America ladies’s nationwide crew bounced again from a surprising loss to Mexico in its earlier Concacaf Gold Cup match to make quick work of Colombia in a 3-0 quarterfinal win Sunday evening at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
First-half targets from Lindsay Horan, Jenna Nighswonger and Jaedyn Shaw gave the U.S. a cushty lead at halftime, and it shut Colombia down within the second half to arrange a showdown with Canada on Wednesday on the inaugural Girls’s Gold Cup.
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It was a powerful assertion from interim coach Twila Kilgore’s U.S. crew after it had misplaced 2-0 to Mexico within the closing sport of group stage play on Feb. 26, delivering a formidable efficiency towards a Colombia aspect that had reached the quarterfinals of the 2023 Girls’s World Cup.
“I believe we all the time have chunk, however I believe tonight a part of the important thing was to play of their third as a result of anytime it is this bodily…you do not need to put a referee in a state of affairs the place they’re requested to probably make these calls nearer to your aim,” Kilgore stated after the match. “That was a giant figuring out issue for us in the present day and a part of that’s being on the entrance foot defensively and locking them into an space the place you hope to win the ball.”
Kilgore made quite a few adjustments to the beginning lineup that featured within the loss to Mexico — a primary U.S. defeat by its neighbors to the south since 2010 — with Shaw, Korbin Albert and Alex Morgan all within the XI after getting used as substitutes Monday.
And the adjustments labored to perfection within the opening 45 minutes.
Horan began the scoring from the penalty spot after Colombia’s Jorelyn Carabalí took down Morgan within the space, and Nighswonger doubled the lead for the U.S. with a well-struck shot 10 minutes later from a unfastened ball that fell to her in entrance of aim.
“We knew it might be a giant bodily battle and also you’re all the time wanting early on within the sport to see how the referees are gonna…what their decisions are going to be early on and the way that impacts the sport,” Kilgore stated. “I assumed we did a very good job of coping with the physicality, matching physicality and imposing ourselves, but additionally being very conscious.”
Nineteen-year-old Shaw netted in first-half stoppage time for her fifth aim in eight appearances for the U.S., beating her defender to Trinity Rodman’s cross and stabbing residence to provide the Individuals a 3-0 lead on the break.
Along with her aim, Shaw joined Shannon Boxx as the one gamers in U.S. historical past to attain in every of their first three worldwide begins. The Individuals’ assault has been markedly extra spectacular on this event when the speedy, artistic Shaw, who performs for San Diego’s NWSL crew, is on the sphere.
Though it had no targets to point out for it, the U.S. continued to dominate all through the second half and simply noticed out the consequence to e book a spot within the semifinals.
The U.S. hadn’t conceded a aim to a Concacaf opponent in its earlier 33 matches earlier than Mexico scored twice towards it, however goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher and a protection led by Naomi Girma bought the Individuals again to wash sheets towards Colombia. Naeher posted her forty third shutout throughout a decade on the U.S. crew, together with one significantly stellar save within the first half from a long-range shot by Actual Madrid teenager Linda Caicedo.
“We genuinely did not do something completely different [in preparation],” Kilgore stated when requested about what changes had been made after the loss to Mexico. “That is the important thing to with the ability to be a part of this program, is to have the ability to present up when it is going effectively, present up when it is not going so effectively and be the identical participant and execute in the identical methods.
“It is actually nearly regrouping from clearly a tricky second and figuring out not simply how we need to develop and a few of the issues that we have to repair, but additionally straight associated to our subsequent opponent.”
Brazil will play Mexico, which beat Paraguay 3-2 in Sunday’s earlier sport, within the different semifinal, with the 2 winners going through off within the closing subsequent Sunday in San Diego.
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