U.S. Women Show Resilience in Soccer Win over France

In a tough opening match for both sides, the United States Women’s National Team was able to grind out a hard-fought 4-2 victory over the tenacious French to open up Olympic play.

The win puts the USWNT at the top of Group G and in a strong position to win their group with their toughest opponent now behind them.

Here are five thoughts from the game:

U.S. victory is worth more than three points

Besides giving the U.S. three points to open up group play, the win over France will most likely help the USWNT avoid World Cup champion Japan in the quarterfinals.

Victory showed the U.S. fighting spirit

The first 20 minutes of the American win was a series of disasters for the USWNT. Not only did the U.S. give up two goals in the first 15 minutes, putting itself in an enormous hole to start, it also lost midfield stalwart Shannon Boxx to a hamstring injury.

However, the U.S. recovered from this horrific start by getting both goals back before the half on a header from veteran forward Abby Wambach and a nicely finished volley from striker Alex Morgan, before taking control of the game in the second half to find the win.

U.S. possession improved significantly after the half

In the first half, the U.S. struggled to keep the ball, and the French did well to knock the ball around and create plenty of chances for themselves. Most troubling was one series between the 35th and 40th minutes when the French created three gilt-edged chances for themselves and the U.S couldn’t seem to get a touch on the ball.

However, after the half, with no changes made from coach Pia Sundhage, the U.S. did much better holding the ball, knocking it around their backline, using their midfield width and generating chances from build-up play rather than long drives up the field.

U.S. depth shone through

The game-winning goal was scored on a tremendous strike from midfielder Carli Lloyd, who had not started in the last three games for the U.S. In fact, Lloyd was only brought into the game after Boxx was forced to leave.

With the U.S. able to bring world-class players like Lloyd, who scored the winning goal in the 2008 Olympic gold-medal game, into the game off the bench, the U.S. proved once again it has the depth needed to carry it out through a tough tournament like the Olympics.

Because the Olympic tournament is so compressed—with teams reaching the finals required to play six games in 16 days and the tougher Olympic roster restrictions that limit teams to 18 players rather than the normal 21—the depth that the U.S. has on the bench could certainly be the edge they need to bring home gold.

Alex Morgan gave the French trouble all day

Morgan scored the equalizer on a nice half-volley finish in the 31st after the French defense allowed the ball to drop in behind their backline.  She tallied again in the 66th to put the game away on a tap-in by being in the right place at the right time.

In addition to the two goals, Morgan was also taken down in the box on two separate occasions, in the 44th and 60th, resulting in two dubious no calls, both of which could have easily been penalties.

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