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Young USA Team beats Matildas 3-1 to win Australia Cup 2000, Sweden 2 - Czech Republic 0
Game report The Americans jumped on the Matildas from the start, drawing first blood in the 13th minute when Mandy Clemens dispossessed Aussie central defender Cheryl Salisbury and penetrated up the middle before feeding Jen Mascaro on the right flank. Mascaro's bending cross behind the defense found the streaking Kester at the far post and the U.S. forward slide to knock the ball past closing Australia goalkeeper Tracey Wheeler from 16 yards out.
The USA came inches from a second goal in the 19th minute, but Michelle French's spinning free-kick struck the underside of the crossbar and Veronica Zepeda's follow up header was cleared off the line.
The Americans went up 2-0 in the 34th minute through Slaton, who twisted her defender into a knot on the left flank and drove toward the net. Her well struck shot from a sharp angle deflected off the leg of an Australia defender and past the wrong-footed Wheeler.
But for two quality saves from Wheeler, the USA would have taken a larger lead into halftime. The first came in the 36th minute when Wagner and Clemens played a wall-pass in the air inside the penalty box. Wagner brought the ball down with her chest and struck a dipping half-volley that was heading into the upper right corner before a stab by Wheeler's left hand pushed it over the bar. In the 40th minute, Clemens turned the corner on the right flank and slotted her cross to the cutting Mascaro, but her back-heel flick went right to Wheeler.
Australia made its run with 30 minutes left, putting increased pressure on the U.S. net, and then pulled a goal back in the 75th minute when Alison Foreman crashed the far post to send a beautiful bullet-header past Lakeysia Beene off a corner kick.
With the Matlidas pressing for the equalizer, it was instead the U.S. pressure that earned a clinching goal as halftime substitute Susan Bush forced Wheeler into a poor clearance after the 'keeper had journeyed to the right edge of her penalty box chasing a loose ball. Wheeler's kick fell to Heather Aldama, who quickly toe-poked the ball to Wagner. The U.S. midfielder saw Wheeler far out of her goal and sent a 30-yard driven ball into the upper right corner that the scrambling Aussie 'keeper could only wave at.
Post game quotes
U.S. Jay Hoffman Other Sweden 2 Czech Republic 0 (1-0) Scoring: Malin Andersson (36), Hanna Ljungberg (77) USA ties Sweden 0-0 as Australia beats Czech.Republic 3-0 in second round of Cup
Game report
The USA out-shot Sweden 8-6 in the tightly contested match, but had a 5-1 edge in corner-kicks and goalkeeper Lakeysia Beene, despite numerous grabs on dangerous crosses, did not have to make a save. The two teams traded early forays with forward Mandy Clemens running at the defense to create two chances in the first seven minutes while Sweden's captain Malin Andersson pinged a free-kick off the outside of the right post in the 11th minute.
In the 21st minute Clemens turned the corner on her defender and raced toward the goal, but her skipping cross just eluded the sliding Sherrill Kester at the near post. It would become a theme for the USA in the match. Sweden had its best chance of the first half in the 31st minute when the USA failed to clear a cross and it bounced to Tina Nordlund, who miss-hit her shot, but hit it well enough to bounce it under the onrushing Beene. As the ball rolled toward the U.S. goal, Kester sprinted back to cover, and with a hook-slide, pinned the ball on the goal line, just missing knocking it in with the momentum of her body, before rising to her feet and clearing it up the field. The USA had a golden chance in the 33rd minute when Wagner picked off a square pass in midfield and put Clemens through on the right side of the penalty box, but her hard shot from a sharp angle was snagged by Sweden goalkeeper Caroline Jonsson. Another brilliant save by Jonsson denied Jen Mascaro in the 40th minute after a pinball session in the penalty box featured three U.S. shots. The ball bounced to Mascaro and her shot from four yards out seemed to get behind Jonsson, but the Swedish 'keeper reached back to pin the ball on the goal line.
