Tag: Mallory Pugh

USWNT on three-game losing streak after unlucky 2-1 defeat against Germany

It’s been over 29 years since the USWNT lost three straight

The U.S. women’s national team got an improved performance, but the results remain the same.

The USWNT, after losing 2-1 to Germany in Ft. Lauderdale Thursday night, is now on a three-game losing streak for the first time since April 1993. It’s the first loss at home for the team since July 27, 2017, and though the USWNT dominated a large chunk of the game, some flat second-half play and individual mistakes extended a worrisome run of form.

Germany’s relentless high pressure left the USWNT with some tricky work in the early stages, but after about 20 minutes they began to solve it. Sophia Smith and Mallory Pugh both spurned excellent chances to set up runners inside the box, while a dubious offside call spoiled another U.S. attack.

Lindsey Horan went closer, firing a shot over Merle Frohms that hit the bar and bounced down onto the goal line — but crucially, not over it — after good work from Rose Lavelle. Shortly thereafter, Alex Morgan’s pass from deep sent Pugh in alone behind the defense. This time, Pugh was decisive, but Frohms produced a huge save to tip her effort wide in the 36th minute.

The one-way traffic continued until halftime, with Horan having a strong penalty shout turned down by referee Odette Hamilton. It may have been frustrating for the USWNT, but the overall performance had far more composure and clarity than either loss to Spain in the last window.

Horan’s almost impossibly bad luck continued, with a spectacular overhead kick early in the second half slapping off the foot of the German post.

If that was cruel, things were about to get so much worse. Germany countered immediately, and while Naomi Girma initially slowed a four-on-two break, Klara Bühl worked the ball over to the right for substitute Paulina Krumbiegel. Krumbiegel’s shot was well-saved by Casey Murphy, but Bühl found the rebound and launched a curler towards goal.

Like Horan, she was denied by the post, but the USWNT couldn’t catch a break. The rebound hit Murphy’s back before bobbling over the line, giving Germany a shock 52nd minute lead.

If the USWNT’s performance up until that point had been very good, the response to the goal was alarmingly flat. Germany substitute Chantal Hagel arrived late on two occasions only to fire excellent chances over the bar, while a triple sub for the U.S. saw a loss of fluency in the midfield.

However, just as it seemed like the USWNT didn’t have an answer, a familiar face arrived to equalize. Megan Rapinoe smashed home an equalizer after the USWNT finally got their counter-press back online, with Morgan blocking Sara Doorsoun’s clearance and teeing up the veteran for a typically clinical finish.

It felt like a typical, old-school U.S. goal: overpowering, opportunistic, and authoritative. Unfortunately, it was followed by some of the hesitancy that has crept into the team lately, with Germany re-taking the lead on the counter just four minutes later.

Lena Oberdorf alertly took a free kick at midfield quickly, lofting the ball out to another substitute, Jule Brand. In isolation against Alana Cook, Brand simply dropped her shoulder and charged past Cook, shrugging off the OL Reign defender’s challenge before squaring for Krumbiegel, who did well to squeeze a shot over Murphy and into the roof of the net from close range.

The late goal left the USWNT with little time to reply, and full time brought some unwanted history, increasing the pressure on head coach Vlatko Andonovski, who has more losses in this unwanted streak than he had in the 49 games that preceeded it.

[lawrence-related id=9491,9170,9049]

Thompson returns to join Morgan and Pugh on USWNT roster for Germany friendlies

The USWNT will aim to end a rare losing streak in a pair of matches to close out 2022

U.S. women’s national team head coach Vlatko Andonovski has named a 24-player roster for two home friendlies against Germany in November.

Fresh off becoming the youngest USWNT player to debut since 2016, Alyssa Thompson returns for the games against the Euro 2022 runner-up. Thompson will turn 18 on November 7.

Thompson will be joined in the forward group by Alex Morgan and Mallory Pugh, who missed last month’s defeats against England and Spain with an injury and a family commitment, respectively.

Also making her return is goalkeeper AD Franch, fresh off a stellar campaign in which she helped the Kansas City Current reach the NWSL championship. Franch, who served as the third-stringer at the 2019 World Cup, has been handed her first call-up since October 2021.

The USWNT will face Germany on November 10 at DRV PNK Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (7 p.m. ET on FS1) and on November 13 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. (5 p.m. ET on ESPN).

“These are the kinds of games that help our World Cup preparation in many ways and these 180 minutes to end our schedule this year are going to be extremely valuable for the players and coaches,” Andonovski said.

“It will be good to get some players back on the roster and we’re all expecting these games to be very competitive and entertaining for fans.”

