The U.S. Women’s National Team defeated Nigeria 2-1 to extend the team’s home unbeaten streak to 71 matches. A Nigeria own goal in the first half and an acrobatic header from midfielder Rose Lavelle, which was assisted with class by forward Megan Rapinoe just seconds after she came off the bench, led the Americans to its thirteenth consecutive victory and second win over the Super Falcons in four days.
The U.S. threatened in the attack immediately as debutant midfielder Samantha Coffey intercepted a pass in the second minute and found forward Alex Morgan inside the box. Morgan turned toward goal and fired a shot on target, forcing a save from goalkeeper Chiamaka Nniadoze, who would go on to have a strong performance posting six saves on the night.
The USA dominated in possession and looked consistently dangerous as it strung together attacking plays through cohesive passing which demanded plenty of defending from the Nigerian back line which showed improvement from the previous outing on Sept. 3 in Kansas City. Following a handful of close chances, the USA opened the scoring after Nigeria defender Blessing Demehin attempted to clear a low cross from the left flank that was struck on the ground by forward Mallory Pugh, but she redirected ball into her own net.
Four minutes after coming into the match as a halftime substitute forward Uchenna Kanu equalized for the Super Falcons when she received a long ball that beat the U.S. back line. She dribbled into the left side of penalty area and finished with a quality shot into the upper right corner that was unsavable for U.S. goalkeeper Casey Murphy. The goal marked only the second that the USA has conceded in 2022 and ended the team’s nine-game shutout streak which lasted an impressive 880 minutes.
The 1-1 score line didn’t last long as Lavelle put the USA ahead in the 66th minute with a brilliant diving header following a precise cross from Rapinoe, who had come into the match as a substitute just over a minute earlier. It took Rapinoe exactly 73 seconds of action to create the assist, which was her second of the year and the 73rd of her international career, moving her into a tie with Abby Wambach for third on the USA’s all-time assist chart.
The USA did well to salt away the rest of the match with some quality possession while continuing to create scoring chances and remained unbeaten on the year at 13-0-1.
Following the win, the celebrations continued on the field with the official signing by the U.S. Soccer Federation, the U.S. Women’s National Team Players Association and the U.S National Soccer Team Players Association of the historic, first-of-their-kind Collective Bargaining Agreements which achieved true equal pay between the USWNT and the USMNT, setting the global standard moving forward in international soccer. A large portion of the crowd of 18,869 stayed to watch the signing ceremony.
An observation from Nigeria’s 2-1 loss to the United States
1. Demehin’s own goal proves costly Centre-back Blessing Dehemin conceded an own goal with 25 minutes played in the second leg of the friendlies.
That has naturally led to most cynics believing that she could continue to falter in that direction after similar error led to the Netherlands’ goal against the Super Falconets.
The Falcons were doing well until the own goal was conceded by the team
2. Nnadozie’s positional awareness: Aside the second USA goal, the Super Falcons goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie was otherwise impressive in the game.
3. 22-year scoreless streak against USA ends: Nigeria have never beaten the USA in a major international match in eight attempts.
When Uchenna Kanu scored in the 50th minute, it ended a 22-year long scoreless streak against the Americans, dating back to Mercy Akide’s goal on Sept 20, 2000 at the Olympic Games.
4. Kanu’s Case To Start: Another great performance by the Tigres UANL striker. Uchenna Kanu was a halftime substitute in the game.
The team needs to rally round players with managerial skills, and Kanu is deserving of a starting spot in the team.
