USWNT player ratings: Defensive spine shines in gut-punch penalty kick defeat

The USWNT finally played like themselves, but soccer can be cruel

Soccer has always been a cruel sport, and today it came calling for the U.S. women’s national team.

After three underwhelming performances in the group stage, the USWNT finally looked like themselves against Sweden, bossing one of the best teams in this World Cup.

Unfortunately, they found goalkeeper Zećira Mušović having one of the games of her life, and when she wasn’t making a big save, the errant finishing that has plagued this team appeared again, and the result was a penalty kick elimination after a scoreless 120 minutes.

It was a heartbreaker for the U.S., who missed a shot in the shootout that would have seen them advance, and then had to watch Sweden’s winning kick require a VAR check to reveal that the ball had crossed the line by a nearly imperceptible margin.

Still, when it comes to ratings, this was by some margin the best performance from the USWNT at this World Cup as a team, and for many players as individuals.

As a reminder, here’s the Pro Soccer Wire player rating scale:

Our scale:

  • 1: Abysmal. Literally any member of our staff would have been been able to play at this level.
  • 6: Adequate. This is our base score.
  • 10: Transcendent, era-defining performance. This is Carli Lloyd vs. Japan in the 2015 final.

USWNT player ratings: Lack of ideas as U.S. barely survives Portugal

Lots of not-great, and some quite bad!

The U.S. women’s national team, by a margin of about three inches, survived a feisty Portugal side to get through to the knockout round of the World Cup.

That’s about all the good news there is to discuss. The USWNT were totally unable to solve the Portuguese midfield diamond throughout a troubling 0-0 draw, struggling for possession and also lacking chances to break out in transition.

The stats may show the USWNT holding a 17-6 shot advantage, and this is another game in which a U.S. opponent were held without a shot on goal. However, anyone that watched the match would be able to tell you that the Portuguese troubled the U.S. from start to finish, seeing the game’s best chance end with Ana Capeta hitting the post deep in stoppage time.

It was a dispiriting and disappointing showing in which no player really looked like they’d been given a platform to be their best. If the USWNT is to go on and make history as the first team to win three consecutive World Cups, this has to be by far their worst performance of the tournament.

Here’s a breakdown from a game in which no one looked particularly good.

As a reminder, here’s the Pro Soccer Wire player rating scale:

Our scale:

  • 1: Abysmal. Literally any member of our staff would have been been able to play at this level.
  • 6: Adequate. This is our base score.
  • 10: Transcendent, era-defining performance. This is Carli Lloyd vs. Japan in the 2015 final.

USWNT seeking consistency in World Cup group finale vs. Portugal: ‘We know what’s on the line’

“We’re gonna need to play fast and score a lot of goals”

The U.S. women’s national team is gearing up for a potentially pivotal World Cup group stage finale, and the watchword is consistency.

An intense 1-1 draw with the Netherlands saw the USWNT struggle for a long stretch before proceeding to dominate the game’s final half-hour. With Portugal — the final Group E foe for the U.S. — winning a few hours later, the standings have tightened significantly, with the USWNT able to finish anywhere between first (assuring the easiest path through the knockout rounds) and third (a stunning early elimination).

Midfielders Savannah DeMelo and Andi Sullivan both agreed that the team wasn’t “in sync” against the Dutch, but expressed optimism that they’re on track to sort that out against a Portugal side known for its defensive organization.

“I think we have shown a lot of pieces, and it’s just a matter of stringing all those pieces together and being very in sync,” Sullivan told reporters at a team press conference. “I think we had a lot of great moments during the Netherlands game, and I just think we want to build off those and make those more consistent, and bring that to the Portugal game.

“They’re a strong team, gonna be a tough game. We know what’s on the line. So, we know we need to bring our best, that they’re gonna bring their best.”

Per both players, one particular focus was the USWNT’s pressing structure, which couldn’t consistently be applied against the Netherlands. At times, attempts from the forwards to lead a higher press weren’t paired with the required step forward from the rest of the team, and in other instances the defense and midfield wanted to push higher while the front line wasn’t ready to take that risk.

