Early and late goals send USA past Brazil

ORLANDO – Christen Press’ scored 11 minutes in and Megan Rapinoe scored one minute from time to see the United States beat a determined Brazil 2-0 at Exploria Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Lindsay Horan played the ball for an on-rushing Press, allowing Press to continue her run into the box, cut inside her defender and send her shot past the hands of the desperately leaping Barbara to open the scoring.

Brazil was pushing in the closing stages to try to find an equalizer which would give the side hope of winning the tournament but with one minute to go the veteran Rapinoe ended those hopes. The ball was swung into the box and a deflection fell to Rapinoe. It seemed awkward and she wasn’t able to get much power behind the shot but it was too difficult for Barbara to handle, spilling over the line to clinch the match, and likely the tournament.

While the opportunities weren’t always taken and there was some lax passing, the USA managed to improve on its performance in the first match, a 1-0 win over Canada and kept up Vlatko Andonovski’s perfect 15-0-0 record as USWNT Head Coach.

The big story coming into the match was around the coaching battle, with former USWNT World Cup winning Head Coach Pia Sundhage taking on her former team for the first time. Despite her side looking dangerous at times and remaining in the match the US always looked in control of the match.

Pressure came almost immediately from the USA and that relentless attack led to the Americans getting the opener 11 minutes in. Even before that there were opportunities, Rose Lavelle was looking especially dangerous in those opening moments.

It was defense which really won the match for the USWNT keeping the Brazilians to two chances despite how many opportunities Debinha and Ludmila created. The best chance came in the first half when that pair combined only for Crystal Dunn to block.

By keeping a clean sheet in the match Alyssa Naeher extended her record-breaking goalkeeping run to 10 straight shutouts, it was the 40^th clean sheet in her career. The USA will win the tournament by avoiding a loss to Argentina in Wednesday’s match.

Photo: US Soccer