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USA vs. Australia, Tournament of Nations: Final Score 1-0 as Yanks Stunned on Home Soil

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9 years ago

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Australia got a second-half goal by Tameka Butt and that was enough offense for the Matildas to score their first-ever win against the United States Women’s National Team. The USWNT was toothless in the attack and careless clearing the ball in losing its opening game of the Tournament of Nations in front of 15,748 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.

The U.S. is now 25-1-2 against the Aussies, who played well and did just enough to beat an often listless American squad that lacked quality in the final third and missed too many clearance opportunities at the back. The USWNT has struggled against top competition for a while now and this match was no different.

Jill Ellis opted not to start Orlando Pride stars Alex Morgan and Ali Krieger. The lineup consisted of goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher; defenders Casey Short, Becky Sauerbrunn, Abby Dahlkemper, and Taylor Smith (her first USWNT cap); midfielders Mallory Pugh, Allie Long, Samantha Mewis, and Megan Rapinoe; with Lindsey Horan and Christen Press up top.

Pride defenders Alanna Kennedy and Steph Catley started for Australia on the back line in front of goalkeeper Lydia Williams. Ellie Carpenter and Elise Kellond-Knight started on the outside of the back line with Catley and Kennedy in the middle. Tameka Butt, Emily van Egmond, and Katrina Gorry started in the midfield, with Caitlin Foord, Lisa De Vanna (formerly of the Pride), and Sam Kerr, up top. Former Pride defender Laura Alleway started the match on the bench.

After a five-minute settling-in period, the USWNT controlled the next dozen or so minutes. Press took a nutmeg pass from Pugh and tried to dish it back at the top of the box but the defense was able to clog up the space. Rapinoe got the first good chance in the 11th minute, taking a pass from Press down the left side of the box, cutting inside Carpenter and drilling a shot that Williams fought off with one hand.  

In the 15th minute, Pugh cut from right to left into the middle and tried a shot from the top of the penalty area but it deflected off a defender and went out for a corner without threatening Williams’ goal.

The next 10 minutes saw Australia come into the match. The Matildas fashioned their first opportunity in the 17th minute, with Kerr driving toward the defense before dishing to Butt down the right side. Butt fired a shot but it was off target. Two minutes later, Allie Long sent a poor back pass under pressure toward Naeher that forced the goalkeeper to come quickly off her line to stab it away from Kerr.

After that spell of possession by the Aussies, the game evened out a bit. Rapinoe tried an ambitious volley shot in the 22nd minute but struck her shot well over the bar. Three minutes later, the Seattle Reign star fizzed a wicked cross through the box that Kennedy couldn’t handle and it fell tantalizingly near Horan, who stabbed at it but couldn’t get a clean strike.

Pugh took a scary knock in the 33rd and was down holding her knee. She came off for a few minutes but ultimately was able to continue.

Australia continued to grow in confidence as the first half wore on. Gorry found some space above the box and struck a well-hit shot but it went straight to Naeher. A moment later, the U.S. was saved by the offside flag on a dangerous cross by Kellond-Knight. that found a teammate alone in the box.

The USWNT nearly found a breakthrough in the 41st minute when Horan curled a cross in front of Press. The Chicago Red Stars’ star forward beat Williams to the cross but couldn’t handle the spin on the ball and it squirted away, wrecking a golden chance.

That was about it for the first-half chances. Naeher came off her line to pluck a cross out of the air and Kennedy nearly got onto an Australia corner but there was nothing with any menace and the two sides went to the locker room scoreless.

Both teams came out of the break looking to score the first goal. Rapinoe sizzled a cross into the box in the 47th and Catley muffed the clearance so it went behind for a corner. On the set piece, the ball deflected to Long at the goal line but the offside flag came up.

Gorry got loose in the box in the 49th minute but fired her shot too close to Naeher, who saved comfortably. Then, a minute later, Mewis had a go from the top of the box that trickled inches wide of the far post off a deflection.

Kerr got her head on a Kellond-Knight cross in the 56th minute but couldn’t keep the shot down and it sailed well over the bar.

Ellis sent Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan on to try to get the offense going, but it was Australia that struck just moments later. The U.S. made a mess of a couple of clearing chances and paid for it. The usually reliable Sauerbrunn failed to clear the ball properly and it popped in behind the back line for Butt to run onto and bundle in past Naeher for the opening goal.

The goal woke up the USWNT a bit but the damage had been done. Three minutes after Butt’s goal, Lloyd got onto a ball above the box and smashed it on target but Williams was there to make the save on Carli’s rocket.

