After a scoreless first half, the USWNT came out sharp and broke through just two minutes after the restart. The opener came from an unlikely center-back combination: Wesley, on for Tierna Davidson, headed the ball across the box to a trailing Naomi Girma, who nodded it home at the far post. It was Girma’s third international goal, all headers.
“I believe to win the biggest things, you have to have the ball, because I think you saw with Japan in the third game, having to play without it,” Hayes said after the match.
The USWNT then doubled the lead with a team goal, sparked by a a cheeky high double-nine play from Rose Lavelle. Lindsey Heaps collected the ball in the midfield, then found Trinity Rodman making a run up the wing. Rodman slipped Lavelle in, who was playing high against Japan’s high defensive line. Lavelle’s finish marked her second goal in the USWNT’s last three games. Less than 10 minutes later, it was super center-back sub Wesley who did the somewhat unthinkable, scoring her first international goal to extend the USWNT’s lead by three in the 67th minute. Wesley used the outside part of her foot to get a piece of a cross and redirect it past Japan’s Chika Hirao.
The USWNT outlasted Japan in the three-game series 2-1, and this match saw Hayes implement 10 changes to the roster, with 20-year-old midfielder Claire Hutton being the only player who started the last game and this one. With Heaps’ hometown of Golden, Colo, just 20 miles away, she was named captain ahead of the match.
“This is her hometown,” Hayes said about Heaps. “I think she’s been superb again this tournament, not just as a leader, it’s important I say this, but as an important contributor.”
From Tierna Davidson’s heroic return to the starting lineup, to defensive magic between Girma and Wesley, and naturally a Lavelle speciality, the USWNT took care of business in Heaps and Wilson’s home state.
GOAL rates the USWNT’s players from DICK’s Sporting Goods Park…
AloJapan.com