For the first time in 18 meetings, the U.S. women’s national team failed to beat Costa Rica.
Emma Hayes’ squad played out a 0-0 draw with their CONCACAF rivals at Audi Field on Tuesday night in the Americans’ final tune-up ahead of the Paris Olympics. Midfielder Rose Lavelle missed the match due to leg tightness, opening the door for minor worry heading into group stage play this summer.
Through four matches of the Hayes era, the USWNT has yet to concede a goal but are struggling to find their final product on the other end of the pitch as well. Entering the match, the USWNT had failed to score against Costa Rica in a single half across their previous 17 matches. Despite forcing 12 saves out of Costa Rican goalkeeper Noelia Bermudez, that number tripled on Tuesday.
“If you play a game of percentages or law of averages, we are creating more and more high-quality chances and we’re getting more numbers into the key areas. We’re getting more touches in the key areas,” Hayes analyzed after mentioning the statistic above. “The last part is the hardest part and I’m really patient because I’ve coached teams that have to break blocks down and it’s the hardest thing to do in coaching.”
Captain Lindsey Horan came closest for the USWNT when she hit the post with her attempted acrobatic volley from close range in the 37th minute but couldn’t find the breakthrough on her 150th international cap. Nonetheless, Hayes continues to preach patience for a U.S. team that dominated 80% of possession on the night.
“It takes a lot of patience to play against a low block. Costa Rica did it really well,” Sophia Smith shared postgame. “It’s definitely challenging for us but I think it’s a good test because that’s what we are going to face in the Olympics.”
“I know that we can create chances. We created I don’t even know how many chances tonight. It’s just getting the ball in the back of the net, however that looks. That will come. That was a big message from Emma [Hayes] at the end of the game; don’t be frustrated. Obviously, we wanted a result from this but these games are preparation for something bigger. We know that we need to peak when we need to peak and that’s at the start of the Olympics.”
The USWNT will now head off to Paris with the youngest Olympic squad since 2008 carrying hopes of claiming a fifth gold medal. Their campaign will begin against Zambia on July 25th, followed by Germany on July 28th, and Australia to close out the group stage on July 31st.
