World Cup and USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski made ample use of them in the second half. This morning, we were told that star midfielder Rose Lavelle and star forward Megan Rapinoe would both be on minute restrictions at least for this evening and that is exactly what happened as they both entered in the 63rd minute. Also notably, 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson-the No. 1 pick in the last NWSL Draft-made her first World Cup appearance in the 75th minute. Fittingly since they were the two best players in the match, Smith and Horan combined for the last goal. Smith took the ball away from a Vietnam defender along the end line and then she played it back to Horan who slammed it home from the top of the box. It was another awesome highlight provided by the two Colorado natives. Lavelle had a great chance to make it 4-0 a few moments later but her right-footed shot hit the crossbar and did not cross the goal line. 

    It will be interesting to see how the Netherlands fares against Portugal tomorrow morning (3:30 am ET, FS1) but as I said, expect a relatively easy Dutch victory. The U.S. will obviously get an extra day of rest ahead of their next showdown which should help them as well not that the Vietnam match was too taxing. It is doubtful that Smith will have this type of output against the Netherlands but I also believe that Morgan and Rodman should both play better as that super talented trio gets more used to each other on the field in a competitive environment. Outside of Horan, the American midfield looks like a possible weak spot (if they even have one) while the defense led by veterans Crystal Dunn and Julie Ertz should be solid. This is the biggest field ever (32 teams) for a Women's World Cup-eight more than in 2019-and there is more parity than ever but make no mistake, the USWNT is still the team to beat until that is proven otherwise.

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Welcome Back Everybody to the USWNT World Cup Bandwagon!

Hello friends, it's been awhile (oh only about 3 years or so) since we last talked on this fine blog but I felt like it was time to return from the internet abyss. After all, our U.S. women's national team is defending their crown at the 2019 World Cup in France as they go for their fourth world title. This afternoon, they took down one of their fiercest rivals-Sweden-2-0 in the final match of the group stage. The Americans (3-0-0) won Group F and in the process set a quite impressive record: their 18 goals scored is the most ever in a group stage, besting Norway's 17 way back in 1995.

If you haven't totally locked in on the USWNT yet in France, you are excused. A 13-0 joke on an opener vs. Thailand did nothing but open up a can of worms for lazy sportswriters who don't know a thing about the beautiful game followed by a pretty dull 3-0 win against Chile that could have at least been by more than double that margin. Sweden is always a stern test for the U.S. and you only have to go back to the 2016 Olympics where the Swedes knocked the Americans out in the quarterfinals to understand why head coach Jill Ellis' squad was looking to exact some revenge.

After sitting seven of her best players vs. Chile, Ellis fielded basically her strongest starting 11 today although center back Julie Ertz (who has become one of their most dependable players) was a late scratch with a hip contusion. No worries though, it sounds like it was just a precautionary move and she should be fine for Monday's Round of 16 match vs. Spain (12, FS1). With this victory, the powerhouse U.S. extended their World Cup winning streak to an incredible 13 matches in a row while also qualifying for the knockout round for the eighth consecutive World Cup.

There was no waiting around by the Americans for the game to pick up as center midfielder Lindsey Horan scored the fastest opening goal in this tournament, just three minutes into regulation. It happened to be a pretty strike too as it all started with a corner kick by Megan Rapinoe that Samantha Mewis flicked on to space right in front of Sweden's goal where Horan was the first one there to knock it in. Both teams were already assured of a place in the knockout round but they still played with a purpose and thankfully, the U.S. did anything but sit back after they got that extremely early lead.

The Americans dominated possession (62%-38%) and eventually wore the Swedes down with more than double the shot attempts (16-7) with twice as many landing on goal (4-2). In addition, the USA also had three more corner kicks (5-2) and they drew six more fouls than Sweden (10-4) who were forced to defend relentless attacks for most of the 90+ minutes. Another injury concern for the U.S. came late in the first half as Alex Morgan took the brunt of a rough slide tackle. She stayed in the game but was subbed off at halftime. In her postgame comments, Ellis noted that her superstar striker had picked up a "knock" but that she should be OK for Spain although Morgan skipped talking to the media which always makes you wonder what's really going on behind the scenes.

Sweden really doesn't have many skilled goal-scorers so when they trailed 2-0 in the 50th minute, you pretty much knew that they were finishing second in Group F. FIFA officially ruled it an own goal on Swedish defender Jonna Andersson but Uncle Sam over here is more than happy to (mostly) credit the strike to the brilliance of U.S. forward Tobin Heath. I can't say I'm an expert on every single player and team in women's soccer these days but I doubt that is a more creative and skilled forward in women's soccer than her in 2019. With the ball at her feet in the box (big mistake Sweden), she lulled Andersson to sleep before blasting a shot that took a slight deflection off her past goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl.

Carli Lloyd replaced Morgan and while she couldn't extend her World Cup record goal-scoring streak to an absurd seven games, she did have a wonderful chance that was stopped by Lindahl. The way that the group stage played out for the U.S., I think that they were lucky in the sense that it went from worst opponent to best. For me, their biggest question mark besides Ertz and Morgan's health is goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. Is she good? Who would really know? She made a couple plays vs. Sweden but being the U.S. women's goalkeeper is not exactly the most difficult job in sports. No doubt, as they keep progressing in France, they'll need her to step up and prove why she's the starter over something called Adrianna Franch. While Naeher remains a bit of a mystery, I am very confident in her backline of Kelley O'Hara, Abby Dahlkemper, Becky Sauerbrunn and Crystal Dunn. They are probably the best defense in women's soccer and that's a fact. Likewise, the midfield of Horan, Mewis and Rose Lavelle is loaded and the frontline of Rapinoe, Morgan and Heath is ridiculously good. They are the top team in the world for a reason.

Unlike the currently irrelevant U.S. men who just two plus weeks ago lost friendlies to Jamaica (1-0) and Venezuela (3-0!) on home soil, you have to take a completely different mindset into U.S. women's matches. They are so flawless that you have to consider who can even dare to hang with them on a given day let alone beat them. For that reason, I can't say that I expect all that much resistance from Spain. They finished an uninspired 1-1-1 in Group B (2nd place behind Germany) with a middling goal-differential of +1. Not to get too ahead of ourselves but a quarterfinal match against the winner of France/Brazil is much sexier along with a possible meeting with England in the semifinals. Honestly, the other side of the bracket looks a little more daunting with Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Sweden and Canada among the many strong teams over there. For now, let's just sit back and enjoy this very inspiring group of women with personalities for days that happen to be so easy to root for.

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