USWNT Defeats Canada, Alex Morgan Injures Knee

The United States Women’s National Team defeated Canada 2-1 on Saturday afternoon in the team’s Olympic send-off match held at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah.

The result follows a great string of victories for the USWNT, including recent wins over Sweden and Japan.

Here are eight thoughts from the game.

Pia Sundhage Announced “Her Best XI”

The NBC announcers repeatedly said that Sundhage had claimed the starters of Saturday’s game to be “her best XI.”

Most of the choices were predictable, especially after the team’s recent friendlies against Sweden and Japan, but the one choice that would be debatable would be the selection of Tobin Heath over Heather O’Reilly.

To be fair, even though they play the same position, they are not similar players, so a direct comparison is difficult. While Heath is more of a technical—and cheeky—player, O’Reilly’s game is built much more around speed, power and runs down the flanks.

Megan Rapinoe Had an Amazing Game

Early in the game, Rapinoe announced her intention for an all-out effort when she was nearly decapitated in the first 10 seconds trying to get on the end of a service into the box.

Throughout the game, she played like a woman possessed, taking on defenders without fear, driving into the middle and working hard to provide service to the forwards.

Some of her best moments included megging a Canadian defender to win the end line and one sequence in the corner when she beat three Canadian defenders by dribbling them in circles.

Rapinoe created the opening goal with a world-class service into the box behind the Canadian defenders which they bungled into their own net. She also put Alex Morgan in behind the Canadian defense on at least two occasions and provided Abby Wambach with at least two gilt-edge chances laying the ball across the box.

To top the game off, Rapinoe provided the service for the game-winning goal.

The Game Certainly Wasn’t Very “Friendly”

Although it was a “friendly,” the game between these two rivals included a number of crunching challenges.

Rampone was taken out by Christine Sinclair, while Shannon Boxx and Kelley O’Hara were both booked for challenges. Additionally, Abby Wambach was body-blocked in the box in the 67th minute (which went unnoticed by the official), and Canadian forward Lauren Sesselmann’s shorts were literally ripped in half at one point in the game.

Kelley O’Hara Had Another Good Game at Left-Back

The transition of Kelley O’Hara from an attacking player to a left-back has gone remarkably well and is something for which Pia Sundhage should be given credit.

O’Hara, again, went forward very well, provided great service with her left foot (even though she is naturally right-footed) and at one point launched a terrific blast from just outside the 18.

The conversion has gone so well that it makes one think…

Heather O’Reilly or Amy Rodriguez Should Be Converted to Right-Back

Okay, it’s a little too late to be making this switch and O’Hara's conversion started over six months ago, but it has become increasingly obvious over the past year that Heather Mitts is no longer a strong enough option as a backup to Amy LePeilbet and Kelley O’Hara.

As soon as Mitts was introduced, Canada found the equalizer down her side of the field. This problem is even more pronounced heading into the Olympics because the roster size is only 18 players, instead of the usual 23 players for FIFA events. At some point in the Olympic tournament, the U.S. is going to need a third outside-back.

With the U.S. depth at forward and attacking mid, one of these two attacking players could easily be sacrificed to provide some depth and speed to the back line.

O’Reilly’s effort is unmatched, and her service from an outside-back position would be tremendous.

Rodriguez’s speed makes her a strong candidate, too. Even though she scored the game-winner against Canada as a forward, it was obvious, in only a 15-minute span after she was introduced, that Sydney Leroux is a much more dangerous attacker.

Hope Solo Is Ridiculously Good

Solo is the only female goalkeeper in the world that could have made this save. It came in stoppage time of the first half.

Alex Morgan Hurt Her Knee

Shortly into the second half, Alex Morgan went down on what looked to be a fairly innocuous challenge.

At first, it looked like she hurt her shin, but as the trainers were eventually called to the field to give her assistance, it became obvious her knee was the problem.

After being brought to the bench, Morgan was seen with her head in her hands, making many USWNT fans sick to their stomach.

In fact, the only thing that can currently stop Morgan—arguably the best forward in the world right now—is an injury.

USWNT officials later told various sources (such as ESPN Los Angeles) that Morgan was pulled out of the game for precautionary reasons. It is thought that the injury is not serious.

Kudos to NBC for Putting the Game on Their Main Channel and the HD Coverage

After watching the last few USWNT matches on low-quality feeds on NBC's Universal Sports Network, or on choppy live feeds from US Soccer (don't get me wrong, I'd rather take a choppy internet feed than nothing at all), it was a nice change of pace to see the game on a main channel in high-definition. 

Thank you NBC. It is appreciated.

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