San Diego stars as USWNT win first W Gold Cup
USWNT players celebrate winning the first Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup following hard fought 1-0 victory over Brazil.(Photo Credit: Enfoque Deportivo)
The pitch was pristine and sun was out for a beautiful evening of soccer as the United States Women’s National Team earned a hard fought 1-0 victory over Brazil at Snapdragon Stadium in front of announced 31,528 fans to win the first Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup.
“I love San Diego. The fans were awesome tonight you could feel the atmosphere, you could feel the stadium getting louder and cheering us on. They’re the best fans in the league, so it was definitely fun to win at the Snap,” San Diego Wave defender Naomi Girma said after the win.
The first half saw Brazil controlling the tempo of the match with a high press featuring many great individual players that could shoot from distance and it seemed only a matter of time before one of their shots found the back of the net.
However, interim head coach Twila Kilgore said after the match they expected Brazil to commit such numbers to the top and trusted the team to weather the storm as the U.S. could eventually formulate a good counter.
That counter came at just the right time before the first half ended as Trinity Rodman received a long ball down the pitch and she stopped it just before going out of bounds. She took a moment with two defenders in front of her allowing her team to bring more numbers to their attack. Then right back Emily Fox came in wide open for a pass that Fox sent into the box as a perfect cross toward the far post of the goal. Alex Morgan was already in position, but marked by a Brazilian defender. This allowed Lindsey Horan to come in from behind and head the ball in easily to make it 1-0 in the final minute of the first half.
Lindsey Horan said after the match that she gave a “second assist” to Alex Morgan for the goal because as she ran in for the header knowing she had a better angle she shouted to Morgan to leave it. Morgan did so and moved forward so as to draw in the other defender on the far side and block the defender marking her from clearing the ball in any way.
The second half looked much better for the U.S. as Brazil began to grow tired making its high press less effective allowing the United States to move the ball more easily in the midfield instead of being consistently on the back foot.
Substitutions eventually did come for both sides, and most notably interim head coach Twila Kilgore decided to put Jaedyn Shaw on for the Americans after she had been great in her last four starts with the team.
Shaw was a threat to score and even made some good plays defensively to ensure Brazil couldn’t get a clean shot on goal.
“It was really fun. I think this was a very entertaining game, and it was very back and forth and I think that the team held up really well,” Shaw said.
Her play did earn her the golden ball, awarded to the best player of the tournament. The accolade was the first of its kind in her international career and also marked the first time she has won a tournament with the United States.
Other awards won by the U.S. included the fair play award and the goalkeeper of the tournament for Linsdsey Horan for four clean sheets in six matches and a strong performance in penalty shootout against Canada aon wednesday.
Still Brazil persisted with a continued press and multiple players to face the back line, but they couldn't manage to equalize. Their best opportunity came in the final minutes of the match, but was cleared on the goal line by Casey Krueger who had just come on as a substitute.
The USWNT play again on April 6, in the semifinal of the SheBelieves Cup on the east coast, but in the meantime players will return to their club teams, and for many will begin the season in less than a week for the NWSL. Then in less than two weeks San Diego Wave will return to Snapdragon Stadium to begin their third season on March 23, to face Kansas City Current.
