Andrew Bershaw/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Mallory Swanson single-handedly took care of Canada in the first half.
The United States forward made it 2-2 in 34 minutes as the United States beat Canada 2-0 on Thursday night at the SheBelieves Cup.
US women’s national soccer team @USWNT
HE CONTINUED, @MALPUGH!!!! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/gPvHwm2lyY
US women’s national soccer team @USWNT
Mal read it like a book 📖 pic.twitter.com/suaEDAQbcT
Alyssa Naeher added some amazing goaltending to close out the clean sheet:
US women’s national soccer team @USWNT
🚫 NAEHER KEEP IT AT ZERO 🚫 pic.twitter.com/T6pWsUYfvu
That’s it convincing from the United States. The Americans had 53 percent of the possession, outscored Canada 14-6 (7-3 at home) and took six corners to four from their opponents.
It was a total team performance, but Swanson was the story after her impressive brace. No surprises as he has scored in four straight games:
Attack on the third @Attack Three
SWANSON WITH WATER 🦢😍
HE LITERALLY CANNOT STOP SCORING….
🇺🇸 2 -0 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/ZPSLDzX63v
Seth Vertelney @svertelney
Mallory Pugh: 85 appearances, 25 goals
Mallory Swanson: 3 appearances, 5 goals#opt< /a>
CJ Hurt @Anti-radicalism
MALLORY F***ING SWANSON! pic.twitter.com/pAd7h21Gss
Jonathan Tannenwald @the goalkeeper
Mallory Swanson to @MelissaMOrtiz about #USWNT was for the night:
Rachel Bachman @Bachscore
Mallory (Pugh) Swanson was left off the 2021 US Olympic roster because she was not in top form.
He has scored 2 goals tonight against Olympic champion Canada — in the first half. https://t.co/noDjjtNeU1
It was a fantastic performance for the United States, although there are tough tests on the horizon, with Japan (Sun., Feb. 9 at 3:30 p.m. ET) and Brazil (Wed., Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. ET ) to follow in the SheBelieves Cup.
Thursday’s game was played under the well-known backdrop of pay disparity between the men’s and women’s games, with Canada playing the SheBelieves Cup in protest over a pay dispute with the Canadian soccer federation.
“I think we’ve made it pretty clear that we’re operating under a protest right now, so we’ve decided as a group that we’re going to do this and show our solidarity together and that’s one of the ways he’s decided to do that,” said Canadian forward Janine Becky he told reporters.
USWNT players showed their support for this pre-game protest:
Meg Linehan @itmeglinehan
Great moment of solidarity between #USWNT and #CanWNT here before the start. pic.twitter.com/jC4bkMlNl9
“There are just some things that are much bigger than what happens on the field and this is one of them,” United States forward Megan Rapinoe said before the game, while expressing “100 percent” support for the protest. “This is just about basic human rights and respect and getting what they deserve. I mean, we’re talking about Olympians here, so this was so well-deserved and such a huge step forward for them.”