The United States women’s soccer team worked hard after their 2-0 friendly win over Colombia at Rio Tinto on Tuesday that included an hour-long delay due to lightning and inclement weather in Sandy, Utah.
Vlatko Andonovsky’s side had already beaten Colombia 3-0 on Saturday and was playing their last warm-up match before the CONCACAF W Championships in Monterrey, Mexico, with the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and the 2024 Olympics in Paris at stake.
– ESPN FC Women’s Ranking: The 50 best female players in the world
Fifty / 50: ESPN celebrates half a century of Chapter Nine
Among the starters for the Americans was Carson Beckett, who became the first player to enter the field for the women’s national team by a margin, according to US Soccer. The North Carolina Courage defender was born without part of her left arm.
And in the 23rd minute, Sofia Huerta’s cross was passed from the right flank to pass Colombian goalkeeper Catalina Perez through Manuela Vanegas for an own goal and provided the Americans well deservedly after controlling play in the early stages of the match.
Although the United States spent most of the first half as Colombia’s defensive third, Perez kept her side in the game with a mixture of saves and jams in goal to keep the difference at the break.
American goalkeeper Alyssa Naher, who suffered a knee injury at last summer’s Olympics, made an excellent save in the 55th minute to keep the United States ahead, sending a Lesie Santos shot that hit the net from outside the box off the far post. .
Shortly after the hour mark, Andonovsky brought in Mallory Pugh for Megan Rapinoe and Taylor Kornick for Rose Lavelle, where he continued to spread for minutes and play time before a busy July qualifying schedule. Trinity Rodman and Kristi Miwa had already come off the bench at the start of the second half.
Shortly after the 75th minute, the teams were knocked off the field by lightning and the inclement weather in the area, giving both sides a chance to reset the final quarter-hour.
The break paid off for the United States, who returned to the field after a delay of nearly an hour and immediately doubled the lead when substitute Kelly O’Hara’s first aerial shot past Perez to give the Americans a 2-0 lead.
The United States, now unbeaten in 69 consecutive home matches, will play Mexico, Jamaica and Haiti in Group A in the CONCACAF W Championship, which begins on July 4, while they will face Canada, Costa Rica, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago. In group B.
The top two teams in each group earn CONCACAF places for the 2023 World Cup, and the event winner will receive an automatic berth for the 2024 Olympic Games.
