The U.S. women lost their top player but still moved out to a two-goal lead. Unfortunately, they lost it and had to settle for a 3-3 tie with China.
Tony DiCicco had plenty of time to see what his team would be like without star striker Michelle Akers.
He saw that the U.S. could still score goals. Unfortunately, he saw his players couldn’t prevent them, either.
The U.S. women blew a 3-1 lead on goals by Tisha Venturini, Tiffeny Milbrett and Mia Hamm and had to walk off the field with a 3-3 tie with China in their opening game of the Women’s World Cup June 6.
They built that lead without Akers, who suffered a sprained knee and mild concussion when she bumped heads with defender Fan Yunjie going up for a header on a China corner kick in the sixth minute. After lying on the ground for a few minutes, Akers eschewed a stretcher and walked off the field with trainer Patty Marchak.
Akers returned to the field in the 21st minute, only to signal for a substitute a minute later. She has a history of head injuries — she almost sued U.S. Soccer to allow her to play in the late ’80s — and a CAT scan after the game revealed no major injury.
DiCicco, who took advantage of FIFA’s timeout experiment and called the first-ever U.S. timeout after Akers’ injury, sent on Milbrett.
“It was difficult for us to play down a player for as long as we did,” said DiCicco. “I’m proud of how my team played without her. I know they’re a bit disappointed now. After leading by two goals with 15 or 20 minutes to go, you expect to win, at least we do. We’ll improve on that late-game performance.”
U.S. takes lead with fast start
In many games this past year, Akers couldn’t play much because of bad health, and the U.S. persevered. That seemed the case this time as well.
After Akers went down, the U.S. picked up its play. Mia Hamm, who turned defender Lirong Wen inside out, and Carin Gabarra sliced through the Chinese defense to create numerous scoring chances.
But the star for the U.S. in the first half was Milbrett.
In the 22nd minute, after a couple of Chinese defenders couldn’t clear a U.S. throw-in, Milbrett recovered the ball and found Tisha Venturini alone near the penalty area. Venturini’s shot went just over the crossbar.
Venturini found redemption a minute later, heading in a Hamm cross into the right corner of the goal for a 1-0 U.S. lead. Hamm won possession on the left flank and flighted the ball to Venturini near the penalty spot.
Up until this point, U.S. goalkeeper Briana Scurry hadn’t had much to do. The Chinese corner on which Akers got hurt was the closest action she had seen yet. Scurry snuffed out China’s first serious chance of the game by grabbing a ball meant for Yang Zhou inside the box.
Milbrett set up and scored the second U.S. goal in the 35th minute. The former Portland star earned a free kick after a Chinese player brought her down 30 yards from goal.
Lilly’s free kick hit the crossbar, the ball struck goalkeeper Honglian Zhong’s arm on the way down, and Milbrett drilled it into the net.
“We call it ‘framing the goal,’ which is: follow up on a rebound shot. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and it was an easy goal,” said Milbrett.
Wen Sun takes charge
China continually attacked down the flanks, in particular on the U.S. team’s right side, where Kristine Lilly plays. As is custom for the U.S. Lilly joined the attack whenever she could but had trouble getting back to mark Liping Wang. China’s Wen Sun, a 1991 World Championship veteran, was the player of the game, as she continually beat both Linda Hamilton and Joy Fawcett.
Liping Wang was free again near the U.S. box in the 41st minute, collecting a loose ball and firing a shot that just beat a diving Scurry to her right.
The second half started out well for the U.S. In the 50th minute, Gabarra took the ball down the middle with Hamm on her left and Lilly on her right. She gave a perfect ball to Hamm, who beat her defender and the onrushing Zhong to slot the ball home in the right corner of the goal for a 3-1 U.S. lead.
From then on, it was all China as Wen Sun went to work, beating whomever the U.S. threw at her.
The second Chinese goal came on a scramble inside the U.S. box. A cross glanced off the head of U.S. midfielder Tiffany Roberts, evaded Scurry, and landed at the feet of sub Haiying Wei, who tapped in the ball in the 74th minute.
A substitution by the U.S. three minutes later backfired. DiCicco took out Milbrett for Holly Manthei, who was nutmegged on the tying goal.
She had moved to Roberts’ spot on the left side of midfield. Roberts hadn’t had much action on her side, but her counterpart, Lihong Zhao, was starting to assert herself.
When Manthei came in, Hamm moved back to midfield while Roberts joined the backline. Foudy moved up to join the attack.
But without the spark provided earlier by Milbrett, and with Hamm and Gabarra showing little, the U.S. was far less of a threat up front.
The tying goal came when Wen Sun broke through the U.S. defense after a one-two on the wing. She dribbled into the box and blasted a shot past Scurry’s right side in the 78th minute.
“She hit it really hard, but I thought I could have saved it,” Scurry said. “But she hit it harder than I thought.”
After the game, many of the U.S. players were dejected, but DiCicco was praising his team’s effort in the absence of Akers. He credited China’s outstanding play, but also placed some of the blame for the result on his team’s inability to close out a game.
“This is where the U.S. system doesn’t help us,” he said. “In other words, if our players have the luxury of a league and were playing league matches game in and game out, they would learn the sophistication of how to hold a lead. If you remember in 1991, we were up 3-0 against Sweden and won 3-2.
“That’s a wrinkle that we have to put into our game. We have to understand how to hold possession, close down the opponent and keep them from going forward. Especially a team like China that’s so dynamic going forward.”
by Soccer America Associate Editor Dean Caparaz
June 6 in Gaelve
USA 3, China 3. Goals: Venturini 23, Milbrett 35, Hamm 51; Liping Wang 41, Haiying Wei 74, Wen Sun 78.
Report Card
USA — Scurry (4), Overbeck (5), Hamilton (4), Fawcett (5), Foudy (5), Lilly (4), Roberts (5), Venturini (6), Akers (-), Gabarra (7), Hamm (8). Substitutions: Milbrett (8) for Akers (20th minute), Manthei (4) for Milbrett (77th).
China — Honglian Zhong (4), Yang Zhou (3), Lirong Wen (3), Lijie Niu (3), Yunjie Fan (5), Lihong Zhao (4), Yufeng Chen (5), Qingmei Sun (6), Liping Wang (8), Wen Sun (9), Guihong Shi (3). Substitutions: Haiying Wei (6) for Guihong Shi (38th), Ailing Liu (4) for Lihong Zhao (47th), Qingzia Shui (-) for Ailing Liu (85th).
Referee: Jonsson (Sweden).
Att.: 4,635