In the 78th minute, second-half sub Kelley O’Hara — who replaced Smith — got into the box down the right and opted to cross instead of shoot. Her pass for Rapinoe was on target but the defense arrived at the same time as the ball to smother the danger.

In the 82nd minute, the Aussies won a free kick just outside the U.S. penalty area. Kennedy stepped up to take it and beat the wall but her shot didn’t dip and cleared the bar by a few feet.

Morgan latched onto a long through ball by Rapinoe just seconds later and tried to beat Williams at the near post. She hit her shot with pace but it was just off frame and into the outside netting.

Three minutes later, in the 85th minute, the U.S. should have leveled. O’Hara played a wonderful cross over the defense that fell right onto Crystal Dunn’s chest. She took a touch and tried to beat Williams but didn’t make good contact and the ball went off Williams’ foot and dribbled out for a corner.

Nothing came of the corner kick, which was a problem all night. The Yanks just couldn’t produce anything of quality on set pieces, and over-hit deliveries much of the evening or committed fouls in the area while the ball was still in the air.

Morgan got onto a through ball in the 86th but was off to the side of goal with Williams between her and the net. She tried to slot a pass through the area but it was picked out by the defense. Mewis wasted a free kick in the 89th. Whether it was a shot or a service into the box, I’m not sure but her touch let her down either way and she sent the ball over everyone and well wide of the net.

Rapinoe split four defenders outside the penalty area in the 90th and tried for something special but her strike sailed wide right. That turned out to be the last opportunity for the USWNT, as the Yanks had trouble maintaining possession during the four minutes of injury time.

With the result and the performance, it was all too reminiscent of the SheBelieves Cup in the spring. The United States sits dead last in the Tournament of Nations standings after one round.

The USWNT will face Brazil on Sunday night in San Diego (more on that below).

Brazil 1, Japan 1

Marta and Monica started, with Camila on the bench, in the early Tournament of Nations match between the Brazilians and Japanese. Japan scored on a second-half Yuka Momiki header to take a 1-0 lead. Defenders Tamires and Monica were left to mark three Japan players in the box. That math didn’t work out so good and Momiki was left alone at the back post on the play. The Japanese attacker ran onto a free header on a well-placed cross into the box.

The Orlando Pride’s Camila scored the equalizer in the 87th minute with a bomb that started left and swerved hard to the right, leaving Japanese keeper Ayaka Yamashita with no chance. It was Camila’s first international goal.

The Brazilians take on the USWNT Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego at 8 p.m. ET. The game will be shown live on ESPN2. The Aussies will face Japan in the early game at 5:15 p.m. ET on ESPN3/Watch ESPN.

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. San Jose Earthquakes: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

Orlando City restarts its 2026 MLS campaign late tonight out west at San Jose.

Published

2 weeks ago

on

July 22, 2026

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Image of Braian Ojeda taking a shot in a friendly against FC Dallas.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Justin Glatt

Welcome to your match thread for a late night midweek matchup tonight between Orlando City (4-9-2, 14 points) and the San Jose Earthquakes (10-3-2, 32 points) at PayPal Park (10:30 p.m., Apple TV). This is the only scheduled meeting between the teams in 2026 and the first time the teams have met since 2024.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of tonight’s match.

History

Orlando City is 3-1-3 in the previous seven MLS meetings with the Quakes since the club joined Major League Soccer in 2015. The Lions got their only away win in the series in the last meeting and enter tonight 1-1-2 on the road against San Jose.

The teams last met on May 18, 2024, with Jack Lynn coming off the bench to score the game’s only goal. Lynn’s strike in the 89th minute broke the scoreless deadlock and lifted the Lions to a 1-0 victory.

The teams met in Orlando most recently way back on June 22, 2021, with the Lions beating the Quakes down, 5-0. Orlando got things started with an early penalty kick goal by Nani, followed by braces from Benji Michel and Daryl Dike to easily put the game away. The lasting memory from the game is Michel’s celebratory dance wearing a cowboy hat that came out of the stands.

Prior to that Orlando City romp, the last time the teams met was on Aug. 31, 2019 when the Lions got freight trained 3-0 at Avaya Stadium, giving the Quakes their first win in the series. San Jose’s offense came via a Chris Wondolowski brace and an early opening goal by Magnus Eriksson. Orlando looked flat and weary out of the gate.

The Lions were victorious in Exploria Stadium in the 2018 meeting on April 21, a 3-2 Orlando win. It was the first win in the series for either side after three straight draws. Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, and Dom Dwyer gave the Lions a 3-0 lead before Florian Jungwirth pulled two back in the game’s late stages.