“It’s always like a chicken-egg situation, right?” said Sullivan. “If you don’t step high enough, then it’s hard for people behind you to read, and if people behind you aren’t reading it, then it’s hard for you to go [press]. So I think we were all just kind of…we weren’t in sync, and that happens.”

“I think we went in halftime talking about all those things and what we wanted to do, and I think that’s why in the second half, we came out a lot more on the same page,” added DeMelo. “We all needed to go together, we all needed to stay together, and I think it was just more about being in sync with one another.”

The halftime adjustments, along with the emotional charge that came from Lindsey Horan scoring an emphatic equalizer just moments after the U.S. captain clashed with Daniëlle van de Donk, appeared to pay off. However, the USWNT knows that a loss at Eden Park could send them home, and they want to make sure they’re able to hit the ground running against Portugal.

“Hopefully we can [be in sync] earlier in the future,” said Sullivan. “Sometimes when you adjust, it’s going to take a second to get on the same page, and we have full confidence in each other that no matter what we do, we will figure it out, and we will execute.”

USWNT looking for a win, and goals, vs. Portugal

DeMelo and Sullivan also discussed the prospect of not just needing to defeat Portugal to guarantee a first-place finish, but possibly having to pile a few goals on. The USWNT will enter their group finale level on four points with the Netherlands, and hold a two-goal edge on the first tiebreaker (goal difference).

With the Netherlands taking on Vietnam, there is a distinct possibility that the U.S. will need a multi-goal win to keep hold of the top spot in Group E.

“I think the conversation began after the game for us, when we kind of debrief as a team,” said Sullivan, adding that the team is fully aware “that we’re gonna need to play fast and score a lot of goals.”

“We also just want that for ourselves, regardless of the game and the situation,” added Sullivan. “We know our first two performances have been solid, but we know we have more to give, especially in [terms of] putting goals up. And so that conversation has kind of been bubbling, just because we expect that high standard from ourselves.”

[lawrence-related id=21229,24048,24052]

Three things on the USWNT going through peaks and valleys in Netherlands draw

Despite a performance that wasn’t as bad as it seemed, there are major questions for Vlatko Andonovski

The U.S. women’s national team didn’t expect a straightforward path to another World Cup final, and that instinct looks like the correct one.

The USWNT found itself in a serious battle against a feisty Netherlands side in a 1-1 draw that saw head coach Vlatko Andonovski under fire for a lack of substitutions, among other issues.

The Dutch, on their first attempt at anything resembling an attacking foray, took a surprise early lead through Jill Roord on a sequence featuring four or five errors. That goal left the U.S. reeling, but just as importantly served to inspire the Oranje, who proceeded to threaten to run the USWNT off the pitch.

The U.S. managed to avoid letting the Netherlands turn their control into a ton of chances, and after a conflict between Lindsey Horan and Daniëlle van de Donk, flipped the tables. Horan scored seconds after that dispute was broken up, and as much as the USWNT showing drew criticism, the team will look back and wonder how their dominance of the game’s final half-hour didn’t result in a game-winning goal.

It was intense, breathless, controversial, and everything else people want out of high-level sports…except, if you’re a U.S. fan, it didn’t end with the expected three points.

Let’s dig into the most charged-up game of this World Cup thus far:

USWNT player ratings: Disappointing showing vs. Netherlands ends in draw

A good start and finish sandwiched some worrying stuff for the USWNT

The U.S. women’s national team was far from its best against the Netherlands, struggling for a long spell in the middle of the match before recovering for a 1-1 draw.

Jill Roord’s goal on the first shot conceded all tournament by the USWNT deflated the group, and until Dutch star Daniëlle van de Donk clattered into club teammate Lindsey Horan, it was starting to get hard to see a way back in for the favored Americans.

However, Horan — after a fairly heated argument with van de Donk in the seconds that followed — powered home a header, and the U.S. took the game over for the final half-hour.

The good news? Those final minutes were the “real” USWNT. The bad news? They arrived for a reason the team can’t control, and since a winner didn’t arrive (nor did any substitutions after Rose Lavelle’s entry at halftime), the flaws on the day aren’t going to be papered over by three points.

With all that in mind, let’s dig into who delivered, and who didn’t.

