Chile falls 3-0 against U.S. Women's National Team in first friendly
The U.S. Women’s National Team finalized their first friendly against Chile with a 3-0 win from a match that had seen several yellow cards, uncounted goals, and a mix of interesting calls.
The U.S. started out with solidified passing and Chile was able to stand their ground until the eighth minute. 19-year-old defender Tierna Davidson scored her first international goal with a header that came through from Tobin Heath and gave the Chile an intimidating start to the half.
Chile was on the move to score an equalizer, but U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher deflected any opportunities in favor of Chile.
The U.S. continued to press through on their shots on goal, but goalkeeper Christiane Endler was alert of what came her way and made a total of nine saves for the South American team.
Things shook up for the U.S. just before the half and Heath consistently served the ball on taking the corners. Chile felt the threat in the accuracy of Heath’s corner in the 32nd minute and in attempt to control the ball for clearance, defender Carla Guerrero let the ball go past the goal line before clearing it, which gave the U.S. another lead under their belt to stand ahead 2-0.
In frustration of their mistake, Chile struggled to find players open for passing and the U.S. capitalized on their struggles and with the ball to the back of the net in favor of the U.S, referee Katja Koroleva disregarded the goal in the 39th minute and used reasoning of encroachment to revoke the penalty kick goal by Christen Press before the first half came to an end.
To come back from the two goals lost, Press finished the cross from fellow forward Mallory Pugh and scored her 45th international goal. Before the match, Press was recognized for her 100th cap with the U.S. and scoring in this match topped off her success and made up from the original excitement of her goal.
“Christen has been a player that’s just been there and it hasn’t been an easy path at times,” said head coach Jill Ellis. “I think she’s a good teammate, role model, and obviously a very talented player that has helped us and for her to get 100 caps and 45 goals has just been a high output from her, it’s been fantastic.”
In the final minutes of the match, the atmosphere of the crowd impacted the high intensity of the play on the pitch and cheers echoed through the stadium as the U.S. finished an unfamiliar team with a 3-0 victory.
“It is really different when you play against an opponent that you’re not familiar with and a lot of the opponents we’ve recently faced with Tournament of Nations and China, we’ve played them so many times so we kind of know how to manage those games,” Press commented. “The game tonight was a little wild and I think part of that was because we have never played them before.”
The U.S. will face Chile again for the final friendly of the year before the World Cup qualifiers take place in October. Both teams will meet in San Jose, CA on Tuesday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. PT and will be aired on ESPN2.
“This was a good game in terms of our preparation for the qualifiers and the types of styles and things that we’ll see,” said Ellis. “I think for us its focusing on our game, ball movement, precision, and final third. I think it was two good halves, but I think we got room for improvement.”
Interview quotes were reported with media credentials by Jackie Gutierrez at SubHub Center on Aug. 31 with Prost Amerika Soccer.
