SK spoil Ellis exit with shock draw against US
JI SO-YUN (pictured, AFP) scored a first half goal as South Korea drew 1-1 with the US on Sunday, spoiling the final game of coach Jill Ellis and snapping the Americans’ 17-game winning streak.
South Korea, ranked 20th in the world, opened the scoring on Ji’s goal then held on for the draw despite some furious pressure by the mighty Americans in the final minutes of stoppage time in front of a crowd of 33,020 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
The No1 ranked US rang one shot off the crossbar in stoppage time and had another goal called back in extra time because Carli Lloyd was ruled offside.
Lloyd scored the lone US goal in the 37th minute with a superb header that sailed over er the top of three South Korean ean defenders and past the arms rms of goalkeeper Kang Ga-ae. ae.
Lloyd’s marker came just three minutes after Ji’s goal for or South Korea, who were forced to play the final 10 minutes inutes of the contest shorthanded thanded because forward Son on Hwa-yeon was sent off.
H e a d c o a c h E l l i s announced ed on July 30 t hat she was stepping down n from her post a f t e er r f i v e - plus years s at t he h e l m o f t h e world’s top team.
The American Americans were riding a 17-ma 17-match win streak and Ellis w was hoping to sail off into the sunset with another dominant victory victor against an Asian minnow minnow.
The US did exte extend their unbeaten streak to 2 21 games since losing their first game of 2019 to France 3-1 in Le Havre.
In J Ju ly, t he A m e r i c a n s c a p t u r e d t h e i r f o u r t h W o r l d Cup t it le w it h a 2-0 w i n over t he Netherlands.
The Americans pressed hard in the second half on Sunday to try and get the winning goal but they headed one shot off the post in the 82nd minute and another header by Mallory Pugh clanked off the crossbar in stoppage time.
Earlier in extra time, Pugh whiffed on a half volley from in close that saw the ball dribble into the arms of a diving Kang.
The draw comes just three days after the US beat South Korea 2-0 in Charlotte, North Carolina. That was Ellis’ 106th victory as coach and saw her surpass Tony DiCicco for most at the helm of the US women’s team.