US SOCCER NEWS — October 21, 2012 at 12:04 am

U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM PLAYS GERMANY TO 1-1 DRAW AT SOLD-OUT TOYOTA PARK ON FAN TRIBUTE TOUR, PRESENTED BY PANASONIC

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BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (Oct. 20, 2012) – The match between the top two teams in the current FIFA Women’s World Rankings lived up to the hype as the No. 1 U.S. Women’s National Team played No. 2 Germany to a 1-1 draw in front of a sellout crowd of 19,522 at Toyota Park on the Fan Tribute Tour, presented by Panasonic.

The lone goal for the 2012 London Olympic gold medalists came in the second minute as forward Abby Wambach scored her 147th career goal off of an assist from Alex Morgan.

“Fantastic crowd and an educated crowd. They never stopped throughout the entire game,” Wambach said. “This is what it’s about. Since the Olympics we’ve come home to mostly sold-out stadiums. To me, this is what it’s about. We want to come and win and show the crowd what we can do, but more importantly it’s about the experience and the environment that the crowd creates. … It proves to me what we’ve accomplished.”

The two teams return to the field on Tuesday, Oct. 23, at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn. The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET, with a live broadcast on the NBC Sports Network. Fans can also follow the match via ussoccer.com‘s MatchTracker and on Twitter @ussoccer_wnt.

The USA needed only 1 minute and 47 seconds to strike first when Wambach scored from close range as she slid to tap in Morgan’s team-leading 16th assist for a 1-0 lead. The goal was created when Tobin Heath won the ball from Germany right back Bianca Schmidt and fed to Lauren Cheney in the middle. She found Morgan on the left side and the speedy U.S. striker sent a hard service across the goal box toward the far right post. Wambach held her run just enough to stay onside before slipping behind the defense to knock home her 22nd goal of 2012.

Germany’s Anja Mittag responded with a 14th-minute equalizer – a beautiful left-footed strike into the far right corner that just sailed over U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo’s outstretched glove. Mittag did well to shoot at top speed after running onto a one-touch assist from Simone Laudehr, who worked herself free from the USA defense in the middle of the field.

The U.S. caught a big break in the 24th minute after Linda Bresonik got free behind the U.S. defense on the right side and rolled a pass to the wide-open Laudehr. The German midfielder had an open look at goal from just over six yards away, but somehow sliced her shot just wide left of the post.

The USA nearly created a go-ahead goal just before halftime when Morgan raced down the right side and cross back into the middle to Cheney, who smashed her right-footed volley just wide of the right post.

Solo made a huge save to keep the score level in the 64th minute with a diving stop on Mittag’s shot after she ran onto a great pass the was slipped up the middle into the penalty area. Solo dove to her right to push away the driven shot and Germany’s follow-up attempt from Dzsenifer Marozsan missed the frame high.

Second-half sub Heather O’Reilly had one of the USA’s best scoring chances of the second half in the 75th minute when she hit a bending left-footed shot from a little more than 20 yards out that went just over the crossbar and hit the top netting.

Solo and Germany goalkeeper Nadine Angerer each had one save in the match.

Additional Notes:

 

  • U.S. WNT interim head coach Jill Ellis managed her first game on Saturday. Ellis, the Development Director for the U.S. Women’s National Teams since January of 2011, will also manage the team on Tuesday against Germany.
  • The U.S. moved to 23-1-2 this year and to 6-0-3 all-time in games pitting the No. 1 and No. 2 FIFA-ranked teams. The USA also moved to 4-0-1 as a top-ranked team playing the second-ranked team.
  • The USA extended its unbeaten streak to 17 games but saw its 14-game winning streak come to a close. Saturday’s draw was the first stalemate since played Japan to a 1-1 tie on April 1 in Sendai, Japan.
  • The USA is now 17-4-5 all-time against Germany.
  • Captain and center back Christie Rampone played in her 270th career match. She now sits only two caps behind third-place Julie Foudy (272) on the all-time list.
  • Forward Abby Wambach earned her 192nd career cap to tie with Brandi Chastain for eighth all-time.
  • Right back Heather Mitts made her 131st career appearance on Saturday and her first start since she played the full 90 minutes of the USA’s 3-0 win against Colombia on July 28 to clinch a quarterfinal berth out of Group G in the London Olympics.
  • Ellis used all six allowed substitutes, making three changes at halftime: Amy LePeilbet for Mitts, Heather O’Reilly for Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd for Lauren Cheney. Forwards Amy Rodriguez and Sydney Leroux also saw time at the end of the match, both playing the final seven minutes plus stoppage time. Becky Sauerbrunn also came on for Kelley O’Hara in the 73rd minute.
  • Following the U.S. WNT’s match against Germany on Tuesday, the USA hosts the Republic of Ireland at 7 p.m. PT on Nov. 28 at JELD-WEN Field in Portland, Ore., and at 7:30 p.m. MT on Dec. 1 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.


-U.S. Women’s National Team Match Report-

Match: U.S. Women’s National Team vs. Germany
Date: Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012
Competition: International Friendly
Venue: Toyota Park; Bridgeview, Ill.
Kickoff: 6:06 p.m. CT
Attendance: 19,522 (sell-out)
Weather: 57 degrees, partly cloudy

Scoring Summary:  1 2 F
USA                         1 0 1
GER                        1 0 1

USA – Abby Wambach (Alex Morgan)   2nd minute
GER – Anja Mittag (Simone Laudehr)   14

Lineups:
USA: 1-Hope Solo; 2-Heather Mitts (6-Amy LePeilbet, 46), 3-Christie Rampone (capt.), 16-Rachel Buehler, 5-Kelley O’Hara (4-Becky Sauerbrunn, 73); 15-Megan Rapinoe (9-Heather O’Reilly, 46), 7-Shannon Boxx (8-Amy Rodriguez, 83), 12-Lauren Cheney (10-Carli Lloyd, 46), 17-Tobin Heath; 13-Alex Morgan, 14-Abby Wambach (11-Sydney Leroux, 83)
Subs Not Used: 18-Nicole Barnhart
Head coach: Jill Ellis 

GER: 1-Nadine Angerer (capt.); 2-Bianca Schmidt (22-Luisa Wensing, 46), 3-Saskia Bartusiak, 4-Babett Peter, 5-Annike Krahn; 6-Simone Laudehr, 7-Melanie Behringer (15-Verena Faisst, 46), 10-Linda Bresonik (18-Svenja Huth, 75), 11-Anja Mittag (9-Alexandra Popp, 77), 14-Dzsenifer Marozsan, 17-Viola Odebrecht (8-Kim Kulig, 46)
Subs Not Used: 12-Almuth Schult, 13-Celia Okoyino da Mbabi, 16-Martina Muller,20-Lena Goessling, 21-Laura Benkarth, 23-Leonie Maier
Head coach: Silvia Neid 

Stats Summary: USA / GER
Shots: 7 / 12
Shots on Goal: 2 / 2
Saves: 1 / 1
Corner Kicks: 5 / 1
Fouls: 14 / 18
Offside: 0 / 2

Misconduct Summary:
None

Officials:
Referee: Margaret Domka
Assistant Referee 1: Marlene Duffy
Assistant Referee 2: Veronica Perez
Fourth Official: Kari Seitz

Budweiser Woman of the Match: Shannon Boxx

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