Chevrolet Player of the Game   Shannon Boxx

Game

The USA were in control the whole game against a Mexico squad who defended well but lacked an attacking game because of the overall dominance of the U.S. squad. The USA used all their substitutes and once their organization kicked in the second half they left Mexico behind. It was nice to see a first senior international goal by Chalupny after she entered the gamein the second half . A 20 year old at UNC she is an exciting reminder of the immense young talent that the reigning FIFA World Champion U.S. National U-19 Team is bringing to the U.S. National Team.

Post match quotes

U.S. Head Coach April Heinrichs

Our team defense might not have been that great today, but everybody did a great job in one-on-one defending. I'm really pleased with our players. It's the sign of a good team and strong team that when some of our top players are not playing well, the others will step up.

Lori Chalupny such a good kid and she wants to show me that she's not just here to be a training player and to make everyone better. She wants to show me she can make the team. That sort of moment, in terms of preparing that ball and striking it like that, even if it didn't go in, contribute to her taking steps to get closer to making the Olympic Team.

Mia Hamm

It's great to play in this kind of environment. The reception was great from the moment we arrived in town. We just needed to get into a rhythm. We weren't letting our midfielders get into supporting positions because they were getting caught in transition. We just needed to hold the ball and let them get higher, and once we did that, we were able to open up the flanks up for myself, Abby or Cindy and that made a big difference. But for us in the second half, it was just a matter of focusing and we finished our chances.

We can't take anything away from Mexico. They filled the seams (in the penalty area) when we were trying to get end line and they worked hard to block a lot of shots and services. This team has worked very hard, and I think sometimes we lose sight that we're not just going to win games on hard work; we have to be a smarter team too.

Mexico is not afraid of anyone now, and preparation and performance in the Olympic qualifying has given them much more confidence. There is a buzz in Mexico about this team. You can see that in the eyes of those players. It doesn't matter who they are playing, they feel they have a chance.

Abby Wambach

We were just getting used to the altitude which was tougher than you think, so it took a while, but also tactically, we made a few changes in terms of getting our midfielders closer to our forwards. All in all, we just started to play better together and maybe it took having a half under our belts. We haven't played the 4-3-3 for a while so it took time to adjust to that. We came out in the second half and pushed and played much better.

We've had a pretty rigorous schedule, and we are all pretty tired, so it was great to come out here to Albuquerque in front of this great crowd on Mother's Day. So, happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.

Cindy Parlow

There's always a little bit of concern when you don't get that early goal because we knew once we got one that the floodgates would kind of open because they would have to push forward a little bit. When we finally got that goal, things opened up and we got more and more opportunities on goal.

Shannon Boxx

Mexico is known for their skills on the ball and my game is ball-winning, so I knew that I had to win balls in the midfield because they are so hard to dispossess. But Julie and Lil were defending great in the midfield and that's what helped us get the ball back.