My 3 Thoughts on USWNT-Haiti
U.S. wins 3-0 to kick off CONCACAF World Cup/Olympic qualifying tournament
The USWNT beat Haiti 3-0 in the opening game of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament for the World Cup and Olympics on Monday night in Monterrey, Mexico. Alex Morgan scored the first two goals, and Midge Purce added the third. Here are my three thoughts on the game:
• Morgan is in some of the best form of her career. The 33-year-old center-forward has been lighting it up in the NWSL with a league-leading 11 goals, and she got the opportunity to start in this tournament with the recent ACL injury of Catarina Macario. Morgan didn’t let the chance pass on Monday, scoring twice in the first half on two terrific finishes—a stabbing near-post dart and a deft header over the Haitian keeper—and preventing this potential trap game from become a real one against a challenging opponent. Morgan is sharp right now; she had a header hit the crossbar before her two goals and added a terrific finish on a third goal disallowed (correctly) for offside. Early in her career, Morgan often beat you with speed and a laser shot, but in her 30s she has found a craftiness in the box that helps her get free at just the right moments, which sometimes involve moving away from the goal to get to the ball. It’s a little like Michael Jordan finding a killer mid-range game in the latter stage of his career, and she uses it well.
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• The U.S. was vulnerable at times in this game. Anyone who sees this was a 3-0 U.S. win but didn’t watch the game will be surprised to find out that Haiti had several moments of real danger and was unlucky not to be closer on the scoreline. There was the obvious failure by Roselord Borgella to convert a penalty late in the first half—she beat Casey Murphy but hit the left post—that would have brought the score to 2-1. But there were other scary moments for the U.S. too. Haiti barely missed converting an early set-piece into a 1-0 lead when the header went just wide, and Murphy stoned Melchie Dumornay on a 1-on-1 in the box later in the half. Dumornay roasted Becky Sauerbrunn, and the U.S. back line will rightly face some questions about whether it can be beaten for speed. (Left back Emily Fox conceded the penalty in the first half while trying to recover on a Haitian attack.) A 3-0 win is still a 3-0 win, but there will be questions over how the U.S. can handle opposing attackers in upcoming games like Jamaica’s Bunny Shaw and Mexico’s Diana Ordoñez.
• The VAR was shaky in this game. Haiti’s Borgella got sent off late in the first half for a high studs-up rake of her cleats into the midsection of Kelley O’Hara (who had the studmarks to show it). It seemed like a straightforward call. But then came VAR, which was somewhat surprising in itself. VAR is supposed to overturn calls only when they’re “clear and obvious,” and there looked to be nothing clear and obvious. But Borgella’s red card was overturned anyway, leaving Haiti with 11 players and O’Hara and her U.S. teammates incredulous. VAR also overruled a U.S. goal by Purce, since Megan Rapinoe appeared to be slightly offside on that play. You hope that the officiating and VAR will be good in this tournament, but there were reasons for concern in Game 1.
What are your thoughts? You can join the discussion in the comments below.
Hopefully this is also a sign that CONCACAF rivals are improving, which is great for the women's game but less so for fans accustomed to comfortable 6-0 routs.
Agreed, definitely some questions for Andonovski to answer in terms of the backline and who makes up the front three. Many games during this W Championship to answer them. The refereeing was definitely questionable at times (How did Haiti have 11 women on the field for the second half!!??). On the positive side, Alex Morgan is in fine form and I like what I have seen from some of the young faces like Ashley Sanchez, Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman.