Champagne showers, beer slip-n-slides, and yet another major trophy secured for the U.S. women’s national team.
Hero of the night, captain Lindsey Horan, lifted the inaugural 2024 W Gold Cup trophy high into the air on Sunday night after she scored the winning goal in first-half stoppage time for a 1-0 victory over Brazil.
As the highly contested first period progressed with Brazil jumping on the front foot early, the Americans grew into the game, improving with each minute played. Their reward came when Sam Coffey won the ball in midfield to release Trinity Rodman down the right wing. Rodman found help in Emily Fox who played a looping cross to the back post where Horan called off Alex Morgan to head home the opener.
“I was screaming at Alex to leave it because I knew I was in on goal,” Horan recalled. “So I keep saying I give her a second assist for that because she heard me and she left it.”
Carrying their lead into the second half, the USWNT logically decided to focus on shutting the door defensively. Though that meant seeing even less of the ball, it also meant none of Brazil’s 11 shots on the night hit the target. Alyssa Naeher – who was named Best Goalkeeper of the W Gold Cup – didn’t have a save to make. Teammate Jaedyn Shaw was fellow award-winner on the night as the tournament’s Best Player and the USWNT earned the Fair Play Award as a team as well.
In vanquishing some of the demons from their early World Cup exit last year, the USWNT won their mind-blowing 10th consecutive competitive final while keeping their opposition out of the back of the net in the last six.
“I think it speaks to a level of focus. It speaks to the level of detail that we put into each of these games,” analyzed Naeher. “I think every time we’ve gone into a final we embrace the big moment.”
That recent finals record speaks for itself but these international tournaments are becoming continually more difficult to win…
Source link : https://sbisoccer.com/2024/03/resiliency-leads-uswnt-to-inaugural-w-gold-cup-victory
Author : Justin Ruderman
Publish date : 2024-03-11 10:51:48
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