10,321 strong saw the number one ranked U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) beat up on number two ranked Germany 4-0 Saturday night at Cleveland Browns Stadium. The U.S. got two goals from Abby Wambach and tallies from Heather O’Reilly and Kristine Lilly. U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo looked strong as she had six saves included in her clean sheet.
The Americans had a difficult time in the first 15 minutes and the team could not get the right passing combinations to get down field. Germany held tight and the game settled into a midfield battle.
However, the U.S. started the scoring off less than a half an hour into the game when U.S. forward Abby Wambach was brought down inside the box and was awarded the penalty kick. The Germans argued that Wambach fell down too quickly as it seemed that not much contact was made, but the U.S .got the penalty. Wambach then slid the ball to the left corner on the PK and the Americans led 1-0 just 29 minutes in.
“When we struggled, she was the one to step up,” USWNT head coach Pia Sundhage said after the match. “Today she showed what a skillful player she is.”
“I think that throughout the entire game we kept getting better,” Wambach said. “I’m really proud of us scoring four goals against a great team.”
Wambach’s goal (career number 106) passed Michelle Akers and is now the third highest scorer in U.S. Women’s National Team history. “I think that Michelle is a player I always looked up to and to be in the same sentence as her is probably one of the greatest honors I’ll ever have,” the striker said of her achievement.
Germany had a spell of possession after the goal, but the U.S. would press for their second goal and teamwork would help them find it. Heather O’ Reilly would put in a tapper less than three yards out as Amy Rodriguez passed the ball along the mouth of the goal to O’Reilly.
Solo had little work to contend with, but came up big when she needed to. In the 58th minute, German midfielder Kerstin Garefrekes took a right footed shot inside the box. Solo dove to her left and if not for a stellar save, Germany would have closed the gap. Instead the Americans kept the 2-0 lead.
“I think she’s the best goalkeeper in the world,” Sundhage said of her keeper.
“It feels really good,” Solo said after the game. “I haven’t been at the top of the game for awhile and I haven’t seen a zero either.”
Despite four getting into the German net, goalie Nadie Anderer had several minutes of brilliance as she denied a point-blank shot by U.S. captain Shannon Boxx. If not for her ability to stop the difficult stops, the Germans could have conceded twice as many goals.
Abby Wambach was not done being an offensive threat as she had a hand in the final two goals of the game. She first played a ball in from the corner, dribbled down the goal line and passed it to a waiting Kristine Lilly. The wide-open Lilly put the easy goal away off the inside of the goal post and the States were comfortably ahead, 3-0. It was Lilly’s 130th career goal and her first since Oct 17th, 2007.
“It’s fun to play at the highest level with great players,” Lilly exclaimed after the game. “I was happy, it felt really good to score.”
The U.S. would finish with another Wombach goal in the 63rd minute when she tapped in a perfectly placed cross from Amy Rodriguez.
Next up for the women are two friendlies against Sweden in July. The next installment of the FIFA Women’s World Cup starts June 26, 2011 in Germany.
