HARRISON, N.J. — The United States women’s national team and Spain played in what may have been the most entertaining match of the 2020 SheBelieves Cup, but a goal did not occur until the 87th minute.
The USWNT pulled out a 1-0 victory thanks to a late header from Julie Ertz.
The two sides played a back-and-forth match that was a demonstration of two different styles: USA’s speed-oriented and physical preference to Spain’s more technical system.
“They can go big if they need to, they can go short. Just their control over the ball and over the game is really impressive,” USWNT forward Megan Rapinoe said. “It’s hard against a team like that.”
The Americans started off strong, but by the 20-minute mark, Spain matched the world champions. The rhythm of the match was fully established by the 24th minute, when the first of quick switches in possession happened. Spain worked to earn an opportunity that came off the crossbar, only for the USWNT to go to the other side and have Lynn Williams take a shot before it was saved by Sandra Paños.
The half continued as such, with USWNT goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher also standing out. She stopped a free kick in the 34th minute that was well within scoring range. Spain, though, had succeeded in throwing the U.S. off its game.
“We did sit a little bit deeper, but it was not intentional,” USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski said. “Every attack started with a long ball from the goalkeeper and then on the second balls, they started building, which set us off a little bit.”
Both teams finished the half with several chances that came close to breaking the deadlock, but they went to halftime goalless.
The match picked up after the break from where it left off, with it also becoming increasingly physical. The U.S. continued to test Paños and the Spain defense, with Ertz and Samantha Mewis combining for a shot in the 60th minute that the Spain goalkeeper again saved.
Both teams began making substitutes midway through the second half, which ended up benefiting the hosts because Christen Press, who subbed on in the 67th minute, assisted on the eventual game-winner.
The USWNT earned a set piece in the 87th minute, a favorite source of goals for the team over the last several years. Press delivered the ball that found Ertz’s head. Ertz, who is clinical from that range and with headers, scored to continue the team’s streak of scoring in 58 consecutive games.
“All I have to do is put my head on that,” Ertz said, commenting on the ease she felt after Press provided her the ball. “At that point, you gotta go for a goal. … When [the game] opened up, be ready to take that opportunity.”
Though the team eventually got the victory to keep Andonovski’s winning streak going to start his USWNT tenure, it was clearly the hardest match the team played. Ertz said the tactic after a hard-fought first half “was really about staying together. … Sometimes you have to grind it out in the end.”
Though Rapinoe noted it was hardly a perfect match from the U.S., the match lived up to the tournament’s billing as one that features and tests four of the sport’s top teams.
“This was not a great performance by us,” Rapinoe said. “We have a lot of film to watch and things we can work on.”
Andonovski said the team’s biggest area of improvement was “shifting our middle block to high press.” The team will have another opportunity to do so with its final match of the tournament, against Japan on Wednesday, March 11 in Frisco, Texas. In the end, the difficulty of Sunday’s match will only serve to benefit the U.S., Rapinoe said.
“We’re playing three of the top teams in the world [at the SheBelieves Cup], so these are the teams we’re going to have to go through to get to the Olympics, or teams like this,” Rapinoe said. ” I think these performances are always better and more telling than when we go out and smash teams.”
The U.S. needs a draw against Japan to win the SheBelieves Cup, who sit on zero points after two matches. Spain will face England next, with both teams tied on three points.