Photo courtesy US Soccer
The U.S. Women’s National Team defeated the Republic of Ireland 3-0 on Sunday in front of a sell-out crowd of 18,000 at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, Calif..
Abby Wambach scored twice and Julie Johnston scored for the third straight game to give the U.S. the win in the first of a three-game send-off series for the 2015 Women’s World Cup.
Wambach scored in the 42nd minute after Ireland tried to clear Megan Rapinoe’s corner kick. Instead, the ball smashed into the face of Ireland’s Meabh De Burca and back into the box, where Christen Press sent it to Wambach, who punched it into the goal.
In the 45th minute, Wambach scored the 180th goal of her career when Carli Lloyd raced down the left side, cut back to lose her defender and sent a cross into the box, where Wambach headed it into the goal.
Lauren Holiday sent in a cross in the 54th minute and Johnston just got her foot on it, for her third international goal in as many games.
While this match certainly gave the fans enough to feel good about – seeing the U.S. players escorted onto the field by their mothers and watching Wambach score back-to-back goals – the team’s performance just isn’t good enough to win the World Cup.
There are still too many goal-scoring opportunities left unfinished by the U.S. With 26 shots in the match and 19 corner kicks, there were plenty of chances for the Americans to fine-tune their scoring abilities. True, Ireland’s goalkeeper Niamh Reid-Burke came up with seven strong saves, however, the U.S. was unable to put most of its shots on-frame.
“The expectation is for more and I think the players expect that of themselves too,” said U.S. head coach Jill Ellis. “We got a lot of set pieces and we scored some set pieces goals, which I was pleased with, but I think we’ve got to increase that number and certainly finish some chances around the box. Again, I thought we had some quality chances, we just need to fine-tune that. We’ve got to put those away.”
The U.S. has plenty of depth in terms of forwards and perhaps, Ellis hasn’t yet found the right combination of players on top. Alex Morgan sat out of the match with a bone bruise, however, this would have been a good opportunity to try other pairings of forwards. Ellis has been clear that Wambach won’t be playing a full 90 minutes in Canada, so why not take her off after the half and try a different combination of forwards?
Ellis has certainly had her critics since stepping into the role of head coach, however, she has also moved this team back into a winning mode in a short time and she just may have something up her sleeve. Let’s hope this is revealed soon.
The next match for the U.S. will be against Mexico on May 17 at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.
