Mourning Parkland students attend match
England’s own goal helps Americans prevail
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High soccer players and pupils hold signs and weep as a moment of silence is held for former teammate Alyssa Alhadeff, who was killed in the massacre at the school, before the start of the U.S. women’s national team vs. England She-Believes Cup finale at Orlando City Stadium. The U.S. won 1-0.
For 57 minutes Wednesday night, England seemed content to sit back and absorb wave after wave of pressure from the United States.
The Lionesses only need a draw to secure the 2018 She Believes Cup, and they played like it to start the match. England didn’t register a shot until 12 minutes had gone by in the second half, and the United States women’s national team constantly had players going forward, searching for a breakthrough to end the stalemate.
The U.S. got the big goal, although it was in strange fashion.
In the 58th minute, U.S. forward Megan Rapinoe sent in a cross that deflected off England’s Abbie McManus and the pingpong game began. The ball then bounced off the foot of defender Millie Bright and then off goalkeeper Karen Bardsley, who had two saves at that point.
Own goal. A 1-0 lead for the United States. And 32 minutes later, that lead was enough for a 1-0 victory for the United States to defeat England and secure the She Believes Cup in front of an announced crowd of 12,351 at Orlando City Stadium.
“They gave us a great battle tonight,” U.S. coach Jill Ellis said. “I thought we had most of the game in terms of control, but they’re such a dangerous team. They put a lot of numbers up on our line and tried to get them high in there.”
With England sitting back, the United States was free to bring attackers forward, particularly toward the end of the first half. Some of the Americans’ best chances came when 19-year-old forward Mallory Pugh was involved.
In the 45th minute, she almost broke the draw with a thunderous blast from just outside the penalty area that brushed off the left post.
“It’s a 90-plus minute game,” Ellis said. “I felt we had the momentum. I felt we were playing well. I felt it was going to be time in terms trying to get a goal. Obviously we knew we had to win to win the tournament so we were pushing for that.
“We actually played with really good patience in many spurts.”
England committed players forward after the owngoal, but the U.S. quickly changed its formation to a 3-5-2. The U.S. absorbed pressure just as well as the Lionesses did, and England couldn’t find an equalizer.
Ellis she knew England would be dangerous off set pieces.
The 87th minute provided the scariest moment for the United States and England’s best chance at hoisting the SheBelieves Cup. A header off a corner kick glanced off the post and had to be cleared off the line.
This is the second SheBelieves Cup title for the United States. The 13 goals scored in this year’s tournament is the highest number of goals scored in the threeyear history of the four-team event.
The U.S. finished last in the 2017 SheBelieves Cup.
“I think it’s really important to come away with this win and to come away with the SheBelieves Cup title,” U.S. forward Alex Morgan said. “They are three fantastic teams. I think this tournament, everyone was kind of beating each other and it was almost kind of like a little round-robin of everyone beating each other.
“I think it showed really great character from us. Even when we might not be playing our absolute best soccer, we’re still sticking to the principles of this team and we’re still grinding out those wins. That’s an important thing for us, that we see progress.”
Ellis said the tournament was a good learning experience.
“It’s a really prestigious tournament because you’re bringing the top teams in the world,” Ellis said. “We created these tournaments to try to create competition because we don’t have a Euros. For us, it’s that opportunity to fight to get on the podium and for our players to feel that and learn from those experiences.
“All games with top teams are really tight. I think, sometimes, our fans see 3- and 4-nothing and they expect to it to be more. To get to see tight matches where it’s more of a chess match I think is invaluable for our fans to see.”
Victims honored
For one minute in Orlando City Stadium, where noise is amplified to so that cheers can be deafening, there was absolutely no sound.
Before the United States women’s national team kicked off the SheBelieves Cup finale against England, the PA announcer called for a moment of silence to honor Alyssa Alhadeff, a 14-year-old soccer player at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who was killed during a mass shooting at the school that took the lives of 17 people.
The stadium went silent and a picture of Alhadeff was shown on the video board.
Alhadeff’s junior varsity, varsity and club teams attended the game. They were all given U.S. women’s national team jerseys with her name on the back. Several of her former teammates wiped away tears after she was honored.