The Lions led all of the first three matches in the second half only to see San Jose pull level, with two of those tying goals coming late. In the 2017 meeting, Carlos Rivas finally broke the scoreless tie and gave Orlando City the lead in the 81st minute, but Wondolowski spoiled the Lions’ night with an equalizer two minutes later as the teams drew at Avaya Stadium, 1-1.

In 2016, the Lions were gut-punched in the 94th minute in an emotional match that ended in a 2-2 draw. It was the first home match following the Pulse nightclub tragedy and what appeared to be a storybook ending to a cathartic win turned sour on a last-gasp equalizer by Shea Salinas. Seb Hines — now the Orlando Pride’s head coach — opened the scoring for Orlando, only to see Chad Barrett tie it up. Julio Baptista restored the lead in stoppage time, but Salinas ruined everything.

The two teams also drew in the first meeting, a 1-1 affair at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, with the Lions down to 10 men after Brek Shea was sent off in the first half. Kaká and Wondolowski each scored from the penalty spot four minutes apart in that initial meeting.

Overview

The teams meet tonight to get their post-World Cup portion of the season started. Orlando City has been terrible on the road all season long, keeping only one MLS opponent under two goals all year away from home and allowing five goals twice (at New York City FC and Nashville) and six goals twice (at LAFC and in the team’s most recent match away at FC Cincinnati just before the break).

Orlando City is a putrid 1-6-1 on the road this season, and now the Lions must face the Western Conference co-leaders tonight before coming home to face Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville SC at home on Saturday. They’ll have to play at least tonight’s game without Martin Ojeda, who is out with a thigh injury sustained some time between his first-half goal a week ago in a friendly against FC Dallas and the time the availability report dropped on Tuesday.

But it isn’t all bad news for the Lions, who should have both Antoine Griezmann and Dike in the lineup. Griezmann was the club’s highly prized and widely publicized summer Designated Player signing, while Dike’s return to Orlando came together more recently, following his departure from West Bromwich Albion. They’ll help the club’s offense, but the attack hasn’t been the issue in 2026 — it’s been the historically porous defense, which is on pace to shatter the MLS record for goals conceded.

Meanwhile, San Jose is one of the first half of the season’s biggest surprises, as the Quakes have been outstanding in 2026. Scoring 34 goals while conceding just 15, San Jose is among the league leaders in goals scored (tied for third), goals conceded (third), and goal differential (+19, third).

The Earthquakes are 4-2-1 at home and are coming off a 3-1 road win at Portland in their last game prior to the World Cup break. San Jose boasts Golden Boot challenger Preston Judd, who leads the Quakes with 11 goals, adding two assists in his 15 appearances. Ousseni Bouda has chipped in five goals and three assists. Niko Tsakiris leads the team with seven assists to go along with his two goals, but he’s still recovering from a lower body injury and is not available tonight. However, the arrival of Timo Werner (four goals and five assists in just seven games) has truly elevated Bruce Arena’s Quakes, and he’ll need to be one of the main focal points for the Orlando defense.

To have any shot at taking something from this game, the Lions will need to play better road defense than they have all season. Orlando can score goals, but with Ojeda out, Griezmann will need to adapt quickly, and someone other than the team’s leading scorer will need to find the net.

The Lions will play without Ojeda (thigh), Joran Gerbet (knee), Nolan Miller (knee), Colin Guske (international duty), and Clovis Archage (international duty). In addition, Marco Pasalic may or may not have returned to the team after the World Cup. He was not in training Monday, although interim head coach Martin Perelman said he expected the Croatian back soon. The Earthquakes will be without Nonso Adimabua (lower body), former Lion Earl Edwards Jr. (lower body), DeJuan Jones (lower body), and Tsakiris (you guessed it, lower body…come on, San Jose).

Match Content

Official Lineups:

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Adrian Marin, David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Griffin Dorsey.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Tiago.

Forwards: Justin Ellis, Antoine Griezmann.

Bench: Javier Otero, Bernardo Rhein, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi, Iago, Wilder Cartagena, Luis Otavio, Harvey Sarajian, Tyrese Spicer

San Jose Earthquakes (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Angus Gunn.

Defenders: Jamar Ricketts, Reid Roberts, Daniel Munie, Benjamin Kikanovic.

Defensive Midfielders: Beau Lerouox, Ronaldo Vieira.

Attacking Midfielders: Timo Werner, Nick Fernandez, Ousseni Bouda.

Forwards: Preston Judd.

