The problem with meaningless games is they don’t mean anything.
The United States women’s national team wanted to beat Mexico because their CONCACAF W Championship group stage game drew a nice crowd of El Tri fans, and because they almost always beat Mexico. And they did, escaping with a 1-0 triumph that made them perfect in Group A play. But their standing in the group would have been no different had they drawn the game or lost it. Entering the match, the American women knew they had a commanding goal-difference advantage in group play. All they had to do was not lose by a lot.
It would have been nice for them to enter Thursday’s semifinal against Costa Rica off another magnificent performance. But that generally requires maximum intensity. All they could muster was just enough to arrive with a perfect tournament record.
“There are sometimes when it’s not just us – it’s how much your opponent beats you or allows you to be creative,” USWNT manager Vlatko Andonovski told media postgame. “I wouldn’t say they were better than us, but they were definitely making it very hard for us.”
MORE: How USWNT defeated Mexico in CONCACAF W Championship
Kristie Mewis’s goal in the 89th minute won the game for the U.S., Mewis suggesting in the process she might be the best option the team has in a defensive midfielder role. But the time for experimentation is over.
Here’s how the players involved in the win over Mexico graded out:
USWNT Player Ratings vs. Mexico
Casey Murphy (goalkeeper): 6
Murphy wasn’t asked to make a difficult save the entire evening, although she did respond well to one minor threat in the final minute of the first half. She assured that she was positioned well for all of the meager attempts that were sent her way. As previously stated, we’re not going to give someone in this position a failing grade because the play in front limits any or all challenges.
Kelley O’Hara (right back): 7
Andonovski experimented with his two outside backs in the first half, and O’Hara handled play on the left so well she produced the best scoring chance of the first 90 minutes when she sent in a beautiful drive from above the box that Midge Purce fielded and set off the opposite post. Facing a challenge for her job from emerging talent Sofia Huerta, O’Hara responded with an energetic performance that was far from her best, but definitely qualified as a statement.
Naomi Girma (central defender): 6
Girma’s best moment came just minutes from the end, when she stepped up strong in the center of the box and dismantled a Mexico threat. She was solid playing to Murphy’s right and flat stole an opponent’s pass in the 55th minute but was only occasionally required to face serious danger.
Becky Sauerbrunn (central defender): 6
More of Mexico’s most significant attacks wound up in Sauerbrunn’s territory, and she was far better in this game than the opening win over Haiti. She had been often bothered by speed in that first outing, but this time did a great job reading Mexico’s intent and assuring she was in the right positions. Like O’Hara, she will not surrender her position easily, no matter that Girma has played well in two consecutive starts.
'That's what makes the U.S. special is that identity of relentlessness" 💪@jennyachiu caught up with @USWNT Captain @beckysauerbrunn after their 1-0 win over Mexico. pic.twitter.com/4ZP70BULh9
— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) July 12, 2022
Emily Sonnett (left back): 6
Sonnett was flirting with a grade of 3 prior to her contribution to the game-winning goal. She was constantly failing to connect down the left side with Sophia Smith, one of those late in the first half and two more early in the second. On a team starving for scoring chances, squandering possession so easily was painful. But she was better in the final 20 minutes, after several other starters had been subbed out of the game. She was the player whose header off a short cross from Taylor Kornieck at last overwhelmed Mexico goalkeeper Itzel Gonzalez, creating a rebound that led to the winning goal.
MORE: Updated schedule and matchups in CONCACAF W Championship
Andi Sullivan (defensive midfielder): 4
Mexico steered most of its attacks down the flanks, which allowed them to gain speed but also gave the USWNT the opportunity to use the sideline to squeeze those approaches. That meant Sullivan had only the minimum amount of play-breaking to do. But Andonovski chose her, with Rose Lavelle and Megan Rapinoe on the bench, to take free kicks and corner kicks. That was a bust. Nearly every set piece Sullivan initiated was misspent on a high, floating cross that proved easy to contain. Not one of them was turned into a scoring opportunity.
Lindsey Horan (attacking midfielder): 5
Horan excels at facilitating attacks that reach her with momentum but less so at conjuring them out of a stagnant circumstance. So the USWNT too often meandered. She should have scored in the 43rd minute, when Midge Purce made a terrific run down the right side and fired a cross that found Horan wide open just a dozen feet from the goal. But Horan opted for placement over power, and Gonzalez closed quickly enough to cover the shot easily.