As a reminder, here’s the Pro Soccer Wire player rating scale:

Our scale:

  • 1: Abysmal. Literally any member of our staff would have been been able to play at this level.
  • 6: Adequate. This is our base score.
  • 10: Transcendent, era-defining performance. This is Carli Lloyd vs. Japan in the 2015 final.

USWNT player ratings: Smith stands out as U.S. eases past Vietnam in World Cup opener

Smith was at the center of most of the USWNT’s best in their win

It may not have been the blowout some expected, but the U.S. women’s national team started the World Cup off with a 3-0 win over Vietnam.

A first-half brace from Sophia Smith — one goal was clinical, the other needed a fairly hefty slice of luck — set the USWNT on their way. After some missed chances, including an Alex Morgan penalty kick that was saved by Vietnam’s Tran Thi Kim Thanh, Lindsey Horan added the third on an assist from Smith.

In the context of Vietnam’s recent results, including only falling to Germany 2-1, it’s a decent result. It’s also not the rout that fans may have thought was coming, though on another day the goals may have been flowing with just a touch more sharpness from the attacking players.

As a reminder, here’s the Pro Soccer Wire player rating scale:

Our scale:

  • 1: Abysmal. Literally any member of our staff would have been been able to play at this level.
  • 6: Adequate. This is our base score.
  • 10: Transcendent, era-defining performance. This is Carli Lloyd vs. Japan in the 2015 final.

O’Hara emotional over Rapinoe retirement: ‘It’s sad to think about’

“We’re trying to just soak up as much Pinoe as we can,” Andi Sullivan added

Kelley O’Hara grew emotional at a press conference on Tuesday when asked about Megan Rapinoe’s impending retirement, saying it’s hard to think about the U.S. women’s national team legend walking away from the game.

Rapinoe announced earlier this month that she would retire following the 2023 NWSL season, making the upcoming World Cup her last.

O’Hara and Rapinoe are both set to play in their fourth World Cup, with the pair looking to win their third overall. Ahead of the USWNT’s opener against Vietnam on Friday, O’Hara reflected on what Rapinoe has meant to the USWNT.

“It’s hard to put into words honestly,” the defender told a press conference. “I know that the world sees the Megan Rapinoe that the world sees. But we get to see her up close and personal.

“Obviously, the Pinoe that the world sees is an incredible person and human and that is her also up close and personal. She brings a sense of humor and lightness, but intensity and empathy and just she’s one of a kind.”

O’Hara then began to grow emotional, adding: “It’s sad to think about this [World Cup] being her last, but she’s done such incredible things for this team and for the world. So to be able to see the up close and personal Pinoe and be close to that has been has been really special. And I hope that we all send her out on a high.”

USWNT midfielder Andi Sullivan added: “Like Kelley said I don’t really think about the team without her. Even as she announced it, she did it with such grace and humor and joy and light. It’s this huge piece of news but for us, it’s just another day. So I think we’re trying to just soak up as much Pinoe as we can.”

[lawrence-related id=22771,22710,22663]

Trinity Rodman glad to get USWNT roster shout-out from ‘Uncle Shaq’

What connection could a USWNT forward have to an NBA legend?

Even U.S. women’s national team players lean on a family connection every now and then.

U.S. Soccer pulled out all the stops in a roster announcement hype video, getting President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden to introduce what turned out to be a list of mostly non-soccer celebrities to congratulate each player for making the squad.

The connections varied, with Alex Morgan getting a shout-out from her friend Taylor Swift, while one Megan (Rapinoe) got a message from another (Thee Stallion). College connections and shared home states, came up more than once, but in some cases the link was a little more personal.

Trinity Rodman, for one, has known the big name chosen to help announce to the world that she was going to her first World Cup for a long time.

“Mine was cool. Uncle Shaq,” joked Rodman while speaking to reporters on Thursday about Shaquille O’Neal, the famously tall former NBA legend and friend of the family through her father, former Chicago Bulls star Dennis Rodman. “Obviously Shaq and my dad were friends and stuff, and he saw me at a really young age… It was awesome. And he’s super cool.”

There may have been more degrees of separation for Andi Sullivan and actor Rainn Wilson, but the link wouldn’t have happened without someone close to the Washington Spirit midfielder.

