USWNT Fails to Impress Fans with Last-Minute Loss to Brazil in International Friendly

The United States Women's National Team's recent dominance of Brazil came to an abrupt end.

Brazil defeated the Americans 2-1 in Tuesday's friendly at PayPal Park in San Jose, California, just three days after the Red, White and Blue looked much more impressive in a 2-0 victory in Saturday's friendly at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

Amanda Gutierres scored the winner in the 95th minute after the visitors controlled the pace for much of the second half.

The two-contest series served as a rematch of the gold medal game of the 2024 Paris Olympics, which the United States won.

It seemed like the Americans would cruise to another win when Catarina Macario opened the scoring in the very first minute, but Brazil was the better side from there and drew even with a goal from Kerolin in the opening half before Gutierres played the role of hero.

United States head coach Emma Hayes used a heavily rotated lineup as she continues to evaluate her players ahead of the 2027-28 cycle that will include a World Cup and Olympics, and the result was a lackluster effort in the second half.

Social media seemed to think so as well:

Despite the disappointing finish, the United States entered Tuesday's game with plenty of momentum after Trinity Rodman and Lindsey Heaps scored in Saturday's 2-0 win. It wasted no time building on that momentum right out of the gates.

Alyssa Thompson broke free into the open field to put pressure on Brazil's defense, and Macario was there to clean it up when goalkeeper Natascha was unable to maintain possession. The Chelsea forward took full advantage of the mistake by Brazil's back end and gave the Americans a 1-0 lead in the first minute.

However, Brazil settled in from there and created a number of chances moving forward in a back-and-forth first half.

The best chance for the visitors in that first half came when Kerolin had nothing but space in front of her on the left side, which allowed her to pick her corner and score the equalizer with very little defensive pressure.

While the first half was wide open with a multitude of chances for both sides, the second half took on a choppier feel with a handful of substitutions, injury delays and whistles.

But that slower pace didn't stop Brazil from pressing the American defense and creating some opportunities with corner kicks and chances inside the box. To the United States' credit, the defense passed most of those tests by clogging passing lanes and deflecting multiple shots.

Yet it didn't stop Brazil's final chance, which led to a discouraging loss on home soil.