A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE USWNT. 😲
— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) July 12, 2022
Midge Purce's impressive run to feed an open Lindsey Horan goes right into the arms of Itzel González. 👀 pic.twitter.com/bAEfO3i7aw
Ashley Sanchez (attacking midfielder): 5
After earning extravagant praise from Andonovski for her play in the first pre-tournament friendly, Sanchez has not followed up with performances which those compliments portended. Against Mexico she flubbed a nice opportunity when O’Hara found her in the 44th minute. In the 47th minute, Alex Morgan made a threatening run, but Sanchez chipped her pass nowhere near the target.
At last, near the end, when Huerta fired a cross to the opposite side of the box after Megan Rapinoe’s short corner, Sanchez brought down the ball and fought hard to find someone to create a scoring opportunity. She was a pass away even from a hockey assist, but her tenacity helped win the game.
Sophia Smith (forward): 4
As mentioned, Sonnett did her no favors in creating opportunities. But she was nowhere near the player she had been in the second group game against Jamaica, when she scored twice and drew praise from Andonovski as someone who could rank among the best players in the world.
MORE: Sophia Smith shows star potential in win vs. Jamaica
Alex Morgan (striker): 5
Morgan nearly scored just before departing for a substitute with just 10 minutes left in regulation, when she executed a near-post run on Rapinoe’s sizzling corner kick. Morgan couldn’t quite get to that one in time. It was the only significant chance she had, with Mexico working hard to contain her movement in and around the box.
Midge Purce (forward): 7
Others might slap a lower grade on her performance, and they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong, but Purce came so close to scoring on the ball from O’Hara, and her activity created nearly all of the best American chances to score.
Purce hasn’t played yet in this window without presenting all sorts of problems for her opponents, but to become someone the USWNT wants to have on the field regularly — someone for whom there’s an excuse to play rather than an excuse not to play — she has to do more with the danger she generates.
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Substitutes
Rose Lavelle (attacking midfield): 5
She was due a rest, but her creativity and touch were missed, sorely. And she did not look at all comfortable in a substitute’s role. It seems possible Andonovski wanted Lavelle to sit out the entire game but was compelled to deploy her because of the offensive struggles. Her greatest contribution was to absorb a vicious cleat jab in her ankle, which led to Lizbeth Ovalle being red-carded and the U.S. playing 11-v-10 for about 25 minutes.
Kristie Mewis (defensive midfielder): 7
For the second consecutive game, Mewis scored a goal, demonstrating her versatility and value as a national-team player. The previous goal came on a penalty kick. This one against Mexico resulted from a strong USWNT header that the 'keeper could not handle, and that bounced up as Mewis advanced and deflected off her torso and then her upper thigh. She has scored prettier goals, but this game-winner might have counted more than all of them.
Sofia Huerta (right back): 6
Huerta had difficulty with the number of attacks Mexico threw in her direction, but ultimately she worked her way around that to become sturdier in the final 10 minutes. She was as responsible for the goal as anyone, finding Ashley Sanchez with a ball across the box in the 89th minute that eventually was turned into Mewis’s goal.
Taylor Kornieck (striker): 7
When you have a player this tall and agile and are desperate for a goal, it’s important to make use of her size, right? Well, this time Kornieck used her foot to send the ball toward Sonnett near the goal line, and she made the play that led to the goal.
Megan Rapinoe (forward): 6
Back in Mexico after traveling to Washington to accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Rapinoe was not nearly as sharp as she had been in preparation for the tournament and the opening game. One corner kick quacked onto the roof of the goal netting. But it was her idea to take the corner short in the 89th minute, which Huerta transformed into her pass across the traffic in front of goal.
“I wish I could say that was something I came up with, but that was pure individual creativity and understanding the game and the moment and the situation,” Andonovski said after the game. “Pinoe just did it on her own.
“That’s a good example for the younger players that, yes, we do have set plays, we do have special plays, but sometimes they should believe in themselves, they should believe in their ability and their quality. Because they’re not here, they’re not on this team because they’re average. They’re on this team because they’re special.”
KRISTIE MEWIS IN THE 89TH MINUTE. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/nWAXrE4bmq
— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) July 12, 2022