What You Missed: SheBelieves Day 2 In Review
Feb 21st, 2021
Once again, the hunt to find a streaming source for Sunday’s games was a total challenge. On Thursday, I mentioned I paid a monthly subscription to www.onesoccer.ca because their advertising led me to believe that they are featuring the entire SheBelieves Cup on their site. It turns out that they are only showing part of the cup — the Canadian team‘s games exclusively — which was a bit disappointing. Thankfully, I found a Mexican Youtube Channel that was streaming the Brazil vs. U.S. game, and then I tuned into the Canada vs. Argentina game using One Soccer Canada.
If you didn’t get the chance to watch these games yesterday here are some of the high and low lights.
LOWLIGHTS
USA vs. Brazil
Brazil seemed out of sorts compared to their game on Thursday against Argentina, although overall they played well. They only had two — yes, two! — shots on goal during the entire match! Some might say that they looked dangerous the entire game, but to me they were strongest in the first half. The second half was a display of superiority by the U.S team who demonstrated once again, why they are the world champions. Personally I was disappointed to see the Brazilian team lose. In all honesty, I was eager to watch “Marta” show some acts of epic heroism, but my desires were left thwarted because sadly that wasn’t the case either.
HIGHLIGHTS
USA vs. Brazil
Considering both Brazil and the U.S. won their opening matches of the tournament on Thursday, I was surprised to see the amount of pressure the U.S. put on Brazil. From the opening whistle they created a number of early scoring opportunities. Their relentless pressure was rewarded in the 11th minute when Christen Press scored the opening goal, ripping a shot from the top corner of the box.
Although Christen Press was indisputably the woman of the match, I was floored by the passing accuracy of Linday Horan 53 of her 61 passes were accurate (a whopping 87%). She led the team in both total passes and correct passes, and if that wasn’t enough, she set up 4 amazing goal opportunities! Bravo @lindsayhoran!
LOWLIGHTS
Argentina vs. USA
Fans of the Canadian team woke up Sunday to some bad news. Vanessa Gilles (the key defensive player in Canada’s game against the U.S last Thursday) left the tournament to return to FC Girondins de Bordeaux, as part of a pre-tournament agreement. As a result she missed the game against Argentina and will be missing the final game against Brazil on Wednesday.
It appeared to me that the Canadians were playing upset right up until they scored their first goal in the 92nd minute. An article in the Candian press read “Canada edges Argentina on last-gasp effort for 1st victory at SheBelieves Cup’’ The players appeared frustrated and Coach Priestman’s body language conveyed that she was anxious and uncomfortable throughout the game. Afterwards, Coach Priestman admitted “it wasn’t the prettiest game, but the best teams find a way to win and that’s exactly what our team did.”
For Argentina, the loss was more than 1–0. They had two key players injured due the rough game imposed by the Canadians. Agus Barroso had to be substituted mid-game due to muscle exhaustion. And sadly, Lorena Benitez was stretchered off in the 56th minute due to an ACL tear. She will miss the final game against the U.S. on Wednesday and will be out of the Libertador Cup with Boca Jrs next month. After waiting 5 years to be on the international pitch, she could be out of commission for the entire year.
Despite playing with guts, it wasn’t not enough for the Argentine team to steal a point from Canada, who are ranked 8th in the world.
HIGHLIGHTS
Argentina vs. Canada
Fortunately, two of the four Argentinian players originally ruled out of the team’s opening match were approved to play against Canada. The U.S. Soccer organization cleared Adriana Sachs and Eliana Stabile after they both tested negative for COVID-19.
Another uplifting highlight is that the Argentine team played a brilliant defensive match. It took the Canadians 92nd minutes to score their first goal. Despite the lack of support and funding the Argentine organization gives their women’s team — their nameless jerseys are a small insight — the Argentine women showed up to play. Augustina Barroso made 8 clearances — more than any other player in the game including the Canadians. And Yamila Rodrigues ran all the way to Argentina and back throughout the match in order to defend. Bravo!
The Canadian team substituted Sarah Stratigakis in the 73rd minute replacing Jade Rose. This instantly upped the tempo in midfield. The 21-year-old made her first appearance for Canada since 2015. She scored the only goal in the game during stoppage time lifting Canada to a 1–0 win over a stubborn Argentina.
So far the U.S. is in first place, followed by Brazil, then Canada and last but not least, Argentina.
Don’t forget to tune inWednesday Feb 24th for Brazil vs Canada and Argentina vs U.S. It’s the last match of the Cup and could switch the standings significantly.
