U.S. Women’s National Team coasts to win over Nigeria in KC. Sophia Smith scored twice
The U.S. Women’s National Team downed Nigeria 4-0 in a midday friendly soccer match at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday, where fans draped in red, white and blue delighted in seeing the USWNT stars play to an easy victory in Kansas City, Kan.
“Kansas City is near and dear to my heart since I played here for five years,” said USWNT captain Becky Sauerbrunn, referencing her time with the now-defunct FC Kansas City club. “I love this field, love this crowd, (and) it felt great to play in front of them again. It was a palpable energy today.”
Sophia Smith scored twice in the first half. Lindsey Horan also scored before intermission as the Americans led 3-0 at the midway point. Alex Morgan scored the fourth USWNT goal in the 52nd minute.
“There are several things we’re happy with,” USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski said. “I thought that we controlled the game, controlled the pace of the game, throughout the whole 90 minutes.”
Still, Andonovski and Sauerbrunn expressed some disappointment in how frayed the game became over the final 15 minutes or so.
“I didn’t feel like we finished as strong as we started,” Andonovski said. “So that’s something that we’re going to have to address and talk about in preparation for our next game.”
The match was the first in a series of friendlies against Nigeria during the September international window.
Kansas City Current defender Hailie Mace subbed in midway through the second half, earning her first cap with the USWNT since 2018. She played 20 minutes.
Smith’s first goal followed a sequence in which Nigeria misplayed a header, putting her one-on-one against with the Nigerian goalkeeper.
Her second was the result of some lovely passing on the left side of the field between Andi Sullivan and Alex Morgan, which found Emily Fox behind the Nigeria backline. Fox passed it across the goalmouth to Smith for a tap-in.
“It was great buildup,” Smith said. “That’s stuff that we work on in practice. Just simple, simple things, and I think we just executed it really well. Foxy played a great ball.”
Morgan and Smith were a handful for the Nigerian defenders, with Smith dropping deep underneath Morgan to pick up the ball in pockets of space. The movement “unorganized” the Nigeria defense, Morgan said, which allowed Mal Pugh to run free into 1v1 situations on the wing.
“I think me, Mal, and Soph over the last two months have been able to really know each other’s habits and runs pretty well,” Morgan said.
Horan’s goal followed a nice dribbling move that freed up space for a shot blasted low and hard past the keeper. Morgan scored on a second-half penalty kick.
“I feel like we created a ton and were able to finish a couple,” Morgan said. “But we can always look to improve.”
It was the 12th straight win for the U.S. side.
Mace will now travel with the USWNT to Washington D.C. for the second match of the series on Tuesday. She’ll reunite with her Kansas City teammates for the Current’s next game, which is scheduled for next Sunday, Sept. 11, at Gotham FC.
This story was originally published September 3, 2022 at 2:26 PM.