ST. LOUIS — The U.S. women’s soccer team edged the Republic of Ireland, 1-0, on Tuesday in a game that served as the last contest before the World Cup roster is named and a tribute to hometown star Becky Sauerbrunn.
A St. Louis native and longtime U.S. captain, Sauerbrunn was honored before kickoff for passing 200 career national team games. And within three minutes of kickoff, came inches from scoring her first goal in any of what’s now 216 all-time appearances.
Long hesitant to attack even on set pieces, this time Sauerbrunn was the recipient of a designed play. Sophia Smith’s corner kick went straight to her, and she crashed a header off the crossbar straight down to the goal line. Alas, it landed inches to the wrong side. The crowd stopped just short of exploding, and Sauerbrunn retreated to her usual position with a big grin on her face.
There was one more moment for the packed crowd of 22,294 at CityPark to cheer for Sauerbrunn: when she exited for Tierna Davidson in the 29th minute. From then on, the focus turned solely to evaluating contenders for the 23-player World Cup squad, and the 11 starting places in it.
A player who’s been under a fair amount of pressure scored the game’s only goal from an unusual place. Centerback Alana Cook, who has made some high-profile defensive errors in recent games, scored her first national team goal with a chip shot from near midfield that floated over Irish goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan.
Coincidentally, the moment came on Cook’s 26th birthday.
Halftime brought four more U.S. substitutions, all introducing players fighting to make the roster. Julie Ertz replaced Andi Sullivan at defensive midfield, Trinity Rodman replaced Sophia Smith at right wing, Ashley Hatch replaced Morgan at striker, and Casey Krueger replaced Kelley O’Hara at left back. The last of those is a position of big questions, and here was a chance for Krueger to make her case.
Indeed, the whole outside back pool is far from settled. Kelley O’Hara, usually a right back, started on the other side on this game so Sofia Huerta could start on the right. Neither player is projected to be a starter at the World Cup — it should be Crystal Dunn on the left and Emily Fox on the right — but both are competing for the backup spots. So is Emily Sonnett, who didn’t play in this game.
The last U.S. substitution was Kristie Mewis replacing Lindsey Horan in the 60th.
Beyond Sauerbrunn, the night’s biggest spotlight was on Alyssa Thompson, the 18-year-old rookie who debuted with the senior U.S. team last fall while still in high school.
Mallory Swanson’s patella tendon injury opened a spot on the World Cup squad for a left winger, and the U.S. summoned Thompson from Los Angeles within minutes of the injury. That is a big endorsement of a player with big potential, but still much growing to do.
Thompson had an open chance to score in the 16th minute after Ashley Sanchez and Alex Morgan teamed up to force a high-press steal on Ireland’s Diane Caldwell. Morgan centered for a wide-open Thompson, but she chose to lay a pass off for an even more unmarked Sophia Smith atop the 18-yard box. Smith blazed a first-time hit way over the crossbar.
In the 64th, Thompson worked her way through traffic to have a half-chance in the 18-yard box, but ended up short of room to shoot and Brosnan smothered the ball. And in the 81st, Thompson broke free up the middle and brought the crowd to its feet, but the play fizzled out when Sanchez couldn’t corral Thompson’s pass.
The pressure of making a late run to a World Cup squad is a lot to put on an 18-year-old’s shoulders, especially one on as star-studded a team as the U.S. has. Thompson still has time to show her stuff with the NWSL’s Angel City FC before the World Cup squad is named in June, and she has already scored two brilliant goals this year.
That she played the entirety of a game where each team was allowed six substitutes sent a message on its own. In the last 15 minutes, she was clearly running out of steam, and in the 87th she went down with what looked like a cramp. But with no subs left, Thompson had to grit it out.
When the U.S. next gathers for its World Cup sendoff game in San Jose, Calif., on July 9 against Wales, the tournament squad will be locked in.
But right now, there remains plenty still to settle.
