American women pick up where they left off in win
BREDA, Netherlands — Rose Lavelle scored against the Netherlands again, Kristie Mewis scored in her first appearance for the United States in six years and the U.S. women won a rematch of last year’s World Cup final by the same score, 20, on Friday.
The older sister of starter Sam Mewis came in as a secondhalf substitute and scored in the 70th minute. It was Kristie Mewis’ second goal for the team, after her first on June 15, 2013. The 2,722 days between her goals was the longest stretch in team history.
“I just had to just rewatch it, actually, because I think I blacked out on what actually happened,” said Kristie Mewis, who plays for the National Women’s Soccer League’s Houston Dash and last played for the U.S. on March 14, 2014.
The U.S. hadn’t played in 261 days, when on March 11 it completed a 30 mark in the group stage of the SheBelieves Cup, before the coronavirus pandemic shut down the event.
The topranked Americans have won all nine matches they’ve played this year. They’re 1100 under coach Vlatko Andonovski, who took over after Jill Ellis stepped down last year and is preparing the team for next summer’s Tokyo Olympics.
“A lot of things changed in 2020. But one thing that didn’t change and one thing that will never change with this team is the heart and the mind,” Andonovski said. “And I was so proud of these players, the way they stepped up and handled the game, considering that some of them didn’t have a chance to train properly before this camp.”
Lavelle — who also scored when the U.S. beat the Netherlands in Lyon, France, last year for the team’s second straight World Cup title — got the U.S. on the board Friday. Stanford alum Christen Press found Lavelle streaking down the right wing in the 41st minute. Lavelle evaded a Dutch defender to the inside with a nifty dribble and then ripped a rocket from the corner of the box, sending it into the top left corner of the goal.
Nine of the 11 U.S. starters for the World Cup final were in the starting lineup Friday. A 10th, Cal alum Alex Morgan, came in as a secondhalf substitute for Press for her 170th appearance with the team. Only World Cup star Megan Rapinoe, who is expected back in U.S. camp in January, did not make the trip.
Morgan, playing for Tottenham, had not played for the Americans since the World Cup final because she was pregnant with and gave birth to daughter Charlie.
The teams held a moment of silence before the game for Diego Maradona, the Argentine great who died earlier this week.
The U.S. wore warmups that included the message “Black Lives Matter” across the front. Nine players knelt during the national anthem.
The players issued a statement that said,: “Today, we wear Black Lives Matter to affirm human decency. We protest against racial injustice and police brutality against Black people. We protest against the racist infrastructures that do not provide equal opportunity for Black and brown people to fulfill their dreams, including playing on this team.”