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Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan Score as USWNT Beats France in 2021 Friendly
April 13, 2021
The United States women's national soccer team wrapped up its two-game European tour schedule with a 2-0 win over France on Tuesday at Stade Oceane.
Team USA entered this international friendly coming off a disappointing draw against Sweden on Saturday.
Saturday's result ended the Americans' winning streak at 16 games. The last team to beat them was France in January 2019.
Coming out of Saturday's draw, Megan Rapinoe made a point of saying that was the kind of game the U.S. needed.
“Even throughout the whole game, I was kind of thinking, ‘This is exactly what we need.’ We didn’t play well. We were very sloppy. Tactically we needed to be a lot better, and just individually,” Rapinoe told reporters. “But those are the games where you kind of have to dig in.”
Rapinoe wasted no time putting the U.S. in control with a penalty-kick goal in the sixth minute.
The penalty was awarded when Alex Morgan was fouled inside the box. Rapinoe's goal extended her streak of consecutive penalty kicks to seven dating back to 2016:
Team USA came out of the gate as the more aggressive side. They had three shots on goal in the first 30 minutes of the first half.
Alex Morgan, who had one goal in the previous six games this year, put the U.S. up 2-0 in the 19th minute with a perfectly-placed shot on an assist from Christen Press.
The French team was rolling coming into this match. They are No. 3 in the FIFA world rankings and had won five consecutive matches by a combined score of 22-1.
The Blues' offense could get nothing going against the United States. They only had one shot on goal on three total attempts.
Caitlin Murray @caitlinmurrHalftime: 2-0. Good half for the #USWNT where they could've scored more. Not at their sharpest right now, but there are still moments of nice combination play and individual skill that show what they can do. With several stars out, France looking a bit deflated from the outset.
France looked sluggish throughout, but it shouldn't be discouraged looking ahead to the Olympics in July. The Blues played this match without Amandine Henry, Wendy Renard, Delphine Cascarino because of a COVID-19 outbreak in their club team Lyon.
This still wasn't a perfect performance by Team USA, despite the win. They committed eight fouls, including a yellow card for Carli Lloyd for a questionable tackle call late in the second half, and were called offsides five times.
Even with some flaws in the match, the Americans were able to go on cruise control after taking an early 2-0 lead. They will be off for two months before resuming play on June 10 at the Tournament of Nations.