When is a 3-0 win in a major world football tournament not a triumph?
A. When the opposing team is almost 60 positions lower in the FIFA ranking?
B. When the opposing team goes more than half the game without a player?
C. When your expected goals (xG) figure is just under 5?
All previous.
Yes, I made that question too easy.
Because, as we saw with the U.S. women’s national team in its Olympic debut on Thursday in Nice, it’s possible to make mistakes even in circumstances like this. The world’s No. 5 U.S. women’s team beat No. 64 Zambia 3-0 in the first match of Group B, which sets up a much tougher second match on Sunday in Marseille against No. 4 Germany.
New coach Emma Hayes opened her major tournament record with a shutout victory, and some of the passing sequences in the first half made it look like she’s been teaching this group a lot about creating chances.
Now, can they finish with a better percentage? Let’s move on to the player ratings.
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Who got a good rating for the USWNT?
Alyssa Naeher (goalkeeper): 7
What is the right mark for a goalkeeper who had nothing to do? She was credited with a few saves, but none of them were serious opportunities.
Emily fox (right rear): 5.5
He had minimal defensive responsibility because he played in an offside position for much of the match. He had a clear chance to make it 4-0 at the end of the match, but his shot was blocked.
Naomi Girma (central defense): 8.5
Once again, Girma was impeccable, and it’s not like she had nothing to do. She stopped at least three counter-attacking opportunities from Zambia’s talented Barbra Banda, rushing into position and calmly clearing the ball away. Zambia had little possession when down to 11 players, and it only lessened when down to 10, but there were times when Zambia managed to break free on the counter-attack.
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Tender Davidson (central defense): 6.5
Before the U.S. had established their dominance of the game, long before they found themselves with one more player than their opponent, Davidson was beaten hard on the right side and decided to foul her to stop the attack. That led to a dangerous free kick for Zambia and could have put them down 1-0. Hayes has decided she likes what Davidson brings in the center position opposite Girma, but she still has work to do to erase the memory of her penalty foul against Canada at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Crystal Dunn (left back): 5.5
Dunn started the match at left-back, but after changes were made, he was given the chance to move up to his favoured position up front. In the 89th minute, Dunn had a perfect chance to add another goal to the lead, in order to gain goal difference and goals scored (the first two tiebreakers of the group stage). But a perfect cross that created an uncontested header off the right post was a failure. Dunn’s attempt went a metre wide of the goal.
Sam Coffey (defensive midfielder): 6
Coffey saw little activity in defensive midfield, as Zambia’s limited attacks came mostly down the left side. When she did have opportunities to have the ball early in the match, she looked a little nervous and was too eager to play the ball back. But against Zambia’s 10-player group, she felt more comfortable dropping into the attack, including being fouled in the 76th minute in a dangerous spot above the box.
Lindsey Horan (midfielder) 7.5
Horan made some brilliant passes in this match, including ones that led to goals. However, like the team as a whole, she has a tendency to leave you wanting more. Perhaps if she had been able to continue exploring her connection with her longtime midfield partner, Rose Lavelle, things would have gone better for the U.S. in the second half.
Rosa Lavelle (attacking midfielder) 6.5
Coming off an injury before the tournament, Lavelle didn’t need to play more than half of the match, given the 3-0 halftime scoreline. She wasn’t at her best, missing a threatening free-kick opportunity after Pauline Zulu committed the foul just outside the box that led to her red card disqualification. But she also executed a beautiful corner kick in the 15th minute that led to a Horan header that was cleared off the line, and Lavelle’s pass to Smith set up the U.S. women’s national team’s third goal.
Sofia Smith (forward): 7
Smith was spectacular for all 40 minutes she played, including her lunge to take advantage of a turnover that led to Rodman heading a perfect cross off the crossbar and then two plays that did produce goals: her pass to Lindsey Horan, who then assisted on Mal Swanson’s first goal, and then the direct assist on Swanson’s second goal. But she left with an injury. The U.S. women’s national team has had a terrible time staying healthy at major tournaments lately, including an injury that robbed them of Catarina Macario for this tournament after she missed two full years. They need Smith to be healthy as this tournament continues.
Mallory Swanson (forward): 8.5
Swanson made her first Olympic appearance in 2016, when she was brought to Rio as a teenager and given considerable playing time. But this marked her first major impact on this stage. She turned a 1-0 lead into 3-0 with two beautiful goals in the space of a minute. There could have been a hat-trick, but her best chance in the second half was wasted. Swanson’s performance taking corners from the left side, which were headed too high and too long to find anyone at the far post, suggested Hayes might want to find a different strategy there.
Trinidad Rodman (forward): 7
Rodman scored her first goal of the year with a spectacular back-heel pass and a twisting move in the middle of the box to break free from a defender and unsettle the goalkeeper. She then fired straight into the geographic center of the net. But as has happened so often, Rodman too often provided the “almost,” most notably a point-blank header inside the box in the first minute of first-half stoppage time that went two yards wide of the right post.
Substitutes
Lynn Williams (forward): 4.5
Williams, who replaced the injured Catarina Macario, played with a leg brace and also looked a bit limping. Williams posed little threat despite the U.S. women’s team’s abundance of possession.
Corbin Albert (midfielder): 4
Albert, who came on as a substitute at half-time for Lavelle, had a great chance to score in the 56th minute after a beautiful pass from Horan, but ignored an unmarked teammate at the far post (and the space in that direction) and shot straight at the goalkeeper. It seemed to have become a habit. In the final minute of added time, she again ignored an opportunity to assist a teammate and shot straight at the goalkeeper.
Casey Krueger (left back): 6
Shortly after coming into the game, in the 67th minute, Krueger had a chance to shoot from the left side of the box, but took too long to do so and saw the shot blocked. He then lost the rebound and Zambia could have had a breakaway, but then put in a perfect cross for Dunn, who missed a header and contributed to the defence with a hasty run to thwart a breakaway.
Jenna Nightswonger (right rear): 5
It was hard to determine what position Nighswonger was playing because neither of them were really functioning as outside defenders. She and Krueger were playing outside forwards (a little less so). She had limited access to the ball and few opportunities.
Emily Sonnett (midfielder): 5
If his job was to allow Horan to rest, he certainly did it.