[ad_1]
Lindsey Horan converted a penalty in the 77th minute and the United States came from behind to beat Japan 2-1, opening the SheBelieves Cup in front of a record crowd on Saturday.
Jadyn Shaw also scored for the U.S. in a game played in front of 50,644 fans at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, setting a record for a U.S. women’s friendly on home soil. It also drew the largest crowd for a women’s game in the United States since the 1999 World Cup final.
– Streaming on ESPN+: La Liga, Bundesliga, NWSL and more (US)
The game also saw the return of Mallory Swanson and Katarina Macario from extended injury absences.
Japan scored 30 seconds into the game. Kiko Seike ran down the flank, evading defenders and taking a shot, but it missed American goalkeeper Alyssa Neher. It was the first time since 2003 that the United States conceded a goal within the first minute.
Swanson started his first game in almost a year after injuring his patella tendon in last year’s exhibition game against the Irish. Due to her injury, she missed last summer’s Women’s World Cup.
Swanson almost scored in the 15th minute, but was denied by a clearance from the Japanese goalkeeper on the goal line. They had another chance in the 72nd minute.
Macario came on as a substitute in the second half, making his first national team appearance in two years after tearing his ACL against Lyon.
Andrea Vilches/ISI Photo/USSF/Getty Images for USSF
Shaw, playing as number 10, equalized by scoring through traffic from outside the penalty area. Shaw, 19, became the first American player to score five goals in five consecutive starts in his career.
Just before Shaw’s goal, the United States suffered a setback when defender Naomi Girma left the game with a right thigh injury. Girma was last year’s U.S. Soccer Player of the Year.
Horan scored the winning goal after Sophia Smith was brought down in the box, resulting in a penalty.
Corbin Albert entered the game midway through the second half following controversy over past social media posts. Albert, 20, who plays for Paris Saint-Germain, had been reposting anti-LGBTQIA+ content on his own TikTok account.
“Liking and sharing posts that are offensive, insensitive, and harmful is immature and disrespectful, and was never my intention,” Albert said in a statement.
Horan and Alex Morgan addressed the issue in a statement this week, saying the team was addressing it internally.
“As allies and members of the LGBTQ+ community in particular, we support maintaining safe and respectful spaces. “It has given us an opportunity to highlight a cause that is important to us, and we will continue to use this platform to bring attention to the cause,” Morgan said.
Brazil was scheduled to play Canada in the second half of the game Saturday in Atlanta. The results will determine the bracket for Tuesday’s SheBelieves Cup games in Columbus, Ohio.
All teams competing in the SheBelieves Cup have qualified for this summer’s Olympic Games in France.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link
