After second-place finish, U.S. focuses on building chemistry
CARSON, Calif. — Although Australia wrapped up the inaugural Tournament of Nations title before the U.S. women stepped onto the field, Megan Rapinoe and her teammates still finished strong.
Rapinoe scored a splendid goal in the 12th minute, and the Americans beat Japan 3-0 on Thursday night in the final match of the four-team round robin event.
Rapinoe’s goal was a stunner: She took a pass from Christen Press in stride and stutter-stepped her way through the penalty area, dropping defender Aya Sameshima to the turf with a fake before firing a low shot past goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita.
Mallory Pugh and Alex Morgan scored in the second half as the U.S. entertained a crowd of 23,161 that didn’t seem to mind finishing second in this friendly tournament.
The U.S. improved to 271-7 against Japan.
Australia rendered the Americans’ final result irrelevant to the standings by routing Brazil 6-1 in the early game at StubHub Center, south of downtown Los Angeles. The U.S. needed Australia to lose to have any chance of making up a three-goal aggregate deficit.
“You look at Australia, and they’re a seasoned team because they’ve been together so long,” U.S. coach Jill Ellis said. “That’s the next step for us, is working on our chemistry and our team play.”
The top-ranked Americans’ 1-0 loss to the Matildas in Portland last week turned out to be the decisive match in the Tournament of Nations, which was created to give more opportunities to the U.S. team to face top opposition. Ellis used the tournament to give minutes to underused players and to work on new lineup combinations, such as playing Becky Sauerbrunn and Abby Dahlkemper together on the back line.
After getting shut out in the opener, the Americans also showcased their wealth of strong attacking players with seven goals in the final two tournament games against two of the world’s top eight teams. The U.S. followed up its incredible late comeback against Brazil last Sunday with a solid performance against Japan in a rematch of the 2015 World Cup final.
“Now it’s about building connections,” Ellis said. “I know what I’ve put the players through in terms of it being challenging. … It’s not going to be chemistry right now. It’s when they come out of this, and they start to build relationships.”