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The U.S. women’s national team is headed back to the Olympic knockout stages as group winners.
Emma Hayes’ squad earned a 2-1 win over Australia in their final group stage match on Wednesday. Led once again by their world-class attacking trident, Korbin Albert added her first international goal to send the Americans into the quarterfinals on a high note.
Despite nearly having the group locked up after two matches, Hayes opted for an unchanged starting lineup in the final USWNT group stage match aside from the injured Tierna Davidson. The 12 different starters used in the group stage marked the fewest for a USWNT team in a major tournament since the team started the same exact lineup in all three group stage matches at the 2000 Olympics.
Although the choice of lineup was successful in securing the top spot in Group B, the decision-making quickly backfired in the third minute when Sam Coffey received her second booking of the group stage, resulting in a suspension for the upcoming quarterfinal match. Luckily, Trinity Rodman did not join her despite also being at risk.
Of course, both managers had difficult decisions to make in a group-deciding match.
Having conceded five goals in their previous match against Zambia, Australia opted to begin the game in a 5-4-1 low block against the high-scoring Americans. For much of the first half, the tactic proved difficult for the USWNT to break down. Shots were not hard to come by for the USWNT, who had nearly 80% possession, but Australian goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold made six first-half saves.
In the first half an hour, Australia also prevented the Americans from creating dead ball opportunities but in the final fifteen minutes of the half, the USWNT produced five corner kicks for themselves. After all, if breaking down a low block is proving challenging, the team needs to carve a new route towards goal.
That is precisely what Rodman did when she stabbed home a pinball in the box from the…
Source link : https://sbisoccer.com/2024/07/uswnt-tops-olympic-group-with-slim-win-over-australia
Author : Larry Henry Jr
Publish date : 2024-07-31 19:49:31
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