Tonight US Soccer will broadcast the April 2019 USWNT friendly versus Australia. So here are a few of the Keeper’s Notes on the game that saw a total of eight goals scored, including Alex Morgan‘s historic 100th international goal.
Game broadcast begins at 7 pm CT on US Soccer’s Facebook and YouTube pages.
BACKGROUND
This match was the 30th all-time meeting between USA and Australia, and just the fourth match in charge for new head Matildas head coach Ante Milicic, after the Australian federation suddenly fired Alen Stajcic in early 2019. Only once in the previous 29 meetings had Australia defeated the Americans — a 1-0 victory in the 2017 Tournament of Nations.
USA NOTES
• Alex Morgan had scored her 99th goal in the first match of the 2019 SheBelieves Cup, but had not scored in the next two games. She got her 100th goal fairly early in this match, becoming the 7th American to reach that milestone (after Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, Tiffeny Milbrett, Kristine Lilly, Abby Wambach and Carli Lloyd).
• Mallory Pugh scored two goals in front of her hometown crowd — this match was played at DSG Park, home of the Colorado Rapids. The other “Colorado kid” in the game was Lindsay Horan.
• Megan Rapinoe earned her 150th cap in the match, becoming the 21st American woman to reach that milestone. She wore the captain’s armband in this match for just the fourth time in her USWNT career.
• Emily Sonnett earned two assists in the game.
• This was one of the last games played before head coach Jill Ellis named the 23-player squad for the 2019 Women’s World Cup.
AUSTRALIA NOTES
• This game features Sam Kerr‘s first-ever goal against the USWNT.
• The leading Australian scorer against the USWNT is Lisa De Vanna, with four goals, including the first goal for the Matildas in this match.
NERD NOTES
• Surprisingly, this match is not the highest-scoring contest between these two teams. The teams also scored a combined 8 goals when they met in September 2012, and a total of 9 in spring 2008 game. Back in 1997, the USWNT defeated the Matildas 10-1 in a summer friendly.
NWSL NOTES
• At the time of this match, barely a week before the start of the 2019 NWSL season, Australia had more players in the NWSL than any other national team aside from the USWNT. Eight of Australia’s starters in this game were on NWSL rosters at the time.