Commentary
USA-Portugal Women's Friendly Player Ratings
- by Mike Woitalla @MikeWoitalla, Sep 3, 2019
Sept 3 in St. Paul, Minnesota
USA 3 Portugal 0. Goals: Lloyd 22, 32 (pen.), Horan 83.
Att.: 19,600.
Carli Lloyd struck twice in the first half and Lindsey Horan capped the scoring in the second half for a 3-0 U.S. win over Portugal. Despite not matching the four goals it scored in last Thursday's shutout win over Portugal, the USA, which hit the crossbar three times on Tuesday, gave a more polished performance overall. The only remarkable difference in Portuguese play was they fouled twice as much as they did on Tuesday. One of their 12 fouls gave the USA the penalty kick that Lloyd finished to make it 2-0.
USA Player Ratings
(1=low; 5=middle; 10=high.)
GOALKEEPER
The USA could have won this game without using a goalkeeper. Portugal managed one shot and it didn't come close enough to the goal to
require a save from Alyssa Naeher.
Player (Club) caps/goals (age)
5
Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars) 54/- (31)
DEFENDERS
The ineptitude of Portugal's offense is almost
painful to watch, but the U.S. defense does deserve some credit for creating such a magnificent mismatch. The Portuguese did beat Sweden 2-1 last January. Besides tackling crisply and intercepting
passes on the few occasions when the U.S. midfield hadn't already won the ball, the passing by Abby Dahlkemper, especially, and Co., kept the Portuguese chasing in vain and sparked
attacks. The usually much more aggressive Crystal Dunn didn't attack that much. But it wasn't necessary. Emily Sonnett took part in buildup to the 1-0 goal.
Player (Club) caps/goals (age)
6 Emily Sonnett (Portland
Thorns) 37/0 (25)
7 Abby Dahlkemper (NC Courage) 50/0 (26)
7
Becky Sauerbrunn (Utah Royals) 167/0 (34)
6 Crystal Dunn
(NC Courage) 93/24 (27)
MIDFIELDERS
The consistent play of Julie Ertz, defensively and going forward,
continues to be a great strength for this U.S. team. Sam Mewis forced a good diving save from goalkeeper Ines Pereira in the 28th minute. Morgan Brian shot high and
wide twice late in the second half.
Player (Club) caps/goals (age)
6 Morgan Brian (Chicago Red Stars) 85/7 (26)
8
Julie Ertz (Chicago Red Stars) 91/19 (27)
6 Sam Mewis (NC Courage)
59/14 (26)
FORWARDS
Carli Lloyd troubled the Portuguese throughout the game and got the USA on the board from
a close-range after Pereira parried a shot from Jessica McDonald, who should have scored when her first-half header from two yards hit the crossbar, a feat she
repeated in the second half from six yards. The Portuguese resorted to fouls to stop Tobin Heath but the third time did so in the a penalty area, setting up Lloyd's goal from the
mark.
Player (Club) caps/goals (age)
6
Jessica McDonald (NC Courage) 10/2 (31)
7 Carli Lloyd
(Sky Blue FC) 2834/117 (37)
6 Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns) 159/32 (31)
SUBSTITUTES
Lindsey Horan took over the playmaker's after coming on at halftime for Ertz, who moved to the backline. After a searing shot off
the crossbar and one that went too high, Horan scored on a header from Christen Press' corner kick. Press, also a halftime sub, forced a decent save in the 50th minute after latching
on to a Lloyd pass. Tierna Davidson played much better after coming on at halftime than she did as a starter on Thursday when her passes mostly went askew. Mallory
Pugh set up a Horan shot but her play lacked spark. Kristen Hamilton became the USA's first debutant of 2019.
Player
(Club) caps/goals (age)
6 Christen
Press (Utah Royals) 126/49 (30)
7 Tierna Davidson (Chicago Red Stars) 23/1
(20)
7 Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns) 77/12 (25)
6 Casey Short (Chicago Red Stars) 29/0 (29)
4
Mallory Pugh (Washington Spirit) 58/17
5 Kristen Hamilton (NC Courage) 1/0 (27)
TRIVIA 1:
Jill Ellis is now tied with Tony DiCicco for most wins by a women's U.S. national team coach.
TRIVIA
2: Portugal has failed to score against the USA while losing all nine games between the two teams.
Sept 3 in St. Paul,
Minnesota
USA 3 Portugal 0. Goals: Lloyd 22, 32 (pen.), Horan 83.
USA -- Naeher; Sonnett (Short, 46), Dahlkemper, Sauerbrunn
(Horan, 46), Dunn (Davidson, 46); Brian, Ertz, Mewis (Pugh, 57); Heath (Press, 46), Lloyd, McDonald (Hamilton, 76).
Portugal -- Pereira; Borges (Fidalgo, 46), Rebelo,
D.Gomes, M.Mendez; Marques Mahlo (D.Silva, 61), T.Pinto, F.Pinto 46, Di.Silva; C.Mendes, Norton (Neto, 61).
Yellow cards: USA -- Lloyd 78; Portugal -- D.Silva 81. Red
cards: none
Referee: Ekaterina Koroleva (USA).
Att.: 19,600.
Stats:
USA/Portugal
Shots:21/1
Shots on target: 10/1
Saves: 0/7
Corner Kicks: 6/0
Fouls: 8/12
Offside: 0/2
Possession: 62%/38%
I was impressed by Portugal's keeper and by the fact that Portugal only has 3,000 registered female players.
Didn't see the game...didn't want to see the game after having watched the previous one. Looking at the stats, this game like the previous one is a joke....
She keep playing teams like that, Ellis will defitely surpass DiCicco in having the most wins...Impressive<sarc>
Agree with frank schoon comment! Another "Hohum" game! In my opinion the best player on the field is A. Dahlkemper, kinda reminds me of "The Kaiser" Beckenbauer in her play, calm, cool, collected, consistant, does not seek the attention and limelight like some on the team. Hopefully the new coach will do a complete overhaul and bring in some more younger players for the future. Time for some to retire from the WNT.
Nick...am I expecting a 3rd game with Portugal? If so, I'm leaving town!!
Come on guys, this is the BEST team in the world.
That alone is reason to watch.
It's the USA and it's fun.
5 or 6 of these ladies will not be around much longer.
Enjoy it (them) while you can.
Bob, I agree. Great performace by the Portuguese goalie>
I think u guys missing the point of these games.
its for fans that couldn’t go to the WC to see their heroes play in front of them.
and for Portugal it’s for them to sort out their roster and work on things before the euro qualifiers.
and they need to play the best to get things corrected.
like their poor marking on set pieces in the box.
i don’t think anyone going to the games to see replay WC games. Clearly calling a victory tour you not going to see Sweden, Holland playing the games.
What marking? ;)
I totally get the hype, but, if your the best in the world, then you should play like it for the fans! at least play a somewhat of a competitive team.
Nick, you have to be realistic about scheduling. There are no "competitive" teams for us outside of the top ten, and only the best of those few are a real challenge.
Every program is concerned about the training schedule and peaking for competition. We get top teams at the Tournament of Nations. We are the undisputed strongest program in the world. Those top teams are not going to want to play us too often or it won't fit their training plan. Every nation is also concerned about expenses. A trip to the US is very expensive. I suspect that these opponents were chosen from those nations willing to make the trip at that time.