Post match quotes courtesy of U.S. Soccer

U.S. Head Coach Greg Ryan

I thought Japan made it very difficult for us, I thought defensively they played very well. We created enough chances to win the game, we deserved to win, but it was a game where we needed to make more of our chances and read our opponent’s defense better. Their goalkeeper played on the near side and cut a lot of balls out. We needed to play a little bit away from her more. It gives us some stuff to go back and work on.

I’m very pleased with the overall play of our team. We’re a young team that is still growing and developing. The past stars are gone, other than Lilly, Abby and Shannon, so we’re a work in progress, but I am very, very happy with how the team performed, especially the players who came off the bench for us today. I feel like that was critical. Abby carried it for us in the last game. She got a break today and the others came in and did the job.


I think our back linedefense is really gelling and becoming a great unit. Today, we brought on Amy (LePeilbet) and Stephanie Lopez, and we didn’t miss a beat. (Assistant coach) Bret Hall has done a great job training them and they are growing in their understanding of how to defend, both individually and as a group, and it’s just paying off. We’re so hard to get a chance off of right now, and (Japan) is a very good attacking team, I love their attacking players, but (the U.S. defenders) did a great job of shutting them down.

The young U.S. team is maturing quickly. We knew we couldn’t bring this team along slowly, we have to just throw them into the fire. We expect them to perform well and they expect themselves to perform well. (The two games have) been great for them. Being behind in the first game was good for us. I think today, with Japan playing very defensively and keeping so many numbers behind the ball, making it very difficult to get a winner, that was good for this team. We are going to get to those games that are tough and we have to go through these types of experiences to have the confidence to win.

We brought Kai on in the second half because at that point, Japan was playing better than we were. I made changes because I felt that bringing in some fresh players on the front line gave us a better chance to win the game. At the same time, I am committed to playing the young players because they need the experience.

Natasha Kai

It means a lot to the team to come off the bench and get a goal so I was proud to come in and do that. I knew it was 0-0 and we were taking out the tired players that played 90 minutes in the first game so I knew I needed to step up.

IBefore the goal I connected with (Lilly’s) eyes and knew the ball was coming. I just had to beat my defender to it.

Heather Mitts
On:
“I think that we are coming together on the back line . The main thing was that we had players come off the bench and there was never a lull in the game. We are able to play together, and they had a lot of attacks coming at us, but were able to deal with it well.

Japan throws a lot of numbers at you and they are very technical. They like to ping it around and try to get in behind you, but we were really organized today, and didn’t let that happen.