Canada was down a good 4-5 players including Sinclair and the US took way too long to get their first goal, 79' from a 64' substitute, Rose Lavelle, barely 10' to go and they finally net one, way too long. Allowing a far inferior team, but not on this night, to hang around and give them a punchers chance not good at all. Beating a depleted team that your "B" Team should trounce, by one, is not a good thing with Brazil up next. Every game is a statement game, Europe is closing the gap in a big way, the US must make it known that they are still the big dogs, should they still be.
Yes the #1 team played the #8, that should not be a difficult win for the top seed, but it was. Be however dominant you like with shots, shots on goal, possession, winning by one single solitary strike of the ball is not acceptable. This same performance on the weekend with Marta, Debhina etc. will be fatal, make no mistake about that. hey now have the edge on the US by way of goals. An early yellow to a member Canada should have been exploited, keep going at her, a non called PK on a hand ball by the US may have been their saving grace here. Might that have awakened the giant that is the USWNT, yes, might it have lit a fire under Canada yes, so wo knows how that would have played out. Bottom line, they were not good enough. Shots flying hither and yon, not on goal, get it on frame. Forcing passes into a player not just marked but double teamed, not wise. Sheridan the GK for Sky Blue suffers an early injury, you must then pepper the new one with shots, test her ASAP, she was more than up for the challenge making many saves and stops, a great showing for herself. Often times it is a matter of not taking enough shots, this time it was a matter of not putting them on net.
The trio from Sky Blue in he game, sadly the GK went down with an injury but Lloyd and Purce had decent games How lopsided was the game see these numbers, some are sad:
Shots: USA 29/8 Canada
Shots on Goal: USA 10/3 Canada had 9 saves
Corners 13/5
In the 17' the US relented for the first shot on them in 302'.
With such a dominant showing how do you win by one? Almost 4x the number of shots on goal and it is tied for almost 80', the GK played well, but not that well. Barely 1/3 of your shots on frame. Off to finishing school the lot of you. All those corners show the pressure they put on Canada but nothing came of them. Yes a few were gadget plays a bit, short, played other than into the area and the like, yes now is ok to experiment, but build a lead before experimenting in your offensive third. An opponent may clog the middle all they like, you are far and away he better team solve it. our outside players are world class, let them do their thing. Just not a good game as a whole.