September 22, (THEWILL) – In a second straight mismatched international friendly with the same Paraguayan national team, the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT), in the early hours of Wednesday, walloped the South Americans 8-nil for an aggregate score of 17 over both legs.
An Alex Morgan hat trick highlighted the goal-scoring in the same way Carli Lloyd, who also scored the seventh goal on Wednesday, highlighted the first tie with a five-goal haul. Other goal-scorers included Rose Lavelle, Sophia Smith and Catarina Macario.
The one-sided traffic of the first half, where five of the eight goals were scored, Morgan scored a brace and she was joined on the score sheet by Lavelle, who opened the scoring in the 4th minute, Smith, who added to the scores two minutes after Lavelle and Macario, whose 15th minute goal saw the USWNT put in five in a quarter of an hour.
There were, surprisingly, no further goals for the remainder of the half hour of the first period. There were chances to increase the tally but the finishing was not as clinical in the side of the reigning World Cup champions and bronze medallists from the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan this year.
Just after Morgan completed her hattrick in the 58th minute, coach Vlatko Andonovski rang in the changes that introduced Lloyd for Morgan and Kristi Mewis for home girl Lavelle, who had enjoyed a beautiful game of her own.
Lloyd marked her introduction with a goal in the 78th minute and Macario wrapped up the scoring with her second of the fixture eight minutes from regulation time to make it 8-0.
The USWNT played a dominant all-round game with a performance level that was simply too high a bar for the ladies from Paraguay to reach. At some point in the second half, the Americans and Paraguayans had a goal-attempt ratio of 21:1, with 78% of possession haul.
The first goal-scorer Lavelle, who is a Cincinnati native, was playing in front of her home crowds and was applauded when she came off for Mewis in the 71st minute after her showing with the first goal and two assists in the course is the 8-0 drubbing made it a spectacular game overall for her.
The retiring Lloyd was also able to get on the scoresheet despite her late entry into the heavily lopsided hostilities and Morgan’s hattrick increased her all-time scoring record for the USWNT. Her total of 114 goals placed her in fifth in the all-time standings which is 16 away from of Kristine Lilly’s and 19 behind Lloyd’s.
Their next fixtures will be another double header against South Korea in October, on the 22nd and again on the 27th as they aim to get tactics, formation and squad in shape for the qualifiers ahead of the defense of their World Cup triumph in 2019.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
