Game report


Heinrichs started one of the youngest lineups in U.S. history, with no player older than 20 and with an average age of barely over 18 years, leaving college All-Americans Aleisha Cramer, Christie Welsh, Jena Kluegel and Mary Frances Monroe on the bench. Goalkeeper Emily Oleksiuk earned her first cap. First career starts went to 16-year-old Amy Steadman, 18-year-old Sara Randolph, 17-year old Lori Chalupny and 16-year-old Kristen Weiss.


Catherine Reddick captained the USA for the first time and was stellar in the center of the defense with Anna Kraus. Outside backs Steadman and Randolph played tough defense while contributing to the attack on the flanks.

The young U.S. team fought hard throughout the game, but their mistakes were exacerbated by the physical style of play from the Portuguese. The USA dominated territorially for most of the match, and aside from an occasional counter attack, the game was played in the USA's attacking half.

Welsh's goal in the 62nd minute ended a 315-minute scoreless streak for the U.S. women stretching over four matches and dating back to a 1-1 tie with China in January. Rigamat, who entered the game in the 63rd minute just after Welsh's tally, added her first international goal three minutes from the end of the game.

Post game quotes

U.S. Head Coach Heinrichs

"We showed signs of a lack of confidence at the beginning of the game, which is not surprising when you go two games without scoring a goal. But our competitiveness during the course of the game got a little bit better and spirit with which we played forced the game to get stretched out, which was to our advantage. Our goal for this team on this tour has been to get better every half. Winning is important but it's not the sole priority. Playing to win and playing 90 minutes of intense is soccer is what I've asked for from these players. What we'll find is that we'll take the lessons learned and put them together in hopes of a peak performance in our last two games."