The United States Women's National Soccer Team (USWNT) won against its New Zealand counterpart during the SheBelieves Cup tournament after Meikayla Moore's three own-goals during the first half.
The American team's win comes after Thursday night's match with the Czech Republic that ended in a draw with neither team able to score a goal. Moore's three own-goals is the first time that this kind of match has happened in the history of U.S. women's national team matches.
US Women's Soccer Team
The coach of the USWNT, Vlatko Andonovski, evaluated younger players of the team during the four-team round-robin tournament. The tournament was played without stars such as Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Christen Press, and Tobin Heath on the roster.
In the first half, the American team was able to break New Zealand's press often and was able to force Moore to make own-goals. The SheBelieves Cup is Moore's 50th international appearance in professional soccer matches.
In the fifth minute, the American team's Sophia Smith made a crossing pass into the box deflected off Moore's right leg to put Americans on top. The crucial goal snapped a 181-minute shutout streak between the two teams, as per Fox News.
While an own goal was not exceptionally uncommon during soccer matches, two is extremely rare, and three by one player during an international match is like Halley's comet. New Zealand's Coach Jitka Klimkova removed Moore from the match before intermission arrived.
When the professional soccer player returned to the sideline, she rested her head, while still teary-eyed, onto her coach's shoulder. During that time, Klimkova consoled Moore for an extended time, telling her that everyone knew how great a player she is for their team. While Moore would not likely forget the three own-goals, they were valuable lessons to grow from, her coach said.
According to the Washington Post, the 25-year-old center-back who plays for Liverpool was on the 2015 World Cup squad and would have been a part of the 2019 team too if not for an Achilles' tendon injury. Moore's first two own-goals came in an 82-second span. New Zealand goalkeeper Erin Nayler was unable to block the shots that Moore accidentally made for their opponent's team.
Rare Own-Goals
But with Moore's first two own-goals being seen as accidental, it was her third that was believed to have been her mistake. In the 36th minute, USWNT's Midge Purce whipped a short, skipping ball into the box, and Moore ill-timed her swipe to clear the ball. The New Zealand center-back's mistake caused her to kick the ball into the goal rather than toward the sideline.
Coach Andonovski said that it was not necessarily Moore's fault that she made three own-goals, attributing the incidents to luck. However, he noted that his team's performance leading up to the goals was also important because they showed that the players made amazing moves.
The USWNT coach was using the SheBelieves Cup to evaluate new players who could become future stars of the team. But while the final score made it look like the American team was dominating, it was far from the truth, ESPN reported.
Related Article:
