US women's football team qualifies for 2019 Women's World Cup

FRISCO, Texas – It all began when American women waited and waited for a second goal that was never achieved against Sweden at the Olympics just over two years ago.

The Americans waited without reward for any goals against England in 2017 and against France in the match that followed. Australia visited this summer and the United States has always been searching for goals.

For the same country that scored with such ease on a magical afternoon in Vancouver in 2015 to regain the title of the lost World Cup so long, it was painfully symbolic. To move forward, they needed goals. Yet the more American women expected these goals, the less patience anyone had.

The United States waited less than 120 seconds on a Sunday. He scored five goals before half-time.

The Americans made their point before the final whistle in a 6-0 win over Jamaica.

Surely qualified alongside the Canadian women in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Women's Championship, they know that they are going to France for the World Cup. They will collect goals. And no team in the world is doing it better right now.

This is how the Americans needed their qualifying campaign to end. Close the door not to Jamaica, but to the ghosts of Sweden, England, France and Australia.

"We talked about qualifying," said US coach Jill Ellis about the work done that night. "But it was also our way of playing and playing tonight."

The United States has barely waited for the opening whistle on Sunday night at the Toyota Stadium. Seven seconds after Jamaica's send-off, US midfielder Rose Lavelle jumped past a pass away and sent her team in the opposite direction during the first of many forays into the adverse goal.

This first push did not produce a goal, but it did not take much. In two minutes, Jamaica's goalkeeper stopped Lindsey Horan's shot but could not stop the rebound from settling at Tobin Heath's feet. Patient in a free space, Heath pushed his high shot into the corner for a 1-0 lead.

But if Horan's assist in the sequence leading to the first goal was unintentional, the next three goals scored by American women were played in 2015 and 2019, working in harmony.

First, the defense Abby Dahlkemper played with Megan Rapinoe. This is the kind of pass that Ellis often describes as a requirement of the center in the modern game. Rapinoe had more work to do to finish it, but only one pass changed the pitch.

Then there was Crystal Dunn's cross coming from the bottom of the corner to set up a header for Julie Ertz, a ball Dunn chased while she was pushing high on the ground as left-back as she did. has become this year. Ertz said it was Dunn's cry for the ball that had pushed him to play an aggressive pass, a comfort of familiarity.

Finally, teammates Horan and Heath teamed up more directly, with the NWSL's most valuable player playing a perfect corner in the center of the ball for a 4-0 lead at Heath.

And it all happened in 15 minutes on the field – three additions since the creation of the Olympics, three veterans who are now better than they were in 2015 or 2016.

These pieces did not fit perfectly before. They had flawless air on Sunday.

This team is more talented than any other team I'm part of, with the national team – at every level, up to the positions.

Megan Rapinoe

"I think this team is more talented than all the other teams I'm part of, with the national team – at all levels, all positions," Rapinoe said. "You could say that young players just had something different about them, it was just a matter of putting everything together. [over two years]. Obviously, we went through a lot of frustrating moments where everything was not together. … It would sometimes stay a little stuck on the ground. I feel that everyone is in the same path now and on the same page with what we want to do. "

Ellis was thrilled by Horan's performance as an orchestral conductor on Sunday. Alex Morgan scored two goals, giving him 23 goals in 23 games. Lavelle shone again, Heath did the same. Familiar and new go together.

It's far from a 3-0 defeat to France at home. Eleven players were on the field for at least games of this match on March 7, 2017 and Sunday's win. It's not that the United States had the wrong pieces at that time. Experimenting with three defenders, the puzzle was wrong.

"For us, it was largely a matter of determining the system we wanted to play, in terms of what suited us, the staff and the profile of the players," Ellis said. "It was part of the process of looking for places where our best players in the field are doing the best things."

It started in the last of the losing games, the 1-0 defeat against Australia in Seattle that allowed this World Cup candidate to win her first win against the Americans. It was after this defeat that Ertz got a regular spot in midfield and the formation went to 4-3-3, which not only tormented CONCACAF in recent days, but also Australia, Brazil and Japan. this summer.

"From there, there was nothing left to improve and better understand the nuances of the system," said Ellis. "Both sides of the ball, attacking and defending."

The temptation is to treat the United States as the other women's teams with a kind of balance foot – like the US women's basketball team that has won 22 consecutive World Cup games or its predecessor and 49 consecutive Olympic Games . A 24-0 advantage in the first four games of this tournament certainly feeds this story. But this superiority is not the luxury of this team.

This American team is the first at the moment, but the first among the women's equals. Its margin is thin as paper – not against Jamaica or the rest of CONCACAF, except Canada, but against a world, and certainly a European continent, waking up to the feminine side of a sport that she already adore.

American players know as much. That's why Heath and Rapinoe echoed after the match by lamenting the lack of competition at this point. This team is not immune, starting with Wednesday's final against Canada (8:00 pm ET), which overcame a crowded start to make Panama lose 7-0 and win its own World.

The most important thing the United States did on Sunday was to qualify to defend its World Cup title. But the way he was qualified counted. Not because it will do the same for the best teams. But because it will try.

It's a team that no longer expects its goals. He goes and chases them against all comers.