I'm surprised no one else has commented on that early foul by Dunn, when her head clashed with White's face. It should've been at least a yellow card. And, frankly, depending on the ref at the World Cup, the US could've been playing a man down for 85 minutes. I'm not happy with the ref (Karen Abt?).
46' 2-0 USA subs in (1 of 6) #3 Samantha Mewis for #16 Rose Lavelle. 48' 2-0 Dunn longball toward Morgan at arc top left, cleared into far touch. 49' 2-0 Dahlkemper right throw-in at circle back, to O'Hara up right touch, and she calls out "you can turn". O'Hara long cross to box top arc left, Lavelle heads ball down 6-left, Rapinoe is left flat-footed at 17m 6-left, not already having-made that cut. 50' 2-0 Backpass, Naeher gets a touch!
51' 2-0 USA long diagonal switch right to Heath sneaking behind Green(?), alone to 5m wide right. Ground cross to right post has wrong bend, ends up as a shross instead of a pass, Nayler dives and blocks it over endline left. 52' 2-0 Heath taps to S.Mewis running through 24m mid-left. Pass left to Rapinoe through box top mid-left to 15m, she shoots left foot too thin, wide left low into left bottom pipe.
56' 2-0 USA steals, Rapinoe counters through box top mid-left, cuts inside to 14m 6-left, New Zealand knocks it off her shoe, popping up high. Ball drops toward 6-top left post, Morgan stretch-pokes toward left 90, Nayler reflex-pushes it over bar. 57' 2-0 Rapinoe left ck, (deflected?) high to box right foot. Heath crosses to 2m center, headed away high to 12m left post. Dunn tries a left roundhouse but whiffs, it bounces under her feet, New Zealand poke it leftward. Rapinoe shoots from 12m box left, wide left low. 60' 2-0 New Zealand subs in (1 of 6) #22 Olivia Chance for #16 Katie Duncan. 60' 2-0 USA subs in: - (2 of 6) #10(c<=) Carli Lloyd for #15(<=c) Megan Rapinoe - (3 of 6) #11 Ali Krieger (100th cap!) for #5 Kelley O'Hara.
Mewis absolutely should start for this team. She is a great player... maybe the best center mid we have
61' 3-0 USA right throw-in near midfield. S.Mewis poaches it past Percival, outpaces her to 28m arc left, has Morgan to her left -- instead threads a perfect diagonal pass the other way, to Heath wide-open through box top mid-right. Lloyd follows Erceg through 7m center (hence onside ), veers left, Heath passes to her at 6m 1/4 left, Lloyd taps into center back low. Subs in, scores seconds later. @CarliLloyd with her fourth goal in three consecutive games 🔥 pic.twitter.com/6WtKFxnEZw— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) May 17, 2019 65' 3-0 Heath(?) crosses from box top wide right to 14m right post, Lloyd spins away from Erceg and twist-heads wide right.
67' 3-0 Krieger passes through box top right to 12m mid-right for Heath running inside-out. Heath dummies ball through own legs and nutmegs Longo chasing her, rounds Longo to 6-top right, sits down and pokes ball toward right post low. Nayler dives and catches well. (Actually, Krieger nutmegged Longo ) 69' 3-0 New Zealand subs in (2 of 6) #19 Paige Satchell for #3 Anna Green. --' 3-0 USA subs in: 72' (4 of 6) #2 Mallory Pugh for #17 Tobin Heath 73' (5 of 6) #23 Christen Press for #13 Alex Morgan 73' (6 of 6) #20 Allie Long for #8 Julie Ertz.
Agreed. Mewis should be a locked-in starter, not Horan. Lavelle making a strong case to be a starter as well. I've been saying it for a couple months... I think our starting mids should be Lavelle, Mewis, Ertz. I'm fine with Horan, I just think the others are playing better.
Ian Darke just said "Crystal Dunn might be a candidate for Player of the Match"?!?!?! Huh? This might be the worst game I've ever seen Dunn play.
83' 4-0 USA lulls New Zealand with a string of fruitless passes. Long slides at circle center and pokes ball loose, Lavelle collects and dribbles to circle top left. Inside-out pass pierces New Zealand's high line, to Press wide-open through arc top wide left. Press bends a ground cross to spot, Lloyd has inside position on #_, slides and taps a floater over Nayler's right shoulder, into back left low. Make that 🖐🏼 goals for @CarliLloyd in her last three games. It's her world and we're living in it. pic.twitter.com/K0AbqI0Bnh— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) May 17, 2019 84' 5-0 Press backpass to S.Mewis at 22m mid-left. Mewis cuts inside to 24m arc left, shoots right foot off #_'s turned back, deflects into back left low, with Nayler wrong-footed at goalline center.
NZ put up very little resistance but it was a well deserved win and about what should be expected. Now if we can play OK against Mexico and avoid any injuries we will be about as set as we can be going to France.
An impressive win by a US team over a New Zealand team that ought to be in better physical condition at this point in a World Cup year. All the U.S. players were good -- except for Rapinoe and Morgan, even though Rapinoe had one lovely assist. Lavelle played hard for a full 90 minutes. Mewis demonstrated once again that from 25 yards out in the center of the pitch she might be the most dangerous U.S. shooter. Sonnett and McDonald are maybe the only field players who haven't appeared in the last two games. Maybe they'll be in a World Cup match only in an emergency situation. But I'd like to see McDonald.
Agreed... especially about Morgan. I thought Dunn struggled as much or more than Morgan. It was the worst game I've ever seen Dunn play that I can remember. Double-digit turnovers and didn't create many opportunities going forward.