USWNT roster for Germany friendlies

GOALKEEPERS (3): Adrianna Franch (Kansas City Current), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)

DEFENDERS (7): Alana Cook (OL Reign), Crystal Dunn (Portland Thorns FC), Emily Fox (Racing Louisville FC), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC), Sofia Huerta (OL Reign), Hailie Mace (Kansas City Current), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns FC)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC), Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon, FRA), Taylor Kornieck (San Diego Wave FC), Rose Lavelle (OL Reign), Kristie Mewis (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Ashley Sanchez (Washington Spirit), Andi Sullivan (Washington Spirit)

FORWARDS (7): Ashley Hatch (Washington Spirit), Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC), Mallory Pugh (Chicago Red Stars), Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC), Alyssa Thompson (Total Futbol Academy)

[lawrence-related id=9004,8750,8654]

The NWSL playoffs are here, and the path to Audi Field feels wide open

The NWSL is hoping that these playoffs show what this league is capable of

Fittingly for a league with more depth in talent than any other, it feels like every team in the NWSL playoffs has a shot at winning it all.

The Portland Thorns showed their strength all season long, while OL Reign went supernova down the stretch, and both await in the semifinals. They’ll get this weekend off after earning first-round byes, meaning the action will take place in southern California and the Gulf coast.

While the focus on the NWSL has for good reason been on the Yates investigation and its revelations of abuse and mismanagement, the fact is that these playoff games are a golden opportunity for people to see the league’s strengths. No league in the world has as many truly good teams in it as this one, and this postseason could be the first steps NWSL takes towards becoming the thing it could be if the long-overdue changes coming in take hold.

Follow along with Pro Soccer Wire as we preview both quarterfinal matches, including analysis, broadcast information, and predictions.

Mal Pugh scores two wonder goals vs. KC Current, sets new land-speed record

Pugh’s solo goal has to be seen to be believed

Mal Pugh scored a potential NWSL Goal of the Year candidate on Wednesday night in a way that effectively underlined all of her best traits as a player…and then tacked on another just for emphasis.

Just minutes after the Chicago Red Stars took an early lead over the visiting Kansas City Current, with Tatumn Milazzo mopping up a loose ball resulting from Pugh’s corner kick, the U.S. women’s national team attacker received a pass out of the Chicago box.

The field dimensions at SeatGeek Stadium are listed as 120 yards by 75 yards, and based on where Pugh received the ball, she was roughly about 95 yards from the Current goal, facing the Chicago goal and with Kristen Edmonds racing over to pressure. No problem, right?

Well, it turns out, Pugh is a problem anywhere on the field. Pugh turned as she took her first touch, nutmegging Edmonds. Pugh’s vision may not be talked about as much as some other qualities, but it might be her most vital advantage over opponents. In this situation, having dispatched with Edmonds, she needed just the tiniest amount of time to scan the field and piece together that even being that far from goal, she had a huge opportunity in front of her.

The quick read of the situation was followed by something that gets talked about more when it comes to Pugh: she is fast. Pugh turned on the jets immediately, entering the Current half in a flash and leaving the scrambling defense no time to get a good angle that might force her to slow down. Desiree Scott gave it everything she had to get there, but as she was not moving at the speed of sound, it didn’t work.

Pugh bore down on Elizabeth Ball, and unfortunately for Ball, Pugh is also an elite dribbler. Ball couldn’t afford to retreat any longer and tried to challenge Pugh, but the USWNT winger notched another nutmeg without even really having to slow down.

Still, Pugh wasn’t done. Defender Taylor Leach and goalkeeper Cassie Miller both approached, driving Pugh away from goal. Still, Pugh kept her composure, moving to her left to buy space from Leach and change her angle on Miller, opening up just enough room to calmly tuck the ball into the back of the net, a nice and easy end to one of the most spectacular moments of the NWSL season.

Perhaps understandably, Pugh didn’t even break out much of a celebration, as running that far that fast is tiring. Sometimes you’ve done too much work to throw in an NWSL Celebration of the Year entrant, and when the goal looks like this, it’s not a problem.

Then, with the Current throwing numbers forward in the second half in an attempt to overcome a two-goal deficit, Pugh struck again. Ella Stevens tried to touch a long ball into Pugh’s path, but ended up having to battle two KC players after getting her pass wrong.

Stevens did just enough to prevent the Current from winning the ball back, and then out of nowhere, Pugh was off and running, again with just one defender between her and goal. Edmonds moved in, hoping to try to drive Pugh wide, but the Colorado native just dipped her shoulder to go inside before driving a low 19-yard shot past Miller to make it 3-0.

And then, before Chicago mercifully took her out of the game to spare KC any more punishment, another Pugh corner became a goal, with Amanda Kowalski nodding her service in at the back post in the 72nd minute.

