The United States has won a 2-1 victory against Australia at the Sheblieves Cup in Glendale, Arizona, Sunday to set up a last match confrontation with Japan.
The victory has never really watched in any doubt, with Lynn Biyendolo, the beneficiary of the hard work of Emma Sears and the configuration of Jaedyn Shaw, marking an easy tap only 42 seconds of the match.
It was a very improved Matildas performance after their 4-0 bombing in the hands of Japan last week, but the USWNT kept visitors to the length of the arm during most of the match.
Australia goalkeeper Teagan Micah was called on several occasions, but could not stop the first goal of Michelle Cooper in the 68th minute who put the United States 2-0. Claire Hutton’s pass at La Défense found Ally Sendnor, who stumbled while preparing to shoot, but Cooper was in the right place to finish Micah.
Australia made it interesting with a quick break and a Hayley Raso cross finding Michelle Heyman’s head in the 80th minute, but it was not enough to change the final result.
More positive signs for Uxwnt Next Gen
A match does not reconstruct, but Sunday’s victory was another sign that encouraged Emma Hayes’s task to inaugurate a new generation and create a team with an enviable depth of world class is well on the right track.
Hayes used the Sheblieves Cup as a way to fill the gap between the known quantities of his team and those on the outskirts.
In the opening match against Colombia, Sendnor, Catarina Macario and Lily Yohannes attracted attention. Sunday – with a completely new departure XI – it was the aforementioned Sears, Shaw and Hutton, as well as Aalyssa and Gisele Thompson, who impressed.
Shaw and Sears were electric in the first half and caused many problems in Australian defense, especially in the accumulation of opening. The battle between Shaw and Ellie Carpenter on the left flank of the USWNT was fascinating, Shaw beating the Lyon star several times.
The Thompson sisters continued to show their class both individually and in combination, with neat passes and some chances of goal. While Hutton, at the start of his start, divided the Australian defense as a hot knife through the butter for the goal of Cooper in what was a first exemplary match for the national team.
The discreet class of Lynn Biyndolo
Biyendolo was not always a selection of first choice for the United States, but more often than not, she makes her presence known when she has her chance and that was certainly the case in this match.
It seems almost cosmic that she was able to find the bottom of the net so quickly against Australia of all the teams. It is a country to which it has a narrow affinity. Not only through her Australian husband, Marley, but through her two stays with women in A-League.
Her time with Western Sydney Wanderers in the 2019-20 season is not over how the club wanted – she cut her visit to focus on her international career – but the Wanderers made the final for the first time in their History and Biyendolo were a large part of this achievement. A short guest player with Melbourne Victory Two Seasons later was fast and furious with three goals in four games while the victory would win consecutive championships.
In Glendale, Australian fans remembered once more how Biyendolo can be clinical. She is intelligent and agile, and has the ability to put herself in the right type of position to cause defenders’ headaches. And that’s exactly what she did against the Matildas.
Another day, Biyendolo could have had a hat trick, with an excluded goal for offside and excellent Micah stops refusing the realization. But one thing is certain – the 31 -year -old is a natural scorer.
Never connect at the end of an American-australia game
There is just something in games between the United States and Australia. If you are thinking of a pre-match trip to the bathroom or the concession stand, ensuring you: “It’s just the opening minute, what could I miss?!” You would better wait for half-time, because skipping the start means missing goals.
Biyndolo’s goal was scored just 42 seconds from the match. It was a perfect start to the Americans, with a solid aid of deja vu.
The last USWNT player to score in the first minute of a match was Ashley Hatch. The opponent that day? Australia in what would become a 3-0 friendly victory in Sydney in 2021.
In fact, since 1999, the United States has scored at the first minute three times against Australia, Danielle Fotopoulos completing the Triumvirate with a goal in 1999. The Americans did not score more than one goal in the first minute Against any other opponent in that time.
Micah the brilliant light in the improved maçais showing
To say that the opening match of Matildas of the Sheblieves Cup was disappointing would be a rude and the coarse euphemism.
A very experienced programming was presented with a wonderful opportunity to take care of an Asian rival – and the reference index for the Confederation – in front of an Asian cup on the soil at home in 2026, and a 4-0 defeat been exploited.
The result was bad, the performance was worse, and more worrying, everything seemed a little useless for the Matildas.
Against the United States, there has been a marked improvement. The acting coach Tom Sermanni was able to test Winonah Heatley, Charlotte Grant and Holly McNamara – who made her first departure for the Australians in 1 122 days – against one of the best teams in the world. The trio has admirably acquitted, in particular Heatley.
In Goal, micah given the gloves and made her case for the Matildas’ No. 1 Spot – The Liverpool Keeper is in Fierce Competition With Portland Thorns Custodian Mackenzie Arnold – With A Series of Stellar Saves and A Calm Reassurance That Was Often Lacking in the defensive line in front of her. After a long battle of concussion and other injuries prevented him from playing regularly in the past two years, it was just a reward for Micah not only to start, but to remind everyone what ‘She can do.
The result was still not favorable to the Australians, but there were clear improvements in performance and this was necessary after the team’s screening in Houston. Sermanni & Co. will hope that the only way is a confrontation with Colombia on Wednesday in San Diego on Wednesday as they continue to sail in their coaches.
