WASHINGTON, DC – When you face the No. 1 team in any sport, you have to calculate your odds. It didn’t do that for the US Women’s National Team, resulting in all being lost.
Saturday’s 2-0 friendly loss to Spain at the Audi Field was a good example of what Emma Hayes’ side still need to do to claim the top spot in the FIFA Rankings. First-half goals from Spain’s Patri Guijarro and Eva Navarro gave the visitors an early lead 15 minutes after goalkeeper Adriana Nanclares made nine saves.
However, given the atmosphere and energy surrounding the Nation’s Capital, you’d think the USWNT had a two-goal lead for most of the match. Most of the 19,220 fans in attendance were loud and supportive of the Americans, calling them forward even though they occupied most of the match.
Hayes expressed disappointment with the result despite his team’s overall positive performance, agreeing that the subtle differences made a significant difference in the final score.
“I’m disappointed for us today,” Hayes said after the match. “I’m disappointed because I feel we didn’t deserve to lose 2-0 today… but if you don’t pay attention to those details, you don’t deserve anything.
“You can’t afford to be 2-0 down against the best team in the world, especially the way we conceded those goals. It’s learning,” he said. “We had a lot of chances today, frankly. They were effective, we weren’t.”
Spain had just three shots on target in the match, but made two of them count, with Guijarro and Navrarro recording clinical finishes past veteran goalkeeper Claudia Dickey. Aside from those two goals, the USWNT had the majority of possession, went close to the net on several occasions, and even won the match on home soil.
Alyssa Thompson, Sophia Wilson, Lindsey Heaps and Rose Lavelle had chances saved by the aforementioned Nanclares, while Lily Yohannes had the 24-year-old denied a penalty in the second half.
The USWNT is trying to take a positive from Saturday’s match, though it knows losing to the reigning Women’s World Cup in a friendly is better than beating them in next year’s tournament.
“I think that the gap between Spain and us that existed three or four years ago has been closed,” Hayes said. “If we want to be the best, we have to be more clinical.”
“There will be games like this and I’m happy it’s not the World Cup right now,” USWNT forward Trinity Rodman said after the match. “Take what you can from this game and move on to the next game.”
Fortunately for the USWNT, there’s another crack at Spain on Tuesday in Chester, Pennsylvania, a golden opportunity to bounce back from Saturday’s lackluster showing. Hayes could potentially reshuffle his lineup to try something new or give Saturday’s starters a chance to make up for missed opportunities.
Wilson doesn’t think too negatively of the latest loss, admitting the USWNT will use it as a learning lesson.
“I think there were a lot of good parts today and Emma showed me that. You can’t focus too much on the end result,” Wilson said after the match. “Obviously we want to beat them in the World Cup [the friendlies] Another good opportunity to grow is just fine-tuning the little pieces. I think we’ll make the most of this game, but also be positive about what we did well.”
Saturday marked just the sixth loss for the USWNT during Hayes’ reign as head coach, but three of those have come this year.