Game report

The U.S. Team started slowly, but gathered pace and possession by the end of the half with a comfortable two goal lead.

The first goal came in less than half an hour when Hamm beat the defender who then took her down in the box and Chastain converted the resulting penalty kick. Six minutes later Lilly took the ball down to the end line and her floating cross was headed back over the goalie by Hamm, for Parlow to head in from close range. The substitution of O’Reilly just before the end of the half, and Fair, Hucles, and Wagner at the start of the second half seemed to raise the U.S. game even higher and the quality combination of Hamm and Wagner soon helped to put the game out of reach for Russia.

Post game quotes

U.S. Head Coach April Heinrichs

The thing about a good team is that you can get better during the game. That's a good sign of our team and some of our individual players. If you step out on the field and things aren't going well, your number one job is to find ways to make it better and I thought we did that in the second half. We're seeing some qualities in Aly Wagner that make her a world class player,she has the ability to change the point of attack and has great composure in her possession and her decision making with the ball. She also has the ability to find her teammates and put the ball on their feet. She makes it look so easy and what she is doing is one of the most difficult aspects of soccer.

I was concerned with our mental preparation for this game. It didn't seem like we were totally prepared to step on the field against a team that’s qualified for the 2003 World Cup. Quite a few of our players didn't prepare properly for this game and what you saw was a lot of carelessness out there.

Aly Wagner

Mia makes great runs. She's such an awesome player, she's dynamic and the defenses just can't stay with her. She slices and dices through that back line and it's easy to put the ball in her path. Plus, she's a great finisher so she's going to finish the chances she gets."

Other

Cindy Parlow

It was Parlow's 50th international goal, becoming the sixth U.S. player to score 50 or more goals in her career.

Mia Hamm

She took her international goal total to 135. The goals also were her 25th and 26th in the 22 NIKE U.S Cup games in the nine tournaments.

Briana Scurry

Goalkeeper Briana