The United States women's national soccer team won the SheBelieves Cup after beating Iceland in a must-win game on Wednesday, and goal scorers Catarina Macario and Mallory Pugh were among the players who successfully auditioning for the chance to lead the USWNT into the future.
While the team's fifth SheBelieves Cup trophy is a strong finish after a rocky start last week, the real purpose of this tournament for coach Vlatko Andonovski was not to win hardware but to find unpolished gems. Macario and Pugh are two players who have forced Andonovski to give them further looks.
We are leaving this tournament feeling like we are moving in the right direction, and they proved they are capable of winning games.
In the 37th minute, Macario's performance of the SheBelieves Cup revved up. She fired a rocket from the corner of the penalty box that skidded off the inside frame and into the net. The placement was perfect, just an inch or so further to the right and the ball would have clank off the post and out to safety, a bit closer to the left, and the goalkeeper would have had a chance to tip it away.
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Macario said that he has been practicing that for a while. As soon as I hit, I was happy.
She scored again in the 45th minute. Macario surprised everyone by chipping the ball inside the far post net after a pass from Pugh left her chasing the ball away from goal.
Cat's goals should be on highlights reels all over the world.
No U.S. women's player has scored more goals from outside the box since Macario's national team debut. This was the second time that Macario had scored multiple goals from 15-plus yards out in a single game, and the only other women's team player to do that in the past five years was Alex Morgan.
"You give that girl a little bit of space and she's going to finish," he said.
Macario had a goal in the second half, but it was Pugh who picked up where she left off in the 60th minute. She ran onto the ball and took on Runarsdottir, who was the goalkeeper, and tucked it into the far post.
Before she scored her goal, she had the highest xG, or expected goals, which measures the likelihood of a chance resulting in a goal, of any player on the field. She was doing well at getting into dangerous scoring positions and finding chances, even if she hadn't scored.
The Macario-Pugh partnership was on display. Macario won the ball in the middle as the Americans moved to the other side. Macario passed the ball to Pugh, who passed it back to him.
Macario appeared in the last Olympics, and Pugh was in the last World Cup, but both have been players without secure spots, unable to compete with the likes of Morgan, Christen Press, Megan Rapino. Sweden and Germany are the powerhouse teams chasing at the U.S. women's heels in the world rankings. The individual performances of the two forwards -- and their budding on-field partnership -- will be hard for Andonovski to ignore after Wednesday's match.
The USA won the SheBelieves Cup with a win over Iceland.
After a couple of years out of the national team, Pugh played like a player who was ready to return to the fold. She missed out on the Olympics after being part of the squad that won the World Cup. It is easy to forget that Macario is a year older than Pugh, since she made her national team debut at 17.
Other players stepped up as well. The fifth goal was scored byKristie Mewis. She was unable to finish a couple of chances she had, but she beat the defense with her dribbling and precise passes. Emily Fox did well getting forward from the left-back position. The match on Wednesday gave more opportunities to some new players.
It is difficult to come away from the match with a bigger picture for the U.S. women's team.
Heading into Wednesday, the Americans needed a draw to win the SheBelieves Cup, but they got a boost from the fact that Iceland played like a team going for a win. At the half, Runarsdottir was given experience in place of Sigurdardottir, who was struggling.
The SheBelieves Cup was always going to be the easiest one for the U.S. squad since the Americans started hosting the tournament.
Before this year, only one participant had been ranked outside of the top 15. The highest-ranked opponent this time was Iceland. The Czech Republic is ranked 24. The U.S. team is the top ranked team. The Americans had won 29 of their 32 combined meetings against their SheBelieves Cup opponents, with the only loss being against New Zealand in 1987.
There were also reasons to believe that the Americans wouldn't roll over the competition.
As he looks to regenerate an aging roster, Andonovski has brought a relatively young and inexperienced squad to this tournament. The starting lineup was the youngest in SheBelieves Cup history and the youngest in any match since April 5.
The SheBelieves Cup has traditionally been a tournament for experimentation, but there is also some urgent need for Andonovski. Morgan, Press, Rapinoe and Heath will all be 34 or older during the next World Cup. The delays to the Olympics meant that Andonovski had only a few months for the rebuilding process that is normally done over a couple of years.
Macario's performance on Wednesday might force difficult decisions for Andonovski. Macario was an alternate on the women's team until the rules were changed to expand the tournament's roster size. Macario has been playing as a forward in the SheBelieves Cup, for the first time in her career.
Macario got comfortable playing as a forward but the team was learning how to play her position.
The team grew around Cat in understanding her movements, her positioning, the angles, and the balls she was playing.
It was a learning experience that allowed her to play off Macario better.
Cat did a great job and we needed to see and learn her tendencies.
Many of the Americans' chances were only half-chances. The first half had a 1.07 xG. They ended the half with two goals because Macario scored from unlikely positions.
Macario admitted that she started the tournament with some nerves, but was determined to win the trophy.
Macario said that when they started the tournament, he felt a little tight, not playing the way he knows how to play.
It looks like she did that.
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