Women's soccer defeats Deutschland, 4-0

by Martin Dale-Hench on September 5, 2009

The U.S. women’s soccer squad opened its defense of its 2005 gold medal with a decisive 4-0 victory on a soggy field against newcomer Team Deutschland. Before the game, coach Ken McDonald reminded his team just how important the game was. “This is the biggest game of your lives,” coach McDonald told his players during the pre-game talk. “You are representing your country, and it is a honor.” In the first half, striker Anna Smither and midfielder Liza Offreda added a goal each. Midfielder Felicia Schroeder scored two, both on penalty kicks, in the second half. The Americans were unrelenting in their attack into the German side from the start with their 4-5-1 formation, which they would continue to use the entire game. They threatened the German defense with major scoring chances, but were thwarted either by numerous offside calls, or a damp field that abruptly stopped the ball’s momentum. Pools of water scattered around the pitch also bogged down the players’ pace. “The wet grass changed our strategy,” Offreda said. “We had to kick the ball over the spots of water or avoid them. Sometimes the ball suddenly stopped rolling, or we would get our feet stuck in the mud. Our energy got sapped by the drag the mud had on us.” However, after a long press deep into the German zone, the U.S. took advantage of a miscue by the German goalkeeper and got on the board at the 15-minute mark. Midfielder Liza Offreda intercepted a poor kick by the goalie, then passed the ball to Shaquana McDonough, waiting in the middle of the field, who made a lead pass to the United States’ lone striker, Anna Smither. Smither met the ball about five meters outside the penalty area and chipped it left of the goalkeeper and into the corner of the net for the first goal of the Deaflympics. Five minutes later, the American women struck again. Defensewoman Katie Romano stole the ball from a German midfielder and centered it to Smither, who lobbed it over the last line of the Germans. The sprinting Offreda picked it up, dribbled past the oncoming goalkeeper and shot the ball into the open net with two defensewomen at her wake. There were other opportunities to extend the lead by halftime, but nothing counted. A goal was nullified in the 27th minute because of an offside called only two meters from the goal. Midfielder Felicia Schroeder sent a free kick from 30 meters away caroming off the crossbar in the 33rd minute. Even though the Americans had a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes, the coach was not pleased with their play in the remainder of the first half, when the Germans began their counterattack. Germany won several corner kicks, resulting in some saves by goalkeeper Jessie Zamichow. When the teams filed back into their tents during halftime, McDonald wrote a message on the whiteboard: “2-0 is the most dangerous lead to have. Our job is NOT DONE.” “We’re not happy,” McDonald told the team during halftime. “The last 25 minutes, we’re acting like we’ve already won. That’s not enough to win games.” The pep talk McDonald gave during the halftime seemed to ignite some fire in his team. The second half opened with the Americans dispelling German attacks with slides and harder running. “We played with a lot more heart in the second half,” Schroeder said. “We were up 2-0 but that doesn’t mean much in this game.” Both sides had their chances to chalk one up during the first 15 minutes of the second half, but the United States’ shots sailed wide, and Zamichow made some diving saves to preserve their lead. In the 64th minute, McDonald made his first switch. Forward Virginia Keller went in for Kelly O’Steen. Keller immediately energized the team, pressuring the defensive line into errors. The game went into a lull for a few minutes, with the ball going back and forth between the teams. In the 69th minute, after a scramble for the ball in front of the German goal, Keller was pulled from behind in the penalty area, and a penalty kick was awarded to the United States. Schroeder kicked the ball into the left corner for a 3-0 lead. After the third goal, the Germans became visibly worn out, falling easily from the Americans’ physical play. The first card of the game came in the 85th minute, when Keller was pulled from the behind once again as she ran down the side for the ball. The referee promptly raised a red card to the guilty party. Because the offense occurred within the penalty box, there was another penalty kick. Schroeder hit the crossbar on her first attempt, but the Germans stepped into the box too soon, and she got another chance. She didn’t miss it this time. The ball went into the net in the 87th minute, for a 4-0 lead. As the game ended, the coaches and players were happy with the team’s overall performance, but still saw room for improvement, captain Megan Johnston said. “We played good, but we’ll play better,” the defensewoman said. “We need to be aware where the other team is.” “The whole team played to instruction today,” McDonald said. “So it was very pleasing to me. But, we cannot sit back and think it’s going to be easy from now on. We still need to work on lots of little mistakes that we continue to make.”

Women's Soccer vs. Germany from US Deaflympics on Vimeo.

Women's soccer defeats Deutschland, 4-0

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