The huge win was surely fun for Red Stars fans, but it’s got potentially huge implications for the NWSL playoff picture. Chicago moved up into a tie for fourth place with the Houston Dash (who they host in three days’ time), opening up a four-point gap between them and seventh-placed Angel City FC.

Enjoy Pugh’s two-goal masterclass

[lawrence-related id=2676,7104,6285]

USWNT pleased with Costa Rica win, focused on getting sharper in CONCACAF W Championship final

It was an easy USWNT win, but the team sees room for improvement

What could have been a potentially difficult night ended up being rather pedestrian for the U.S. women’s national team, who had little to worry about in a 3-0 win over Costa Rica that sent them to Thursday’s CONCACAF W Championship final.

Goals from Emily Sonnett and Mallory Pugh late in the first half, after some big misses and a shot off the post from Alex Morgan, allowed the USWNT to preserve some energy in the second half, with Ashley Sanchez firing home a third just before the final whistle to put an exclamation point on the victory.

Despite the ease of the win, though, post-game reactions were a bit reserved, as the team expressed a focus on wanting to cut down on mistakes.

“I feel like we made too many technical mistakes that are a byproduct of our mental preparation,” Vlatko Andonovski said bluntly on the CBS Sports Network’s broadcast of the game.

In the press conference following the match, Andonovski expanded on that assertion. “I thought that we made too many technical errors. Too many for the players that were on the field, because we know that they’re technical,” said the USWNT head coach. “We know they can settle the ball and pass and execute different technical demands, even under a lot more pressure in pressing moments. But today, for some reason, we made like I said, a little too many (mistakes), and that’s something that we’re gonna look into, to see what it is.”

That’s not to say that the USWNT’s performance was poor, with a relentless counter-press effectively rendering the first half an offense vs. defense exercise. Getting into halftime with a two-goal advantage gave them a vital advantage going into the final: a less demanding second half.

“We went with the game plan from the defensive standpoint that I thought that we executed well when it comes down to reading the moments, and when we want to press and when we want to drop off a little bit and allow them to connect (a) few passes,” said Andonovski. “So as we’re playing this game, where the result goes in our way, we actually started changing a little bit on how we defend, and allowed them just slightly more touches on the ball, which was for us moreso ‘let’s not waste any any extra energy that we have to to win the ball back.'”

Facing an unfamiliar Costa Rica, who came out having rotated key starters in Raquel Rodríguez and Melissa Herrera and playing a 5-4-1 formation, Andonovski detailed aspects of his game plan that helped the U.S. make the game easier on themselves.

“We knew that we’re going to have to, per se, ‘borrow’ a player from the back to overload their backline, and we knew that it’s not going to be easy to execute, because we haven’t had an opportunity to work on that,” said Andonovski, alluding to a back four that saw Sofia Huerta often joining the attack while Sonnett stayed home. “We offset the build up a little bit, with the fullbacks, and build a little different way. But overall, I still think it worked well, because especially early on, we were able to create opportunities, we were able to score goals.”

Andonovski credited that back four—who helped keep Casey Murphy from facing any shots on goal, and only one shot at all—for remaining focused throughout, even as their job largely became about possession and tempo-setting with the ball.

“(Costa Rica) were playing so low and because they were bringing numbers a lot centrally, it was hard for them to transition out,” explained Andonovski. “It looked a little bit easy for our backline, but sometimes this is even a little bit harder, because they were only called out to defend in two or three instances. So they have to maintain 100% focus throughout the whole game, and I think that they executed defensively everything well.”

[lawrence-related id=4653,4540,4534]

Red Stars’ Mallory Pugh showed off sly dribbling skills to score sick goal against Reign

What a slick move from Chicago’s Mallory Pugh.

The Chicago Red Stars have been one of the better teams in the NWSL for a little while now. And the 2022 season has treated them no differently. As we approach the near-third month of this year’s campaign, Chicago sits in a healthy third place overall in the league. In other words, they sit from their usual perfect striking distance.

Thanks to Mallory Pugh, everyone got another excellent glimpse of the Red Stars’ ongoing prowess on Saturday afternoon.

With Chicago and the Reign tied near the end of the first half, Pugh made an incredibly deft dribble in the final third of the field. We’ll let her right leg tell the rest of the story:

Oh my goodness. Professional defenders simply do not miss slides like that. It only takes someone with Pugh’s ability to make that happen.

The Red Stars would win 1-0 on the strength of Pugh’s goal. Don’t mind us: We’ll keep Pugh’s subtle dribble to the side on replay.

Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO).

[mm-video type=video id=01g0m4dmdvsym6qex9yg playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01g0m4dmdvsym6qex9yg/01g0m4dmdvsym6qex9yg-9bcd45b44f1d9a06f324992670e970d7.jpg]

[listicle id=1868953]