Did the United States women's national team find itself a new tandem at the top for their World Cup run?
The answer might have come in the second half of Sunday night's 5-1 victory over Mexico in a friendly at StubHub Center. It might have felt a little long in coming, but in the end, the work of Sydney Leroux and Abby Wambach seemed to send a pretty strong signal that so far, their efforts are the best the U.S. has seen all year.
“You never know. I don’t know what Jill and the coaching staff are going to decide,’’ Wambach said after scoring two goals despite not playing in the first half.
“What I do know is that chemistry is so important,’’ Wambach added. “That’s why Alex (Morgan) and I have always been so good on the field together. We’ve worked off of each other and we’ve used both of our strengths and combined them and used them as one force -- a superhero type thing. And tonight I think Sydney and I were able to get on the same page and we have the chemistry going. I hope we can continue to build on that.’’
This was supposed to be a game to make a statement. That’s what U.S. captain Carli Lloyd said she was looking for on Sunday. An offensive attack that would declare that the USWNT has hit its offensive stride just three week ahead of the 2015 Women’s World Cup.
Well, in the end, the U.S. drove home a victory over Mexico, but it took the U.S. a good, long time to really clear its throat. By the time it did, Leroux matched Wambach with a pair of goals and defender Lori Chalupny added another.
Playmakers Megan Rapinoe and Tobin Heath also added flair to the sold-out match, each creating highlight-reel assists in feeding their hungry striker targets -- Rapinoe with a surgical lead pass and Brian with a spin move in the corner that left a Mexico defender sputtering in the grass while Wambach headed home the feel-good add-on.
Leroux’s pair of goals came in dramatic fashion and in her first start for the U.S. since the Brasilia Tournament in December. To say the 25-year-old queen of social media was eager to make her own emphatic declaration that she can -- and maybe should be -- a bigger part of the U.S. attack was quite the understatement.
Leroux had injured her right leg and spent all spring trying to get back into top form. She got only spot duty at the end of the three of the four U.S. Algarve Cup matches and saw limited action against New Zealand and Ireland. But with Morgan still out with a bone bruise in her left knee, Leroux on Sunday took advantage of the ample space Mexico allowed behind their defense, driving deep into the far side of the box on several runs before finally converting.
“It does feel like a long time but I was injured for awhile, so that kind of put things into perspective for me. Coming out and scoring those goals made me miss scoring a lot. You don’t realize it until it happens,’’ she said.
With the U.S. sitting Wambach for the start of this game and forward Amy Rodriguez recovering from a stomach flu, Leroux got her chance -- and capitalized. In front of a frothy crowd at the StubHub Center in the second game of the USWNT's three-game Send-Off Series, Leroux made good on her shot -- literally and repeatedly.
As they say, you cannot teach speed. And Leroux just turned on the afterburners for the entire 90 minutes against Mexico -- clearly determined to show that in an offense that had lacked a killer instinct, she was there to provide.
The Canadian-born holder of dual citizenship broke through a stymying Mexico defense to give the U.S. the lead it desperately wanted. Led by a perfect lead pass from Rapinoe, Leroux was all alone when she buried a shot behind Mexico goalkeeper Cecilia Santiago. The goal at 27:12 seemed to indicate that the U.S. -- off to a well-paced effort -- was determined to try and open a big lead on their North American rivals.
However, Mexico was up for the challenge and presented an opponent that pushed the U.S. to their most intense effort so far this year. The U.S. had not shown this level of pace even in the Algarve Cup, where the won their 10th title back in March. They didn’t show this against New Zealand in that 4-0 win and they were off pace last week, too, against the Republic of Ireland.
But Mexico came out prepared. In the first half, at least, they showed they would not go down easily, keeping it close in the first half with some pretty stellar play in goal by Santiago. The 18-year-old who plays for the Boston Breakers was not the least bit intimidated against the U.S. attack.
Mexico got on the board in the 34th minute when they did something few other opponents have been able to do: Catch the U.S. defense off guard. The one thing the U.S. thought it had sewn up pretty tight heading into the 2015 Women’s World Cup was the backline but a crack in the armor was revealed on Sunday.
Off a set piece at the 34th minute, Mexico’s Bianca Sierra knuckled a free kick into the center of the box. Up into the air went Ariana Calderon, beating all the U.S. defenders as she headed to tie the game 1-1.
Where was that defensive line that had been the most stable element of the U.S. side? Nowhere in position to help Hope Solo have a chance in stopping the equalizer.
As the first half drew to a close, Leroux and Rapinoe made one last run that looked like it might give the U.S. a halftime lead. Leroux sped down the left side and had a breakaway shot but could not find the right angle. Rapinoe could not connect on the follow and the half ended with the storyline too much favoring the stellar play of Santiago.
At the start of the second half, to try and break open the game, U.S. coach Jill Ellis sent Wambach in for Christen Press. The positive results were immediate.
On the opening kick, Abby dribbled the ball in on Santiago, who made a quick stop, but on the rebound, Wambach got her feet back on the ball and poked it back out to Chalupny, who had just been subbed in at the start of the second half, too. On her first touch, Chalupny rang up the U.S. second goal with just 31 seconds into the half.
The pressure was immediately off the U.S. at that point.
It had been a busy week in California for U.S., Mexico and Canada. The North American squads -- all heading to the 2015 Women’s World Cup next month -- have all squared off not only in friendlies but in closed-door scrimmages.
Canada beat Mexico 1-0 on a goal from 17-year-old Jesse Fleming in a friendly on Thursday. Canada was able to run out a second string of players against Mexico one day after the Canadians played the U.S. to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday. U.S. Soccer officials did not disclose who scored for the U.S., but Canada got its goal from at the closed-door training match at Santa Ana College. Veteran Christie Rampone, who has played heavy minutes for Sky Blue FC of the NWSL team, saw action in the closed-door game against Canada.
