For USWNT, Canada draw may feel like a loss

The USWNT and Canada battled to a 1-1 draw at BC Place on Thursday. The result should feel very different for the two sides.

In front of a sellout crowd at BC Place in Vancouver on Thursday night, the U.S. women’s national team battled Canada’s women’s national team to a 1-1 draw. The last time the USWNT played at BC Place the game went quite differently: for one, two-time World Player of the Year Carli Lloyd notched a hat-trick, and for another the USWNT scored five goals against Japan to win the 2015 World Cup. But much has changed since then. Lloyd came into the game as a second-half sub and hardly saw the ball, and the USWNT were managed only 11 shots on goal to Canada’s 19.

The evening showed that despite their riding a six-game unbeaten streak, Jill Ellis’ squad are still very much beatable, a very different take-away from the previous kick-arounds at BC Place. The USWNT hold a 47-3-7 advantage all-time against Canada, yet the Canadians didn’t for a second back down against the U.S., and arguably dominated most of the game.

Ties are hard to wrap your head around in soccer, because they force you to question whether the game was really as even as the scoreline suggests. They also sometimes just feel like a loss, which is probably how the USWNT are viewing the result. For Canada, the match was much more encouraging.

When a tie feels like an L

It just wasn’t good soccer from Ellis’ side. The midfield was sloppy, the defense looked rattled when trying to play out of the back and the flanks weren’t optimized despite having endless room to play through. Orlando Pride forward Alex Morgan was the lone scorer, notching her 79th career goal with the national team. Her finish came in the 37th minute and extends her scoring to six goals in the team’s last six competitions. So while Morgan deserves a pat on the back for her feat, the rest of the team has some catching up to do.

https://twitter.com/ussoccer_wnt/status/928837962598666240

The USWNT went out in a 4-3-3, with the midfield tucked in leaving lots of room to play out wide for Lynn Williams and Megan Rapinoe. Although a good thought, Samantha Mewis and Lindsey Horan were pressed well throughout the entire match, forcing them to a play a lot of first- and second-time passes. It didn’t result in great execution out wide.

The USWNT are going to have to find a way to find Rapinoe and Williams if they’re going to play a 4-3-3. Julie Ertz was also in the starting midfield, however her role ended up being more of a fifth defender, making sure she was in that gap between the defense-midfield line. Ertz has five goals on the year for the USWNT, so keeping her back was safe, but not unnecessary. Ertz could have added a spark in an attacking role — one thing that Santa Clara alum does not lack is bite.

The USWNT will face criticism any time they fail to win. That’s perhaps unfair at times, but those are the standards — and that’s a good thing. A tie like this won’t sit well with any of the U.S. players, who should respond accordingly in Sunday’s contest.

Next: USWNT vs. Canada: 3 things to know ahead of the match

When a tie feels like a W

When Adriana Leon tied things up in BC Place, Canada’s head coach John Herdman’s reaction was as if his team just won the game.

Canada were hungry, dangerous and kept the USWNT on their heels despite not having beaten the Americans since 2001. The game wasn’t anywhere close to perfect in midfield from either side, but when the clock began to run out it was the Canadians who looked like they were going to finish on top. In the 71st minute, Maegan Kelly came on for Canada and had two chances almost right away. She fired an absolute stunner in the 82nd but USWNT goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher was able to get a hand on it, and almost made up for her miss minutes later, but Naeher saved well again.

A point felt good for Canada, who could rightly feel like they were the better side. They’ll look to seal the deal in Sunday’s second leg.