The US women’s team lost again, losing 2-1 to Germany on Thursday night in their first slip out of three matches since 1993 and their first home defeat in more than five years.
Paula Krumbijl scored the decisive goal in the 89th minute for the third-ranked Germany in the exhibition held at the DRV PNK Arena.
Megan Rapinoe scored in the 85th minute for the best Americans unbeaten in 71 consecutive home games. The team’s last home defeat came to Australia in July 2017. The United States lost to England and Spain last month.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga and more (US)
USA coach Vlatko Andonovsky said that while he was unhappy with the loss, he saw a lot of positives.
“We saw what we wanted to see,” Andonovsky said. “We were talking about accuracy in the last third, we talked about the relationship between the three forwards, we talked about the relationship between the midfielders and the strikers. So everything we said we wanted to see in this game, we saw. Now it is clear that we We didn’t see the final touch, and that’s what we’ve been missing.
Lindsey Horan had a good chance for the USA in the 34th minute but her header was off. Moments later, Rose Lavelle’s attempt appeared to veer off Horan and hit the crossbar, but it fell just outside the goal line.
Horan tried a bike kick early in the second half that came off the post. On the counter, United States goalkeeper Casey Murphy made a dramatic save, but Clara Ball fired a rebound that hit the post and bounced off Murphy with an own goal in the 52nd minute.
Rapinoe scored a cross from Alex Morgan to tie the match.
“We changed our tactics in the first half and the USA had really strong standards. Then there was a quick change when we unexpectedly scored and after that we put in a good performance. It was a really good performance,” Germany coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg said through an interpreter. He scored the last two minutes.
It was the first time the United States had conceded multiple goals in three consecutive games since 2001. The Americans fell to England 2-1 at Wembley on October 7, then lost 2-0 to Spain in Pamplona on October 11.
Thursday’s match was the first of two friendlies against Germany to conclude the year. The two teams meet again on Sunday at Red Bull Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, as they prepare for next summer’s Women’s World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
The United States has won the Women’s World Cup in the last two editions and has four titles overall.
Germany is the only other team to win multiple Women’s World Cup titles, titles in 2003 and 2007.
Germany lost to England in the Women’s European Championship final this summer but have won four times in a row since then.
The United States has rearranged its list since taking bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Andonovsky has hired younger players, including 22-year-old forward Sophia Smith, who was named the Women’s National Football League Player of the Year this season.
Referring to Smith, Andonovsky said, “I trust these players. I think these players can score goals. In fact, the front line consists of the top three scorers from the NFL who are qualified to play for this country. Morgan and Mallory Pugh.”
“They have proven that they can score goals, and they have proven that they can play through that. They can score goals in different ways and sometimes it doesn’t. But like I said, I am not worried but I am sure of it. I want them to score more goals.”
The US heads to New Zealand in January for a training camp and two exhibition matches against New Zealand on January 18 and January 21, both at the venues the Americans will play in during the World Cup group stage.