“I love The Office. I also just found out that my husband was involved in the suggestion of that,” explained Sullivan, whose husband Drew Skundrich plays for the Colorado Springs Switchbacks of the USL Championship. “When I told him about it, I was like ‘oh my gosh, they know me so well,’ and he was like, ‘no, Andi, I know you so well.’ So, I love that so much, and I love Rainn Wilson.”

[lawrence-related id=22137,22109,22020]

NWSL can finally give its top youngsters the support to shine

What does it take for a teenager to shine in NWSL? We tried to find out

NWSL’s history with truly young players is, thanks to under-supported clubs and a lack of guardrails, a messy one.

As with many situations pertaining to the NWSL during its early years, teams — and the league itself — were unprepared to take on the challenge involved, but also simply lacked a clear plan on how to incorporate players outside of the draft system.

While teams seemed to grasp what it could mean for them on the competitive side — both the Portland Thorns and Washington Spirit moved mountains specifically to be in position to acquire Mallory Swanson, for example — the league was far less prepared for how much the non-soccer side matters.

Swanson’s experience is instructive. Then 19, Swanson, née Pugh, would lead the 2017 Spirit with six goals, but was largely left to her own devices two time zones away from home. Between injuries and little club-level support at a team running on a minor-league financial plan, Swanson’s development path seemed to plateau at a moment when she was largely expected to be U.S. Soccer’s Next Big Thing.

In retrospect, Swanson’s growth being hampered was hardly a surprise given the Spirit’s multiple off-field issues during her time with the club.

Considering the state of the entire league, the series of public missteps, and the multiple investigations involved, it’s safe to say this wasn’t one bad environment. Frankly, it’s not clear that any NWSL club in this time frame was an appropriate environment for a player like Swanson to walk into. The entire league simply was not ready to provide what was required of it.

As Swanson approaches 25 years old, she has reached the level of being one of the best attackers on the planet. Things eventually worked out. However, her path here wasn’t easy, and a major factor was an NWSL club whose on-field ambitions surpassed what their off-field capabilities would actually allow for.

To be sure, there are success stories: Ellie Carpenter’s time with the Thorns — who for all their failings in player safety still had a much more substantial infrastructure than any other NWSL club in that era — became a near-instant starter and is now a fixture for Lyon and Australia.

Back with the Spirit, Trinity Rodman declared for the draft and was immediately one of the NWSL’s best players. The Spirit took some lessons from how they had failed Swanson, having a more robust plan in place to give her a better situation away from the training field. Rodman ended up winning a title and making the NWSL Best XI in 2021, and has broken through with the USWNT over the last year-plus.

Over on the west coast, Alyssa Thompson started for Angel City straight away, scoring in their opener as the focal point of an attack that is missing veteran stars like Christen Press and Sydney Leroux.

Still, with no NWSL rules on how these situations worked, the process is different every time. Swanson’s path to the NWSL was convoluted: the Spirit made multiple trades to obtain the top spot in the Distribution Ranking Order, a mechanism which no longer exists, and she missed the first five games of the season because the league simply didn’t have the wherewithal to come up with a more timely method to get her on a team.

The complications for players just trying to get into the league continued: Olivia Moultrie getting a contract from Portland involved a public pressure campaign and a court case that saw NWSL on one side and one of its clubs (as well as a player who wanted to be in the league) on the other. Even after a judge ruled in Moultrie’s favor, NWSL rules still ended up putting her into an ad hoc discovery process that saw OL Reign acquire her rights before trading them to Portland (for far below market value).

(Photo by Amanda Loman/Getty Images)

The outcome was what the player, her family, and the club wanted. Moultrie has proven her mettle, and even for the defending champions, the 17-year-old gets regular playing time as the team’s attacking midfielder. She’s a serious contributor (three goals and four assists in 17 games last year) for a powerhouse. It’s just that, as with Swanson, she faced plainly unnecessary obstacles that seemed rooted in a lack of preparedness and infrastructure.

Jaedyn Shaw’s path into the league was only slightly less rocky. The Texan, then 17, joined the Spirit in the 2022 preseason and trained with them for months while Washington tried to pursue some backchannel diplomacy aimed at a new method for young players to enter the league.

