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Frank Jansky / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The United States Women’s National Team beat Paraguay 8-0 with a hat trick from Alex Morgan on Tuesday at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati.
The USWNT was expected to win after knocking out Paraguay 9-0 in their friendly last Thursday. Carli Lloyd scored five of those goals alone, and Vlatko Andonovski’s side had a six-goal lead at halftime.
The players worked even faster in the second leg as the United States led 5-0 in the 15th minute.
Rose Lavelle enjoyed her return home. The Cincinnati native shot a header past Alicia Bobadilla in the fourth minute for the United States’ first goal.
FOX Football @FOXFootball
The kid from the city opens the scoring!@roselavelle finish a beautiful cross to put the @USWNT up to 1-0 🌹👏 pic.twitter.com/VHTRkzCdIS< /a>
The 26-year-old went on to help Sophia Smith and Morgan as the USWNT’s lead widened. For Smith, it was her first goal for the national team, and it demonstrated how easily the United States slices up Paraguay’s defense.
FOX Football @FOXFootball
Sophia Smith scores her first international goal 🇺🇸
She does it ✌️ for the @USWNT < a href="https://t.co/mErds8xN3q">pic.twitter.com/mErds8xN3q
Lavelle completed her own 15th-minute assists hat trick after her pass guided Catarina Macario forward to register a right-footed shot in the bottom corner. The FS1 show had just finished a replay of Morgan’s second goal and almost completely missed the move.
FOX Football @FOXFootball
Goals keep coming for the @USWNT 🙌@catarinamacario scores 5-0 in the first 15 minutes of play pic.twitter.com/kGgM24iwq9
The USWNT was scoring at will and presumably could have hit double digits if they kept their foot on the gas. Instead, the team calmed down a bit for the rest of the first half and remained content with a five-goal cushion.
Morgan landed his third in the 53rd minute as the United States regained their offensive verve, and Lloyd scored the seventh in the 78th minute.
Macario capped the offensive frenzy in the 82nd minute with the most aesthetic goal of the game. She lined up a volley with her right foot over the edge of the 18-yard box and shot it past a diving Bobadilla.
American Football WNT @USWNT
brb look at this @catarinamacario hit again and again 😍 pic.twitter.com/gigPv7FsUg
Paraguay is 50th in the FIFA rankings world ranking women, so these friendlies didn’t provide a lot of opportunities to learn anything new about the United States. On the contrary, the combined score of 17-0 raised questions as to whether this was a sensible planning strategy for either country.
Tuesday night at least presented the future of the USWNT attack. Lloyd is going out, and the likes of Morgan, Tobin Heath, Christen Press and Megan Rapinoe are likely in their final World Cup round.
Smith turned 21 in August and she will be among the young stars to carry the torch once the veterans move on. Macario’s creativity in the midfield will also be invaluable, as she feels more at home in the national team.
These exhibits are not difficult tests to challenge the courage of the USWNT, but provide a good experience for the younger generation.
And after?
The United States returns to action on October 21 for the first of two friendlies with South Korea.
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