Bench: Jonathan Gonzalez, Dave Romney, Paul Marie, Jack Skahan, Jack Jasinski, Ian Harkes, Francesco Montali, Max Floriani, Darius Johnson.

Referees

REF: Elijio Arreguin.
AR1: Adam Wienckowski.
AR2: Mike Nickerson.
4TH: Timothy Ford.
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.

How to Watch

Match Time: 10:30 p.m.

Venue: PayPal Park — San Jose, CA.

TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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Podcasts

PawedCast Episode 542: Tampa Bay Friendly, McGuire Traded, OCB Beats Cincinnati, and More

Lions maul the Rowdies in friendly action, OCB wins on the road, and it’s transfer season.

Published

3 weeks ago

on

July 14, 2026

By

Image of Antoine Griezmann and Ivan Angulo celebrating a goal in a friendly against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City welcomed I-4 Derby rival Tampa Bay to Inter&Co Stadium for a friendly match on Wednesday and then proceeded to bludgeon the Rowdies with a couple of hammers named Antoine Griezmann and Justin Ellis. The two attackers combined for a goal and four assists in a 6-0 beatdown of the team from the Gulf Coast, with five different Lions scoring and Griffin Dorsey forcing an own goal. We discuss Griezmann’s first minutes with Orlando City, what the team showed in its formation, and how good Justin Ellis’ vision is.

Oh, and it’s also transfer season now. Duncan McGuire is on his way out and Marco Pasalic reportedly will follow soon, while a new left back may be headed from Spain to Orlando.

Following all of that, we discuss Maxime Crepeau being added to the MLS All-Star Team and the announcement that he’ll participate in the 2026 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge.

Our mailbagbox asked us about which World Cup semifinalist players we’d want to join Orlando this season (if we could only pick one), and more. Remember, if there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the show, just ask us by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC, or hitting us up on Bluesky Social with that same hashtag.

After the mailbagbox, we dive into OCB’s 2-1 road win at FC Cincinnati 2. It wasn’t the prettiest game by the Young Lions, but they managed to do enough to earn three points on the road, where they’ll stay to face Chattanooga on Saturday. We briefly preview that game.

Finally, Orlando City will be in Dallas Wednesday for the second of two friendlies leading up to the restart of the MLS season. It’s unlikely we’ll get a lot of details about that one, but we’ll see what happens. Maybe the FC Dallas folks will help us out.

Be sure to rate and review our show wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, we’ll read any five-star reviews we get on Apple Podcasts on the next show.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how No. 542 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City crushed the Rowdies, the transfer season is in full swing, plus: hey now, Crepeau’s an all-star.

28:50 – The mailbagbox is always good for a hypothetical scenario.

36:54 – The Young Lions slipped past Cincy and head to Chattanooga, while the senior Lions head to Dallas.

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Podcasts

SkoPurp Soccer Episode 119: International Break, USWNT, Louisville Preview, and More

The Pride return from a long international break looking to get their first-ever road win against Racing Louisville.

Published

3 months ago

on

April 22, 2026

By

Image of Haley McCutcheon scoring the opening goal in Orlando's home playoff win over Seattle.
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

It feels like months since the Orlando Pride last took the field, but the calendar says otherwise. If you believe calendars, it’s only been a little less than three weeks, but time moves strangely in the post-pandemic apocalyptic world.

Anyway, we don’t have a match to recap, so we touched on a couple of Pride players putting the ball in the net during the international break and chat a bit about the United States Women’s National Team’s three-game friendly series against Japan. Emma Hayes used a lot of players, and the team looked solid for two of the three matches, but the rotated middle game seemed a bit disjointed. Hayes has greatly expanded the player pool and will have plenty of options when the World Cup approaches.

Our mailbagbox had questions about a potential change in the NWSL schedule, as the league explores adopting the fall-to-spring slate, and opposition own goals. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We’d also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we’ll find them easily and read them on the show.

After the mailbagbox, we turned our attention toward Friday’s late afternoon tussle with Racing Louisville in Kentucky. The Pride have never won on the road against Louisville, and it’s about high time they did. This match begins a congested push to the June World Cup break, and although Friday’s hosts aren’t high in the table, the Pride must be at their best to get a road result in this fixture. We look back at the series history, compare the two sides, provide our key matchups in the game, and make our final score predictions.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 119 went down:

0:15 – We open the show with a little banter about the Pride in the international break and the USWNT’s series vs. Japan.

9:03 – The mailbagbox features questions via both eletronic mail and social media. We welcome all modes of delivery.

19:59 – The Pride travel to Louisville to face Racing. They’ve never won in Kentucky, but we inform them how to do so.

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