The campaign didn’t change enough minds, and once again NWSL held a mid-season discovery process to sort the situation out. Sources at the time told Pro Soccer Wire that at least six NWSL clubs submitted bids — Washington and San Diego being the only two ever publicly revealed — and that a weighted lottery placed the Wave atop the discovery list. Another potential star player’s career course was charted by a confusing, opaque method.

In a call with Pro Soccer Wire from San Diego, Shaw took a moment to choose her words before discussing how much of a problem it would have been if she had been denied entry into the league last year.

“It would have been definitely really hard for me,” said Shaw. “I would have been basically with the Spirit for a whole year, and being in that environment, knowing that I can handle it, knowing that I can do it every single day and play at that level, and then just being told no…that definitely would have been hard for me to deal with.”

It’s hard to dispute Shaw’s read on her ability to compete. She scored in her professional debut, and has been a regular starter for a San Diego side that competed for the NWSL Shield last season. In the Wave’s 2023 opener, Shaw scored a splendid goal, while coach Casey Stoney experimented with a formation change designed to make the 18-year-old more of an attacking centerpiece.

With multiple clubs now well-staffed enough to both scout the youth ranks more thoroughly and able to create an infrastructure to truly support teenage players, the situation was only going to repeat itself with more frequency. Shortly after the 2022 season ended, NWSL announced that it had created a new way for young players to join teams. The Under-18 Entry List specified both how young players could end up with a specific team, and installed some common-sense safeguards to prevent teams from choosing short-term competitive needs over a player’s well-being.

For example, the new rules prevent teams from trading or waiving a player before they turn 18 without the consent of both the player and their legal guardian. Under-18 Entry List players can’t be selected in expansion drafts, and their initial contract must run through the season in which they turn 18. If a team wants to make the commitment, the rules oblige them to truly take a longer view, in exchange for removing the bizarre paths to entry players in this age group have had to endure.

So far, the new rules have been applied twice, both for 15-year-old prospects: Washington signed Chloe Ricketts, while the Wave followed shortly thereafter in signing Melanie Barcenas. Both clubs had these players on their radar well before the establishment of the league’s rules, meaning that clubs have essentially been waiting for NWSL rules to catch up.

The time appears to be now, and the league — as it emerges from numerous debacles — has entered a new era.

Resources have changed the game

That era contains a need to balance multiple thoughts: player safety, development, the attention that comes when a younger player signs with a pro team, and the day-to-day process of trying to win games in an endlessly competitive league.

Speaking to Pro Soccer Wire just a couple of weeks before Barcenas signed with the club, Stoney said that when the opportunity to sign Shaw arrived, “as a club, we were like, ‘we need to make it happen,’ because she was such a talented young player.”

What followed was both pursuing the nuts-and-bolts of signing a player, but also showing that they could meet the requirements NWSL said had to be in place: housing for Shaw and her family, “a separate locker room, making sure that every player and every member of staff was qualified for SafeSport to make sure we could bring minors into the environment,” said Stoney. “Making sure we had all the policies and procedures in place, making sure that we were looking after the California law side of things as well.”

(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

Shaw said that the team brought her in for meetings with Stoney, club president Jill Ellis, and general manager Molly Downtain to talk through the normal things a player wants to know about when signing with a new club (team philosophy, training ground, etc.) and also go over how things would be for her in specific circumstances.

“It was just what to expect, basically. They didn’t want me to just come here not knowing exactly what’s going on, and just being completely new to this to the area and everything,” said Shaw, who added that the major offseason change for her was limited to moving to a “more permanent” home in San Diego after the team had set up something more short-term last year.

A major difference between San Diego and NWSL teams circa six or seven years ago? Ownership groups that can afford to create a larger club infrastructure. Shaw said that upon arrival, the Wave had everything in place, rather than trying to build the plane while mid-air.

“I think that the Wave have a lot of resources,” said Shaw, listing off the team’s coaching staff, trainers, and a mental well-being coach the club has made available for the entire squad. “I’m comfortable having that relationship with them and being able to express what I need as an athlete, and what I need as a person from them.”