The USA got around the outside of the Swedish defense on numerous occasions in the second half, most notably through Susan Bush, but couldn't connect on its crosses. The USA also avoided tragedy in the 77th minute when Nandi Pryce headed a bouncing ball off the U.S. goal line.
Coach post game quotes
Coach Lauren Gregg Player Quotes
French Beene Bush Other Australia 3 - Czech. Republic 0 Australia defeated the Czech Republic, 3-0, scoring twice in two minutes during the second half on a free-kick goal from Anissa Tann-Darby and a strike from Women's World Cup star Julie Murray. Sharon Black added a third just minutes from time. The match saw six yellow cards i d and one Czech ejection. USA overwhelms Czech Republic 8-1 in their first match of Australia Cup 2000 as Sweden beats Matildas 2-0
Game report
A young U.S. Women's National Team, featuring six players earning their first caps and six scoring their first international goals opened the Australia Cup with an 8-1 win against an overclassed Czech Republic. The Americans got two goals and an assist from both Jen Mascaro and Sherrill Kester as the U.S. stars of the future blew the game open with a five-goal second half in the first match of 2000.
Mascaro (formerly Streiffer) got the USA on the board in the 12th minute. A corner kick from Mandy Clemens was poorly cleared by the Czech defense and the ball fell to Kester, who crossed to the far post for Mascaro to hit a spinning volley from eight yards out that stuck in the left corner.
The Americans came at the Czechs from the opening whistle and Clemens fired four shots in the first 10 minutes, two of which were just tipped over the crossbar by goalkeeper Zuzana Pincova. Clemens, the winner of both the Hermann and MAC Awards as college soccer's best player in 1999, played an inspired first half before leaving with tightness in her right hamstring, and got around the Czech defense through solo runs on several occasions. It was Clemens who set up the second goal, taking a throw-in from Bryan down the right flank before turning the corner on her defender and finding Susan Bush in the seam for the 19-year old to knock in from four yards.
The USA's third goal came off a goalkeeper mistake as Nikki Serlenga's well-hit but savable shot bounced over a flopping Pincova from 18 yards out. Kester put the game away by scoring twice in the first 12 minutes of the second half, the first coming when she ran onto a driven cross from Christie Welsh and slid to knock the ball into the right corner. Welsh also created the next goal, weaving through several defenders in the penalty box, only to have her shot blocked. The ball rebounded to Mascaro, who took a crack herself, only to have her shot cleared weakly off the line to Kester, who shot into an open net from close range.
Mascaro scored her second goal in the 65th minute after 17-year old Nandi Pryce ran onto a corner kick and sent a bullet header back through the penalty box. The ball was deflected into the air for Mascaro to fire a full-volley through goal-mouth traffic into the left side of the net from six yards out. The USA's seventh goal came from the 18-year-old Welsh after Serlenga threaded a pass to her at the top of the penalty box. The nation's leading scorer as a freshman last season for Penn State wheeled toward goal and fired her left-footed shot low into the left corner from 16 yards away. Seventeen-year-old Veronica Zepeda finished the scoring in the 83rd minute after Aly Wagner beat two defenders on a run into the penalty box and tried the chip the goalkeeper. Pincova made a flying save, but was helpless as Zepeda slammed the rebound into the open net. Defender Michelle French, a three-year captain of the Under-21 National Team, captained the full team for the first time and anchored a defense with Kelly Lindsey that almost entirely shut down the Cezch attack. The USA out-shot the Czechs, 26-2, but gave up a late goal to Iveta Dudova.
Post Game Comments Coach Lauren Gregg
Post game Coach quotes
USA's next game is against Sweden on Monday, January 10 (5:30 p.m. local/1:30 a.m. ET).
