By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
The former African champions, Super Falcons are yet to halt their four-match losing streak as the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) last night (early hours of Wednesday in Nigeria) at Audi Field, Washington, D.C.defeated Nigeria 2-1 to extend the team’s home unbeaten streak to 71 matches.
It was Nigeria’s second defeat in four days after Team USA last Saturday thrashed the Super Falcons 4-0 in Kansas City in the first match of the two-match international friendlies between the two countries in a week. Nigeria thus ended the U.S.Tour losing 6-1 aggregate score.
In the match in Washington D.C., a
Blessing Demehin own goal in the first half and an acrobatic header from midfielder Rose Lavelle, which was assisted with class by forward Megan Rapinoe just seconds after she came off the bench, led the Americans to its 13th consecutive victory and second win over the Super Falcons in four days.
The U.S. threatened in the attack immediately as debutant midfielder Samantha Coffey intercepted a pass in the second minute and found forward Alex Morgan inside the box. Morgan turned toward goal and fired a shot on target, forcing a save from goalkeeper Chiamaka Nniadoze, who would go on to have a strong performance posting six saves on the night.
Team USA dominated in possession and looked consistently dangerous as it strung together attacking plays through cohesive passing which demanded plenty of defending from the Nigerian back line which showed improvement from the previous outing on September 3 in Kansas City.
Following a handful of close chances, the USA opened the scoring after Nigeria defender Demehin attempted to clear a low cross from the left flank that was struck on the ground by forward Mallory Pugh, but she redirected ball into her own net.
But four minutes after coming into the match as a halftime substitute forward Uchenna Kanu equalized for the Super Falcons when she received a long ball that beat the U.S. back line. She dribbled into the left side of penalty area and finished with a quality shot into the upper right corner that was unsavable for U.S. goalkeeper Casey Murphy.
The goal marked only the second that the USA has conceded in 2022 and ended the team’s nine-game shutout streak which lasted an impressive 880 minutes.
The 1-1 score line didn’t last long as Lavelle put the USA ahead in the 66th minute with a brilliant diving header following a precise cross from Rapinoe, who had come into the match as a substitute just over a minute earlier.
It took Rapinoe exactly 73 seconds of action to create the assist, which was her second of the year and the 73rd of her international career, moving her into a tie with Abby Wambach for third on the USA’s all-time assist chart.
Team USA did well to salt away the rest of the match with some quality possession while continuing to create scoring chances and remained unbeaten on the year at 13-0-1.
Following the win in front of 18,869 fans who were at the stadiums, the celebrations continued on the field with the official signing by the U.S. Soccer Federation, the U.S. Women’s National Team Players Association and the U.S National Soccer Team Players Association of the historic, first-of-their-kind Collective Bargaining Agreements which achieved true equal pay between the USWNT and the USMNT, setting the global standard moving forward in international soccer.
A large portion of the crowd of 18,869 stayed to watch the signing ceremony.
Lineups:
USA: 18-Casey Murphy; 19-Emily Fox (5-Hailie Mace, 80), 12-Naomi Girma, 3-Alana Cook, 8-Sofia Huerta; 14-Sam Coffey, 16-Rose Lavelle, 10-Lindsey Horan (Capt.); 9-Mallory Pugh, 13-Alex Morgan (7-Ashley Hatch, 80), 11-Sophia Smith (15-Megan Rapinoe, 65).
NGA: 16-Chiamaka Nnadozie, 3-Osinachi Ohale, 4-Glory Ogbonna (17-Nicole Payne, 62) 5-Blessing Demehin, 7-Toni Payne, 8-Rofiat Adenike Imuran, 9-Ifeoma Onumonu (2-Gift Monday, 79), 12-Michelle Alozie (14-Vivian Ikechukwu, 83), 13-Christy Ucheibe (10-Amanda Mbadi, 83), 15-Rasheedat Ajibade (Capt.), 18-Onyi Echegini (6-Uchenna Kanu, 46).