Spirit president of soccer operations Mark Krikorian told Pro Soccer Wire that a club’s commitment when signing such young players has to start with safety, and that teams should be aiming to surpass league rules when they can.

“I think that we’re all committed to protecting [Ricketts], first and foremost, and any other young player that’s here,” said Krikorian. “The league has done a good job in putting together protocols to protect the players, the states all have different rules, laws, and so on to protect [minors], but hopefully we’re going above and beyond those.”

Speaking to reporters before the season kicked off, Spirit midfielder Andi Sullivan said that in her view, Washington is a good place for a player like Ricketts because of both the infrastructure Krikorian, owner Michele Kang, and others have assembled, and because the players themselves are well-tuned towards helping a youngster out as a teammate.

“I do think we have a lot more ability to support her and hopefully that continues to grow, that we would be able to support her and people her age more,” said Sullivan. “I also think — not to toot our own horn — but I think she stepped into the perfect team to do that, because we’re taking good care of her in terms of the team aspect.”

In Washington, that means so many things: light-hearted ribbing during a rondo, a new coaching staff that has prioritized internal standards and culture, player-to-player communication in training and elsewhere, but also continuing education. Krikorian says that Ricketts will continue the same remote education program she was on in Michigan, and that the Spirit have longer-term plans to link up with regional universities to allow young players an avenue to get their degree while playing for Washington.

“I think that they all realize that they can make a positive impact in this young woman’s life, and help her and help to guide her and mentor her,” explained Krikorian. “It’s not their job. Their job is to go out into play and so on, but I do think that they are sensitive women and I do think that they do want what’s best for Chloe and what’s best for the club and they recognize they can be a positive piece of this.”

The soccer side is the easy part

On one front, the game tells the truth: if a young player brings it on the soccer side, getting acclimated tends to go very quickly.

Stoney said that Shaw got “the respect of the group immediately” with what she showed in training. “She shows what she’s capable of, and the players want her on there because they know that she can make a difference.”

With Ricketts, Sullivan and Ashley Sanchez — no strangers to the cauldron that is the USWNT environment — took note of how she’s got confidence and skill, but is also not timid when it comes to challenges.

“I think Chloe stepped in and was like, decking people,” Sullivan said. “I think [it] shows that she’s not afraid of anything. And I think that fearless mindset will carry her a long way.”

“She came in with the energy, she was hitting people immediately,” added Sanchez. “I was respecting it.”

Sullivan noted that Ricketts is “young, but she doesn’t want to be treated like she’s young,” adding that the Michigan native “is very thoughtful. You [can] tell that in conversations with her: she is very considerate of, and aware of, how things work, and she knows herself really well,” all of which help a player who has to handle a new phenomenon: being hugely talented, but also not being her team’s star attraction from day one.

Young players, eager to show their best stuff, can often make a big impact on arrival. Consistency is harder to come by, and those outsized expectations can pose a problem over time. In San Diego, Stoney is quick to caution that no one is expecting Shaw to carry on without any issues or tough patches. “Are there ups and downs for a young player? Yeah. They’re gonna go for a bit of a bumpy road because they’re not always going to be on a trajectory like this,” she said, tracing a diagonal line heading towards the heavens. “That’s not real life. No one does. They go up, and then they might have a little dip, and then they’ll go up again.”

Stoney said that it’s a coach’s job to sort out when a player needs to push through those down moments to build resolve, and when they’re no longer progressing. However, she adds, “[being] honest about what I’m doing and why I’m doing it” is just as vital.

According to Stoney, the vagaries of the U.S. development system — players remaining stars in their club teams and then doing the same collegiately — can deprive those youngsters of the chance to develop resilience. They get to the NWSL level, and it might be the first time in their lives where they’ve not just walked right into a given lineup.

“They’ve played every game, they’ve been a starter, then all of a sudden they step into a professional environment and they might not even be on the [gameday] roster,” said Stoney. “It’s a massive adjustment for them in terms of their mentality and emotional responses to that, and they haven’t built the resilience to be able to cope with it because they’ve never faced it before. So we try and get ahead of it. We know that it’s going to happen. We put on workshops for those players that have come into professional environment for the first time. We look at the challenges they might be facing and we tackle them head on.”

