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Women’s World Cup: USA defeats Australia 3-1 thanks to Rapinoe, Solo

By Mike Dyce

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The United States women’s national team opened the 2015 Women’s World Cup with a win against Australia on Monday night.

On Monday night, the United States women’s national team began their pursuit of a third trophy. They landed in arguably the toughest group in the tournament and opened the tournament against a 10th ranked Australia team.

Fortunately the Americans were able to walk away with a 3-1 win, but it wasn’t pretty.

Highlights and Recap:

The United States found themselves on the defensive early in the game. Australia was not intimidated by the star-studded American roster and were pressing offensively.

They even forced Hope Solo to come up with a big save early in the game.

The chaos to start the game continued when the United States got a quick goal from distance thanks to a beautiful strike from Megan Rapinoe.

She set it up with a beautiful spin move as well.

Moments later the Americans were on their heels defensively again, and Hope Solo needed to make another big save to keep the lead.

Eventually Australia’s ability to navigate comfortably in the American’s defensive third backfired. They could pass at will in the box and eventually Lisa De Vanna found herself open with the ball at her feet. Solo wasn’t able to bail out her defense this time around and De Vanna gave Australia the equalizing goal.

The Americans again found themselves on their heels to close out the first half, and escaped into the break with a 1-1 tie on their hands.

In the second half the Americans were better on the attacking end. Rapinoe came to the rescue again with a beautiful pass around a defender to Sydney Leroux, who broke down the side and into the box. She found Christen Press in the middle of the box and wide open, a simple shot to the right side of the goal gave the USWNT a 2-1 lead.

Rapinoe took matters into her hand again, scoring again late in the second half.

4 Things We Learned

1.) Defense is the Achilles’ heel of the USA

The defense was all over the place and looked like an incoherent group in the first half. The Australian women could play the ball at will into the box, got shots off comfortably and forced Hope Solo to step up. They could also freely pass the ball in the box to create offense, and the Americans we’re lucky to not give up more goals.

Australian attackers got behind the defense and in on goal repeatedly, forcing the defense to chase and close down from behind. With a Germany team winning by a margin of 10-0 on Sunday, admittedly against an awful Ivory Coast team ranked 67th, the USWNT have to be concerned if they want to challenge for a trophy.

In the second half they managed to settle things down and get a grasp on the game. That could be in part because of better conditioning than anything else.

2.) This is why the USWNT tolerate Hope Solo’s nonsense

The United States’ kick off in the Women’s World Cup was overshadowed by the story surrounding goalkeeper Hope Solo, the latest scandal in a history of violence for Solo. Her key, and HUGE, saves in the first half kept the USWNT in this game. Her talent is unmatched by any other female keeper in the world, and she proved it early in this game.

Those saves show that being able to execute on the field affords an athlete forgiveness when it comes to off-field issues.

3.) Megan Rapinoe could be the star of the tournament

Megan Rapinoe was the bright spot of the USWNT against Australia. With the Americans on their heels defensively, she created space for her self with a beautiful spin move and strike to score from distance. The American’s second goal started off a pass from Rapinoe that allowed Leroux to break down the side and into the box to find Christen Press.

With the Americans leading 2-1, it was Rapinoe who once again stepped up to score the insurance goal.

Unfortunately she was given a yellow card that seemed a bit controversial. That puts her at risk of a suspension with another yellow card in the tournament and the USWNT can’t afford to lose her.

4.) The USA needs Alex Morgan

With the defense clearly being the weak point of this American team aspiring for a World Cup trophy, the offense could have to overcome this. Think about those spread college football offenses that focus on outscoring their opponents to make-up for their shortcomings on defense, that is the strategy the USWNT need to take.

With Alex Morgan on the bench, where she started against Australia, the USWNT is lacking offensive fire power. Morgan has been battling an injury and says she is ready to go but USWNT coach Jill Ellis is trying to protect Morgan from doing too much, too soon. Instead, Morgan is relegated to a super-sub role like Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez played for Mexico in the 2014 World Cup. Hernandez reluctantly embraced that role while Morgan’s injury has forced her into this role.

Looking back to the 2011 Women’s World Cup, Morgan came off the bench in every game she played. She has yet to start a game in any World Cup.

The offensive spark with a fresh set of legs is intriguing, but Morgan starting the game and building comfortable leads would lower the blood pressure of American soccer fans everywhere instead of Morgan coming in to save the day.

Fortunately Morgan didn’t have to come in to save the day thanks to the heroics and outstanding performance of Rapinoe. Morgan did come into the game with a little over 10 minutes left and a 3-1 lead, and her presence and impact on the offense was evident immediately.

There are concerns about her fitness level, coming off an injury, but the USWNT could need her earlier rather than later. This could all be held off until the knockout round, using her as a super sub in the group stage when potentially three teams could advance isn’t a bad strategy, but the USWNT could need her in the starting lineup in the elimination games.

Where does the USA stand?

The Americans are in the toughest group in the Women’s World Cup, with No. 5 Sweden, No. 10 Australia and No. 33 Nigeria. Fortunately Nigeria did the American women a solid earlier in the day holding the Swedish team to a draw.

In the second half the Americans came out and scored to take a commanding lead and win the game, three points and the lead in the group. If they can continue to improve they’d be in good shape, but they have two group stage games left to get it together.

The United States play Sweden on Friday night, and a win would give them six points they’d be in great position to advance and win the group. Sweden was supposed to be their biggest challenger in the group and the draw against Nigeria put them in a rough spot.

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