The U.S. women's national team lifted their seventh SheBelieves Cup title on Tuesday beating Canada in a penalty shootout in the squad's final match before the arrival of incoming head coach Emma Hayes. Regulation ended 2-2 while the U.S. won the shootout 5-4, needing extra spot kicks to settle the game.
Canada's Adrianna Leon opened the scoring in the 40th minute, capitalizing on a miscommunication in the back to give the visitors the lead. The USWNT's attack, though, livened up in the second half and Sophia Smith scored in the 50th and 66th minutes to give the hosts the advantage.
A few minutes before the final whistle, though, Crystal Dunn was called for a foul on Leon and conceded a penalty, which Leon swiftly converted in the 86th minute. The match then went to a penalty shootout, which went to sudden death but was eventually won by the USWNT as defender Emily Fox converted the tournament-winning strike.
Takeaways from the game:
Key halftime shift
The USWNT dominated the first half but struggled to convert their possession into meaningful scoring opportunities. They responded strongly when they conceded just minutes before halftime. That includes not just the players through their immediate response but interim head coach Twila Kilgore, who made an aggressive halftime sub in which Mallory Swanson came on for Sam Coffey, shifting Jaedyn Shaw to the 10 in the process.
The results spoke for themselves. The USWNT were not just more urgent in their search for goal but more effective with the team taking eight of their 12 shots after the break and putting four of their five shots on target in the process. Smith's brace was the highlight of the half, but the performance was also another vote of confidence in Swanson's long-term prospects and perhaps an argument that Shaw's best role might be in midfield.
Smith's time to shine
The USWNT's period of experimentation has seen several attackers have their moments as players compete for roster spots at the Olympics, and Tuesday was finally Smith's opportunity to make her case. She started as a wide forward and was fairly active during the first half but really came to life as the USWNT picked up the intensity in the second half.
The personnel changes also helped but Smith seemed to fall down the pecking order as the Gold Cup progressed, making Tuesday's performance a big one for the young forward. She's no doubt the team's future but the halftime tinkers coupled with her two-goal showing means that she bolstered her case as the USWNT's present.
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Interim no more
This marks the end of Kilgore's spell as the interim head coach, which may have only lasted seven months but was a very transformative period. She successfully updated the player pool, injected new tactical ideas into the team and rediscovered the team's attacking identity in the process.
There is still plenty of room for improvement, as the defensive mistakes and the attacking problems on Tuesday will demonstrate. It's hard not to say this seven-month period was not a success, though -- Jaedyn Shaw got enough game time to prove that she's undroppable, while a handful of other positions seem locked down by young players like Naomi Girma and Tierna Davidson. The team feels like it has moved on from the disappointment of last year's Women's World Cup, which is a perfect position to be in just in time for Hayes' arrival.