Harder Stadium was decked out like a Fourth of July celebration, and the United States Women’s National Team provided plenty of fireworks in a 5-0 victory over Chile.
A crowd of 14,797 provided an intimate setting for a relatively new generation of players to put their best foot forward in international competition, and the group collectively seized the opportunity.
“The reality is, to cut it at the very top, we can give you all the support, but you have to perform,” said USWNT coach Emma Hayes. “I think in both games, the team—regardless of its inexperience as a collective, regardless of the connections that aren’t there because they haven’t played together before—showed an awful lot of maturity in the performance. And that’s all I can ask.”
The first three goals of the match came from players who had never scored for the senior national team, as Croix Bethune, Jameese Joseph, and Emily Sams netted first-half goals.
In addition, Sams—along with Ayo Oke and Riley Jackson—recorded their first international assists.
“We’ve been practicing and emphasizing the first run and the second run a lot,” Bethune said of her goal that opened the scoring in the 18th minute. “I noticed that space was open and Ayo played a great ball, leading me in. The keeper cheated, so I just tucked it in.”
Hayes committed to debuting an entirely new starting eleven from Saturday’s 6-0 win over Paraguay, and her team did not miss a beat.
The United States got off to a fast start and extended its lead to 4-0 less than a minute into the second half, as Sams connected with Emma Sears on a long ball that Sears blasted into the upper right corner of the goal. Sears narrowly missed out on two goals in the first half, as both attempts clanked off the post, but her persistence was rewarded.
“I think it’s important as a striker to know that you’re going to get opportunities again,” Sears said. “Staying in a good head space despite hitting the post early in the game, I knew I was going to get another opportunity.”
Trinity Rodman entered the game to thunderous applause early in the second half and scored with a left-footed shot into the side netting in the 69th minute off an assist from Jackson. After the goal, Rodman immediately ran over to Hayes on the sideline, and the duo briefly danced together, delighting the crowd.
“I didn’t know if I was going to go in or how many minutes she was going to give us, but I was excited to hopefully go in and make an impact,” Rodman said. “The stadium was full. I like when it’s intimate like that, so you can hear almost every fan. Even during the game, I could hear little comments, which was fun at times.”
The victory concluded the two-match January Camp for the U.S. Women’s National Team. Up next is the SheBelieves Cup, where the United States will take on Argentina on Sunday, March 1.
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