Sydney Leroux paced the USWNT attack with two goals.
USWNT 5 : 1 Mexico
By Ivan Yeo
Sometimes, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
That was certainly the feeling the United States women’s soccer team had after Sunday night’s sendoff series match against Mexico at the StubHub Center. The U.S. created chance after chance in the first half, but their efforts were foiled by either the Mexico defense, or their keeper, Cecilia Santiago, or the framework, or poor luck (sometimes even a combination of those options). Even after the U.S. had broke through with a goal, Mexico came right back with an equalizer with left the match tied at the half and the win possibly in doubt.
However, the second half belonged to the United States as they superior depth eventually overwhelmed Mexico over the course of the last 45 minutes. Sydney Leroux and Abby Wambach were the catalysts for the U.S attack, as both players recorded a brace, with Wambach’s two coming after she had came into the match as a halftime substitute, and the U.S. in front of a sellout crowd of 27,000 that included Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, turned a 1-1 halftime score into a 5-1 rout.
“Finishing is that final piece,” U.S. head coach Jillian Ellis said. “I said to the team at halftime that with the amount of chances they were creating, you just have keep knocking on the door and be persistent with it, and we were obviously rewarded.”
With the match tied at one heading into the second half, The U.S. blew the game wide open in the second half. The U.S. scored just a minute into the half, which started when Leroux took a shot from outside the penalty area that was deflected, but continued forward, Lauren Holiday beat Mexico’s Alina Garciamendez to the ball, Abby Wambach kept the play alive, then fed a ball to Lory Chalupny, who slotted a shot past Santiago near post to put the U.S. back in front.
After Chalupny’s goal, the floodgates opened up soon after for the United States. The U.S. pushed a third goal across in the 58th minute, Megan Rapinoe sent a corner into the box, Arianna Romero tried to clear the ball, but it hit off her hand on the clearence attempt and referee Marianela Cruz whistled for the penalty spot.
Wambach stepped into the spot and while Santiago guessed right on Wambach’s penalty, Wambach sent the ball to the far left corner, out of Santiago’s reach and just like that, the U.S. was up 3-1. Three minutes later, Leroux chased down a long ball from Morgan Brian, sprinted into the penalty area, rounded Santiago and shot the ball into the open net to make it a three goal game.
Lori Chalupny’s goal just a minute into the second half was the start of big things for the USWNT.
The U.S. however weren’t quite done yet, as they relied on a little showtime to push across its last goal. It came in the 72nd minute, as Leroux played Tobin Heath into the penalty area, Heath held the ball just inside the box and had a one-on-one match Kenti Robles. Heath made a motion move right, Robles followed, but Heath faked her out with a love to her left, freeing her up for a cross into the six-yard box and Wambach charged in and headed the ball into the back net.
“We didn’t get down on ourselves about the (first) half because it was still a good-played, solid half of soccer,” Lloyd said. “Overall, we should be pleased when we went out and we knew that the first 10-15 minutes, we wanted to score, and once we did that, it helped us the rest of the way.”
The United States started the first half as the clear aggressor, but appeared to be snake-bit in terms of finding that first goal. One such sequence occurred in the 14th minute, as Carli Lloyd led a U.S. break on goal, made a pass that was deflected but went to Leroux, who then passed to Brian and she sprinted into the penalty area.
Brian crossed a ball into the six, Christen Press headed a ball past Santiago, but the header was cleared near the goal line by Garciamendez, Leroux got the loose ball and took a shot that was blocked by Veronica Perez, the ball went to Rapinoe, who sent a one-time volley towards goal, but Santiago saved the shot with her face, the ball stayed inside the 18-yard box and Rapinoe again had a chance, this time on a header, Santiago again made the save, but this time, she held onto the ball to end the madness.
“I thought that was one of the best halves we played just in terms of our ball movement, our combination play and the speed and tempo,” Ellis said of her team’s play in the first half.
The United States finally found the back net in the 28th minute. Rapinoe played a ball forward to Leroux, her marker slipped, freeing her up for a run into the penalty area. Leroux rounded Santiago into the six and despite having a tight angle, she successfully fired a shot that tucked into the far post netting to get the U.S. on the board.
Mexico however was out to show they would not be mere foils to the U.S. again. Las Tri got its shot in the 39th minute, as they won a free kick deep in U.S. territory, Bianca Sierra sent the free kick into the penalty area and Ariana Calderon leaped and headed the ball past keeper Hope Solo into the back net for the equalizer.
“It did gave us momentum, and we finished the first half better,” Mexico head coach Leonardo Cuellar said of Calderon’s goal. “After halftime, we wanted to continue to improve but to take an easy goal just a minute into the first half, it shook the whole team and put us back.”
The USWNT now heads east for its final match of its send-off series, as they face the Republic of Korea at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey on May 30.