Still, the task Stoney describes is a next-level problem, one that is normal for a functioning and healthy soccer environment. For the NWSL, “functioning” and “healthy” have been qualities to aspire to, rather than the day-to-day truth. The new system of rules and guidelines, combined with major advances at clubs and player-driven demands for raised standards, has finally put the league in a position to answer that kind of challenge.

[lawrence-related id=16511,16197,13876]

USWNT counter-presses their way to SheBelieves Cup win over Brazil

The USWNT may need to improve against a press, but their counter-press is looking sharp

Much has been made of the U.S. women’s national team’s issues against high-pressing foes of late, but they showed they can dish it out better than anyone at the SheBelieves Cup.

The USWNT defeated Brazil 2-1 Wednesday night, with counter-pressure leading to goals from Alex Morgan and Mallory Swanson and helping generate much of the U.S. attack during an even contest. Brazil pulled a very late goal back thanks to Ludmila, but ultimately came up just short as the USWNT lifted the trophy in this tournament for the fourth straight time.

Still, it has to be said that Brazil gave them a real test. As was the case in their win over Japan, the USWNT struggled with a foe implementing a high press in the early minutes. It would be unfair to say they were in as much trouble on Wednesday as they were against the Japanese — Crystal Dunn hit the post in the fourth minute, and many USWNT turnovers were totally self-inflicted — but the team still has a clear issue to work on with the World Cup looming this summer.

Even when the USWNT had started to find better angles and more precision to break that press, the Brazilian counter-attack remained a major threat. Kerolin rolled a shot just wide after an incisive break forward after Brazil broke out just as the U.S. had pushed seven players into the attack.

The USWNT finally gave Brazil a taste of their own medicine in the final seconds of the half, with a counter-press ending with Lindsey Horan jarring the ball loose. Andi Sullivan immediately seized the chance, playing a 35-yard pass to send Alex Morgan in alone.

Morgan finished with clinical ease, but an offside flag interrupted her celebrations.

Morgan may have been disappointed, but she didn’t have to wait long to get on the scoresheet. In the final seconds of the half, Brazil hesitated, expecting a foul call after Rose Lavelle was tripped up. Referee Marie-Soleil Beaudoin let the USWNT carry on with their attack, and Horan immediately played a similar ball to Sullivan’s through for Swanson.

Swanson has been in such good form that it was fair to expect her to finish against four Brazil defenders, but with her shot being blocked, Morgan was on hand to pick up the pieces. The San Diego Wave striker took a touch before bending a sublime 24-yard shot around the traffic in the box and into the far corner.

Brazil didn’t let the goal get them down, with winger Adriana lining up a shot moments into the second half that beat Alyssa Naeher but clanked off the crossbar.

Still, the USWNT had their chances as well: Morgan nearly scored one of the least orthodox goals of her career, while seconds later both Becky Sauerbrunn and Sullivan both had point-blank shots blocked in a scrum following a corner kick.

Brazil was starting to look a little unsure about how to progress the ball against the USWNT, and the counter-press factored in yet again as they padded their lead through — who else? — Swanson.

Lynn Williams, mere seconds after entering the fray, won a tackle at midfield, gifting Lavelle possession between the lines. The OL Reign star surged forward against a retreating defense, but once Rafaelle decided at last to step to the ball, Lavelle immediately fed Swanson for a pinpoint low finish.

We should pause to consider Swanson’s form, which remains unreal: seven goals in 2023, and eight in her last six USWNT appearances.

Brazil weren’t offering much in terms of a comeback, but almost out of nowhere, snagged a goal that won’t go over very well when the USWNT reviews this match. NJ/NY Gotham FC fullback Bruninha lofted a cross to the back post, and despite the presence of Naeher, Emily Fox, and Naomi Girma, Ludmila somehow managed to win the header and tuck the ball away by guiding it back across goal.

The same duo nearly combined again as Brazil suddenly showed some life, with Girma having to get her header exactly right under pressure from Ludmila, but from that moment on, the USWNT settled down and saw themselves through to yet another SheBelieves Cup victory.

[lawrence-related id=14398,14298,14272]