The United States women’s national team victory in 2022 SheBelieves Cup after defeat Iceland 5-0 in a must-win game on Wednesday, and the scorers Catherine Macario and Mallory Pugh are among the players who have successfully auditioned for the opportunity to lead the USWNT in the future.
While the USWNT’s fifth SheBelieves Cup trophy was a strong finish after a rough start to last weekThe real purpose of this tournament for coach Vlatko Andonovski is not to win hardware but to find unpolished gems – players with the advantage can bring USWNT into the future when the group regenerates. Macario and Pugh led the list of players who forced Andonovski to look at them more.
“We leave this tournament feeling like we’re on the right track,” Andonovski told ESPN when asked if any players have improved their position on the team. “They’ve proven that they’re capable of winning games.”
Macario’s SheBelieves Cup performance improved after 37 minutes. She chased a ball on the left, crossed, then shot from the corner of the box, blasted a rocket to the far post, missed. off the inside goal and inside. Perfect Position: Just an inch or so to the right, and the ball will miss the post and go safely out. A little closer to the left and the keeper Sandra Sigurdardottir there will be a chance to take it away.
– Report: USA wins SheBelieves Cup with victory over Iceland
– ESPN+: USWNT chat and more on ESPN FC Daily (US only)
“I’ve been practicing that for a while,” Macario said. “Sometimes it doesn’t happen, but the fact that it happens today is surreal. As soon as I pressed it, I said ‘OK, that’s a good contact.'”
She followed it up with a superb goal 45 minutes into. put it in the far corner of the goal.
“Such goals should be included in prominent goals around the world,” Andonovski said. “What makes me happy with Cat is not just the goals she scores but also the way she is able to get others involved.”
Fun fact: Since Macario’s USWNT debut in January 2021, no USWNT player has scored more goals from outside the box. Also: This is the second time Macario has scored more than 15 yards in a single game – the only other USWNT player to do so in the last five years is Alex Morgan popular 13-0 win Thailand at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“You give that girl some space and she’ll finish,” Pugh quips about Macario’s goal.
Pugh took Macario off the field in the second half with a beautiful goal from her in the 60th minute. Ashley Sanchez Pugh throws a nice ball into Pugh’s path, and she runs into it, knocking the keeper Cecilia Runarsdottir and tuck it into the far column.
Before Pugh scored, she had the highest xG – or expected number of goals – of any player on the field at 0.40. The 23-year-old did a great job of getting into dangerous scoring positions and finding opportunities, even when she failed to score.
Pugh’s second goal catapulted the budding Macario-Pugh partnership. Macario won the ball in the midfield as the Americans turned to organize on the counter-attack. Sprinting across the field, Macario passes to Pugh, who passes to Macario, who passes to Pugh, who has a cool finish.
Of course, Macario and Pugh are not new to the show – Macario appeared in the last Olympics and Pugh participated in the most recent World Cup – but both are players who are not in a safe position. , couldn’t get over the likes of Morgan, Christen Press, Megan Rapinoe or Tobin Heath. And not Iceland Sweden or Germany, the powerhouse teams followed closely behind the USWNT in the world rankings. But the individual performances of the two forwards – and their budding on-field partnership – will be hard for Andonovski to ignore after Wednesday’s game.
1:00
Julie Foudy reacts to America’s 5-0 win over Iceland in the SheBelieves Cup.
Pugh has certainly played as a player poised to regain his footing on the USWNT after a few years of his debut. After being part of the 2019 World Cup winning team, she missed the Olympics, struggling on form for both club and country. Pugh made his USWNT debut at 17, so it’s easy to forget that Pugh is still only 23, just a year older than Macario.
The other players also stood in our way. Kristie Mewis scored the fifth goal with a beautiful finish. Sanchez could not finish a few chances, but repeatedly beat the Iceland defense with his precise dribbles and passes. Emily Fox attacked well from left-back and was often threatened. Wednesday’s game clearly presented more opportunities for some new USWNT players.
However, it’s more difficult to leave the game with bigger implications for the USWNT.
Going into Wednesday, Iceland needed just a draw to win the SheBelieves Cup, but played as a winning team, making for a more open game in favor of the Americans. They changed goalkeepers in the first half, apparently not because Sigurdardottir was struggling but to give experience to 18-year-old Runarsdottir.
However, in reality, this SheBelieves Cup has always been the easiest tournament for the USWNT since the Americans started hosting the tournament in 2016.
Prior to this year, the tournament had seen only one entry outside of FIFA’s top 15. However, this time, Iceland is the opponent with the highest ranking at 16th place in the world. New Zealand ranked 22 while Czech Republic is 24. USWNT is ranked No. 1. Coming to the tournament, USWNT has won 29 out of 32 meetings against opponents at the SheBelieves Cup 2022 – their only loss was in the first meeting against New Zealand in 1987.
But there are also reasons to believe that the USWNT won’t simply unmask the opponent either.
First, Andonovski brought a relatively young and inexperienced squad to this tournament as he looked recreating an aging list. At 25.40 years old, Wednesday’s starting lineup is the youngest USWNT team has ever played in the SheBelieves Cup and the youngest team in any game since April 5, 2018.
The SheBelieves Cup, a glorified series of Premier League friendlies, has traditionally been a tournament for experimentation, but also has some urgency for Andonovski. The team’s best scorers from the past few years – Morgan, Press, Rapinoe and Heath – will all be 34 or older in the next World Cup. The pandemic delaying the Olympics also means that Andonovski has only a few months for a rebuilding process that is usually carried out over several years.
That’s why Macario’s performance on Wednesday in particular could lead to tough decisions for Andonovski. Macario joined the USWNT last year, replacing the Olympic roster until the rules were changed to expand the size of the tournament’s roster. But Macario was already seen as a midfielder, and at this SheBelieves Cup, she played as a forward with the USWNT for the first time.
Andonovski says Macario’s momentum during the SheBelieves Cup wasn’t about her being comfortable playing as a forward, but about the team learning about how she played the position.
“We watched from game one to game three how Cat grew up, but we mainly watched how the whole team grew around Cat when it came to understanding her movements, her position, the corner, the balls she was playing,” he said. “That’s where we grow the most.”
Pugh says it was a learning experience that allowed her to play better than Macario.
“I never played with Cat as a number 9 and she did a great job at it,” Pugh said. “That’s exactly what we needed to see and get to know her tendencies – back, control, swing, dominate her.”
The Americans found opportunities early on but many of them were only half chances – they finished the first half at 1.07 xG or expected goals, which measures the likelihood of a chance leading up to goal. They finished that half with two goals because Macario scored from uncertain positions and created scoring opportunities that would otherwise not exist.
Macario later admitted that she started the tournament with some trepidation, but remained determined to step up in Wednesday’s trophy decision.
“When we started this tournament, I could feel myself a little bit constrained, not playing the way I knew it to be,” Macario said. “With the big game we had today, playing for the trophy, I need to give my all and for my teammates and Vlatko and the country I belong here.”
Looks like she did exactly that.
