Alex Morgan Hurt as USA Thrash Guatemala

Friday, October 17, 2014,   USA 5-0 Guatemala

BRIDGEVIEW, IL–The USA attack came alive in the second half against Guatemala en route to a 5-0 win. However, one talking point will be the potential loss of forward Alex Morgan.

Morgan sprained her ankle in the 37th minute after colliding with Guatemala’s Gloria Aguilar. She will be re-evaluated on Saturday to determine the severity of the injury.

“It’s a pretty bad sprain,” said US National Team coach Jill Ellis. “But we’ll look at it [Saturday] and kind of know more. She’s pretty optimistic [that it’s not serious] so that’s a good indication.”

it’s nearly a year to the day since Morgan sprained the same ankle. That sprain became a stress reaction and kept her out until June. Morgan is now out of the rest of the USA’s World Cup qualifying

The USA opened the scoring in the 7th minute after Sydney Leroux flicked on a cross from Ali Kreiger and left it for Tobin Heath to toe-poke it in. It could well have been more in the first half, but it turned out not to be. Substitute Christen Press thought she made it 2-0 before halftime, but the goal was chalked off for offside.

That second goal came seconds into the second half as Carli Lloyd headed in a cross from Leroux. Lloyd turned provider as her shot was back-heeled in by Heath in the 57th minute. One minute later, Megan Rapinoe’s free kick was headed in by an unmarked Whitney Engen. Rapinoe would score herself in the 66th minute with a rocket shot at the top of the area past Alicia Navas.

“A lot of positives to take out of the game,” said Ellis. “We talked about finding more width and combining wide. It was pleasing to breakthrough and score some more goals in the second half. Overall, we have to build some momentum and continue to improve upon the good takeaways from this game.”

Despite being outshot, 21-0, on the evening, Guatemalan head coach Benjamin Monterroso saw some positives in his team’s performance.

“We’re very happy with this performance,” said Monterroso through a translator. “We knew the quality of the team that we were facing. We were facing the Olympic Champion and World Cup runner-up. Still, the team functioned very well. I thought we did very well. In terms of tactics, things worked out the way we had hoped, and we happy to have come this far.

“We are still alive in terms of the possible tiebreaker criteria, so we are happy at this stage to still be in that situation.”   That situation requires Guatemala to defeat Trinidad and Tobago by at least three goals and hope Haiti loses by a similar or greater margin against the USA to advance to the semifinals. The USA needs just a draw to win the group against Haiti. That match will take place  at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, at 6:30pm CT.

SCORING SUMMARY:

USA-Tobin Heath (Leroux) 7

USA-Carli Lloyd (Leroux) 46

USA-Tobin Heath (Lloyd) 57

USA-Whitney Engen (Rapinoe) 58

USA-Megan Rapinoe (unassisted) 66

BOOKING SUMMARY:

USA-Sydney Leroux (caution, reckless foul) 49

UNITED STATES (4-3-3):  #1-Hope Solo; #11Ali Kreiger (#5-Kelley O’Hara 46), #4-Becky Saurebrunn, #6-Whitney Engen, #16-Megan Klingenberg (#8-Amy Rodriguez 68); #10-Carli Lloyd (C), #15-Megan Rapinoe, #12-Lauren Holiday; #2-Sydney Leroux, #13-Alex Morgan (#14-Christen Press 42), #17-Tobin Heath

Subs not used:  #18-Ashlyn Harris, #3-Christie Rampone, #7-Morgan Brian, #9-Heather O’Reilly, #19-Julie Johnston, #20-Abby Wambach

GUATEMALA (4-3-3):  #12-Alicia Navas; #2-Daniela Andrade, #5-Londy Barrios, #14-Coralia Monterroso, #6-Gloria Aguilar; #3-Marilyn Rivera, #4-Mia Espino, #15-Christian Recinos; #8-Maria Monterroso (#19-Daina Barrera 77), #10-Kimberly De Leon (#7-Alida Argueta 77), #13-Aisha Solorzano (#18-Kellin Maye 70)

Subs not used:  #1-Yoselin Franco, #20-Melany Cayetano, #17-Jennifer Barrios, #16-Cinthya Lopez, #11-Vilma Lopez de Paz, #9-Ana Martinez

TOTAL SHOTS:  USA 21-0 GUA

SHOTS ON GOAL:  USA 11-0 GUA

FOULS:  USA 14-10 GUA

OFFSIDES:  USA 7-0 GUA

CORNER KICKS:  USA 11-0 GUA

SAVES:  USA 0-6 GUA

Referee:  Maurees Skeete (GUY)

Referee Assistants:  Stacy Ann Greyson (JAM), Kimberly Moreira (CRC)

4th Official:  Marianela Araya (CRC)

Attendance:  6,796

Woman of the Match:  Carli Lloyd (USA)