U.S. midfielder Tobin Heath (center) scored in the 67th minute on Tuesday. (Copyright Patricia Giobetti | http://www.printroom.com/pro/psgiobetti)
The United States women drew 2-2 with Germany on Tuesday, the second draw in four days between the world’s top two teams. The match looked like it would be a good win for the United States until the 85th minute, when Germany forward Dzsenifer Marozsan scored her second goal of the game for the equalizer. That’s a perfect segway for our three talking points of the match…
Spektakulär — That’s the best way to describe Marozsan on Tuesday. Her 85th minute goal was an absolute stunner. Marozsan was the best player on the field and there was a real sense that she could score every time she touched the ball. The 21-year-old Alexandra Popp got the start on Tuesday and also showed flashes of brilliance in her 45 minutes of play.
Rain no sweat for Solo — U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo conceded two goals to Germany (via Marozsan), but she couldn’t do anything about the perfectly placed second one and the first goal came on a one-on-one breakaway. Solo made six saves on Tuesday and all of them were spectacular. Most notable was a double-save in the 67th minute that came just seconds before the U.S. went down the field and scored on a low Alex Morgan cross to Tobin Heath. There was a steady rain all night, but Solo wasn’t fazed. “I don’t think the rain had any factor on my play today,” she said. “Maybe a couple of off-weighted passes but in terms of slipping and not being able to catch the ball, I was fine.”
Changes, but maybe just for the day — Interim U.S. head coach Jill Ellis made four changes to the starting line-up from the team that tied Germany on Saturday. Carli Lloyd and Heather O’Reilly started in the midfield in place of Lauren Cheney and Tobin Heath, while Becky Sauerbrunn replaced Rachel Buehler at center back and Amy LePeilbet went back into her right back position in favor of Heather Mitts. Sauerbrunn brought a sense of calm to the U.S. back line, which was good to see. The wackiest change was Sydney Leroux being inserted as a right back for the final minutes, but don’t read too much into that. Heather Mitts took a hard hit earlier in the half and the U.S> was out of defensive subs, which is likely what happened there.
