USWNT Beats Australia 2-1: 4 Thoughts from the Win

The United States Women’s National Team battled to a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Australia on Sunday afternoon in the second match of the team’s post-Olympic victory tour.

After going into the half down 1-0, the U.S. made the most of its halftime substitutions, scoring twice in the last 45 minutes to pick up another win.

Here are four thoughts from the match.

The USWNT Will Need to Start Experimenting at Right Back After the Victory Tour

Amy LePeilbet will be 33 by the time the 2015 World Cup, the next major tournament in the women’s game, kicks off. And while she has provided some solid play in the back for the USWNT over the past few years, one has to seriously wonder if she can continue to get it done for three more years.

Never the most fleet-of-foot, LePeilbet may be moved into the center of defense, but she would face some serious competition there as well. Ali Krieger, who injured her knee during Olympic qualifying, should be back in the team soon, but that still doesn’t leave the U.S. with much depth at outside back, especially considering that Heather Mitts will be retiring soon.

Meghan Klingenberg is expected by many to become a full-time USWNT player very soon, and the U.S.’ U-20 World Cup-winning side fielded an outstanding right back in Crystal Dunn.

The other, less conventional choice would be Amy Rodriguez. There are a lot of reasons to consider Rodriguez for the role, not the least of which is that she is going to continue to struggle to find minutes in the U.S. attack.

On Saturday, Rodriguez again struggled, missing a number of nice opportunities, failing to provide service into the box after being put in behind a number of times and losing possession on a number of occasions.

Tobin Heath, Megan Rapinoe, Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan are all clearly better than Rodriguez and Sydney Leroux and Heather O’Reilly can come off the bench to add as much, or more, than Rodriguez in the attack.

Shannon Boxx’s Impact on the Game Was Palpable

In the first half, the U.S. struggled. Australia got off a number of chances and could have easily been up 2-0 or even 3-0 at the half. Meanwhile, the U.S. offense struggled to get much going.

Lauren Cheney and Carli Lloyd, neither of whom is a holding midfielder, couldn’t get possession going for the U.S. and neither stayed home to break up the Australian attack. Worse, even though they were both playing higher up the pitch, they couldn’t put enough pressure on Australia’s midfield to prevent repeated long-ball services in behind the U.S. defense.

At the half, Shannon Boxx was introduced into the game. Suddenly, the Australian attack floundered and the U.S. attack sprung to life.

With Boxx holding, Lauren Cheney, Tobin Heath and newly introduced Heather O’Reilly were able to get forward more effectively and the Australians could no longer find space in front of the U.S. back line to generate their attack.

While much had been made about the potential loss of Christie Rampone heading into the next World Cup cycle, the loss of Shannon Boxx may have the greatest impact on the USWNT going forward. Boxx is one of those typical holding midfielders who does all the dirty work, yet rarely receives the credit for a team’s success.

Tobin Heath Was Brilliant

Tobin Heath had one of her most impressive performances yet for the USWNT, making pass after pass to break down the Australian defense.

She had a brilliant ball to put Morgan in behind in the 29th minute, a beautiful cutback to create a shot for herself in the 45th minute, put Morgan in behind in the 61st on the play which created the penalty kick the U.S. took the lead on, had a beautiful cross-field pass to Leroux to put her in behind in the 84th minute and had a great ball to O’Hara in the 91st minute.

It’s tough to tell what’s more impressive when watching Heath play—her ability to make the passes she makes, or the ability to see the space in the first place.

We May Have Seen the First Cracks in Christie Rampone’s Invicibility

During the broadcast on Saturday, NBC announcer Arlo White stated that Rampone had informed him that she would stay for one more year with the USWNT and “then we’ll see.”

The 37-year-old Rampone would be 40 years old by the time the 2015 World Cup rolled around, but she has been so solid for so long, that doesn’t seem completely impossible.

However, on Saturday, Rampone, normally the fastest player on the field, was outrun by Australian attackers on two separate occasions.

First, in the 19th minute, Aussie attacker Sarah Walsh, who is retiring after the U.S.-Australia game on Wednesday, outran Rampone to get a shot off that ricocheted off the post.

Then, in the 34th minute, Australian Lisa De Vanna turned Rampone 60 yards from goal and, while carrying the ball on the dribble, managed to outrun Rampone all the way to the U.S. goal before coolly slotting past American keeper Hope Solo to give the Aussies the lead.

Sure, this game was a friendly, and the USWNT has not been training together regularly as of late, but these are not good signs going forward.

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