USA, Sweden, Maintain Unbeaten Records With Draw..another view By Jeremy Ruane in Melbourne The USA and Sweden turned on an entertaining goalless draw in their Australia Cup encounter at Bob Jane Stadium on January 10, ensuring both nations maintained their unbeaten records going into their respective final matches in the six-game series. The youthful USA combination began in lively fashion, none more so than Mandy Clemens, a terrier-like striker who ran herself into the ground for the cause. It was fitting that she should have her side's first scoring opportunity, but her lack of a potent left foot, to match her right, proved her undoing in the fourteenth minute, the striker opting to pass when a shot would surely have put the Americans in front. Moments beforehand, Cecilia Sandell had struck the rear staunchion with a venomous free-kick for the Swedes, but it was the lone chance the European nation enjoyed in a first half-hour dominated by their younger opponents, particularly Aleisha Cramer, the Franz Beckenbauer-like coordinator of the USA's midfield operations. The 22nd minute saw the defending World Cup and Olympic champions go desperately close to opening the scoring. Aly Wagner and Sherrill Kester combined neatly in midfield, and utilised Jenny Streiffer's services to take advantage of the overlapping run which Clemens provided down the right. She whipped in a vicious low cross which whizzed across goal, Kester, who was arriving at pace, just failing to make contact with the goal at her mercy. Efforts from Wagner and Clemens tested Sweden's goalkeeper, Caroline Jonsson, around the half-hour mark, with these strikes interspersed by a Swedish counter-attack which saw captain Malin Andersson pick out Tina Nordlund with a fine cross from the right. The midfielder, who had ghosted in on the USA's defensive blindside, squeezed her shot past the advancing Lakesia Beene, only for striker Kester - what was she doing back there?! - to come to the rescue with a goal-line clearance. Five minutes before the interval, a Clemens corner caused chaos galore in the Swedish penalty area, which, for a few seconds, witnessed something akin to a pinball session! Eventually Streiffer smashed a ten-yard shot goalwards which Jonsson did superbly well to even see, let alone smother at the foot of her right-hand post - it was a splendid save! Back came Sweden, with Hanna Ljunberg and Nordlund both going close before the break. After it, the game lost a little of its sparkle, due in the main to a string of substitutions which disrupted the thrust and counter-thrust of the spectacle so much in evidence during the first forty-five minutes. Despite their inexperience, the USA looked the team more likely to score, and in the 58th minute, Wagner came desperately close to doing just that. Susan Bush's dazzling run to the byline down the right left a trail of Swedish defenders in her wake, and resulted in another well-struck low cross zooming across the face of the European team's goal, the fast-arriving Wagner only just failing to get on the end of it. Bush was again the source of the USA's next chance, eight minutes later. Pouncing on a wayward Karolina Westberg pass, she surged into the penalty area before laying the ball off towards Clemens. Before the striker could capitalise, however, Jonsson pounced to retrieve the situation - her distribution apart, the Swedish goalkeeper had a fine game, particularly with regards her aerial dominance of crosses. After Jane Tornqvist had gone close for Sweden, the USA were forced to scramble clear in the 78th minute, after Beene had been deceived by a Ljunberg lob. Victoria Svensson homed in on the dropping ball, but the impressive Nandi Pryce - she had a towering game in defence for the Americans - stood firm, and the danger passed. With two minutes to go, Bush stormed into the box on the right, intent on providing a late winner for the USA. For once, Jonsson was beaten in the air, but so, too, were Bush's team-mates, as Andersson stepped in to snuff out the threat, and ensure a scoreless scoreline, a result which greatly pleased USA's coach, Lauren Gregg. "Not only was I pleased with the result, but also with the quality of football we produced, given the opportunity to invest in our younger players which this tournament, and the circumstances surrounding it, have presented us with. Another aspect which pleases me is the attitude of the team - they are somewhat disappointed that they failed to secure victory". Markia Lyfors, Sweden's coach, rued the fact that her side failed to make the most of their chances. "One thing we've learnt with playing the USA, both at senior level and against their age-grade sides - if you want to beat them, you have to score against them". "They are very similar to the World Cup-winning side in many ways", said Sweden's captain, Malin Andersson, of her opponents. "The key difference is experience", commented the 77-times-capped midfielder.
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