7 Mins: Australia gets the ball into the USWNT’s penalty area for the first time, with Grant’s speculative cross from the left claimed by McGlynn. 5 Mins: A ball into the box from the right is knocked down to A Thompson, who can’t manage to take advantage of the space and get a shot off before she’s charged down.
A start that is as much a dream for the USWNT as it is a nightmare for Australia. Less than 60 seconds into the contest, the hosts win the ball and move through the Australian defence with a casual ease, Shaw bursting into space on the left-side of the penalty area before cutting the ball back for Biyendolo to finish from close range.
This SheBelieves Cup meeting is underway in Arizona!. The last time these two sides met? July 2024, as the USWNT ended the Olympic campaign of Australia with a comfortable 2-1 win in Marseille. Trinity Rodman and Korbin Albert scoring for the Americans and Alanna Kennedy with a late consolation for Australia.
The anthems are complete and the players are moving into position. It’ll be a home-shirt vs home-shirt match-up today: the USWNT wearing their white shirts and blue shorts and the Australians wearing their newly unveiled green and gold, Calippo-esque (do Americans have those?) shirts with green shorts.
Teams are making their way onto the pitch in Arizona, kickoff is imminent. Legends joining us in Glendale!. Brandi Chastain and Julie Ertz making plenty of friends out on the concourse 🤳#shebelievescup x @Visa pic.twitter.com/sFmd1kefUw. Today’s game will mark Sermanni’s eighth game as interim boss of the Matildas, with it looking increasingly likely the veteran mentor’s stint will stretch to include April’s friendlies against South Korea.
Football Australia’s search for a full-time successor to Tony Gustavsson has now stretched into its seventh month following the Swede’s exit following the Paris Olympics and while the federation has been adamant that they have plenty of time to find a successor – given that the Matildas’ next competitive fixture won’t come until the opening game of a home Asian Cup next March – the sense of urgency surrounding the need to appoint someone is growing by the day.
Sermanni has largely done what is expected of an interim since coming in, getting the team’s heads up after a disappointing Olympics, securing a few good results, and blooding some fresh faces. But there’s a limit to what a caretaker can do and with every week that passes without a permanent appointment, the amount of time that a new coach has to implement their ideas, assess the talent at their disposal, and experiment with approach and personnel before the Asian Cup rolls around is reduced.
The stakes were only heightened by the 4-0 defeat to Japan, Asia’s reigning heavyweights having found their full-time coach in Nils Nielsen and accelerating forward into a new era – from an already high base – while the Matildas continue to exist in a holding pattern.
Rollin’ up 🚌#Matildas #SheBelievesCup pic.twitter.com/ZD4CMxHlK7. And here’s the report on what was an awful day at the office for the Matildas, thumped 4-0 by Japan. If you need getting up to speed, here’s The Guardian’s report on the USWNT’s 2-0 win over Colombia last week.
Japan’s red hot form has continued in today’s earlier fixture, putting up another four-spot as they downed Colombia 4-1 thanks to goals from Momoko Tanikawa, Mina Tanaka (who now has two braces in two games), and Maika Hamano. Nadeshiko Japan are one of several powerhouse nations that have undergone a period of generational renewal in recent years but in just the second-game of the Nils Nielsen-era, the 2011 Women’s World Cup champions look like they’re well and truly surging upward.
Japan gets their third!. Tanaka gets her second assist of the tournament on this Maika Hamano finish 👏#shebelievescup x @Visa pic.twitter.com/DUknK8RkMU. Getting in behind the Japanese defence, Colombian talisman Linda Caicedo gave her side their first goal of the tournament just before halftime.
¡Qué linda, Linda!. Just before the break, Linda Caicedo puts Colombia on the board!#shebelievescup x @Visa pic.twitter.com/ggnJj8Wg6J. These are the moments 🫶 pic.twitter.com/LQNZrlvjw4. How long has it been since the USWNT made eleven changes to their side between games? Smooth by Carlos Santana, featuring Rob Thomas was top of the Billboard charts the last time it happened, while The Talented Mr. Ripley had supplanted The Green Mile atop the box office.
Starting XI: Mandy McGlynn, Emily Sams, Korbin Albert, Lynn Biyendolo, Alyssa Thompson, Jaedyn Shaw, Tierna Davidson (C), Emma Sears, Gisele Thompson, Claire Hutton, Crystal Dunn. Subs: McKeown, Nighswonger, Sentor, Heaps, Yohannes, Sonnet, Coffey, Macario, Cooper, Ryan, Fox.
The USA vs. Australia starters ✨#shebelievescup x @Visa. Lineup Notes 👇. USWNT boss Emma Hayes, meanwhile, has gone fully Gary Oldman in Léon the Professional. Who’s she rotated? EVERYONE. The English coach has 11 changes made to the starting line-up that downed Colombia last week – just the sixth time in the 758-game history of this side that they’ve changed all eleven players from one game to the next and the first since January, 2000.
