U.S. women's soccer champs soar over Portugal before St. Paul crowd
The U.S. Women’s National Team defeated Portugal 3-0 Tuesday at Allianz Field in an exhibition match that was part of the team’s World Cup victory tour.
The U.S. team won their second consecutive Women’s World Cup victory back in July. A key part of the celebration is a series of friendly games against international opponents played in five American cities.
The home stadium of Minnesota United hosted a sellout crowd of 19,600. Even though she had to get up the next morning for her second day of second grade, Mackenzie Rose, 7, of Chanhassen was among them. So was her mom Amy.
“I’m excited because I played soccer and now my daughter is playing soccer for the same club, and now we get to come watch and cheer on the Women’s National Team and watch them play some awesome soccer,” she said.
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Another young soccer player, 12-year-old Olivia Pettey of Hudson, Wisconsin came with her mother and two teammates from St. Croix Academy.
“I’m just really excited. This is going to be a big thing to me. I’ve never seen them in person, so this is really exciting,” she said.
U.S. Women’s Soccer brings victory tour to St. PaulAnd the team did not disappoint. In the first half, the team’s top scorer Carli Lloyd knocked two into Portugal’s net, including a penalty kick. Lloyd caught the eye of fans of the other kind of football after a video of her kicking a 55-yard field goal at a recent Eagles-Ravens joint practice blew up on YouTube. Lloyd has reportedly drawn interest from two NFL teams to kick in preseason games.
Lindsey Horan scored in 93rd minute on a header off a corner kick from Christen Press, who has a team-best 11 assists this year.
Alex Morgan and Rose Lavelle were both out because of concussion protocol. Lloyd started up top for the United States for the second straight game while Jessica McDonald took the place of Megan Rapinoe, who has an Achilles injury. Kelley O'Hara was sidelined by an ankle injury.
That six of the team’s stars were sitting out last night’s game didn’t bother fan Lauren Haverly of St. Paul, even though she’d been looking forward to the game for months.
Haverly says she admires the team’s athleticism, but also their activism.
Last March, the players sued U.S. Soccer, alleging they’re paid far less than their male counterparts despite being more successful.
“I think it’s great because so many times men can ask for a higher wage, but if a woman asks for it, it can be viewed as a little bit different, so the fact that they just come out, and they’re unapologetic. And I think they’ve certainly proved that they’ve earned it.”
A federal judge in Los Angeles is expected to hear the case in May. Meanwhile, the U.S. women’s team continues its road show with more exhibition games through October.
It was Jill Ellis' 105th victory as the U.S. coach, tying her with Tony DiCicco's record from 1994-1999. Ellis, now 105-7-18, plans to step down in October following the team's final two victory tour matches.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.