USWNT lose to England, Spain: 3 takeaways from winless window

By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer

Four days after the United Sates women’s national team fell to European champion England — the Americans’ first defeat in more than a year — the USWNT suffered another loss on Tuesday in Spain in their second October friendly.

Maitane López scored for the shorthanded hosts in the first half in Pamplona, and the U.S. had no answer after Esther González doubled her country’s lead with a magical touch in the second to seal the 2-0 victory.

Here are three quick thoughts on the match and on this month’s international window overall.

The U.S. missed Alex Morgan, Mal Pugh this month

La Roja were without almost their entire first team (more on that below) but performed like a squad with everything to prove. The U.S., meanwhile, were utterly toothless in the attack on Tuesday minus veteran forwards Alex Morgan and Mallory Pugh.

Morgan and Pugh were members of the American squad that won its fourth world title in France three years ago. Both have been in blistering form for their National Women’s Soccer League clubs. But neither were able to make this high-profile trip to Europe to compete against the only two teams that took the U.S. to extra time in knockout stages en route to their World Cup triumph in 2019. (Morgan is injured and Pugh had a family commitment.)

Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman started these two games instead. And while both immensely talented youngsters showed glimpses of what they’re capable of against England — Smith scored a gorgeous equalizer while Rodman’s apparent goal, which would’ve given the visitors a 2-1 lead, was called back for a phantom offside — the pair struggled mightily in Spain.

Even with Megan Rapinoe still kicking around, these games showed that the U.S. still needs the experience and pedigree of Morgan and Pugh up top. That probably goes for the 2023 World Cup, too. Assuming Rapinoe, who will be 38 next summer, occupies the Carli Lloyd super sub role, Smith, Rodman and others would be left vying for the last forward spot in Vlatko Andonovski’s lineup. That would be high-quality problem for the U.S. coach, and one he’ll surely covet after these two contests suggested that the understudies aren’t quite ready for primetime just yet.

Defensive questions remain ahead of the 2023 World Cup

Andonovski made four changes to the lineup that started in London last week. That none of them were in midfield or on the forward line said plenty. Just 10 months before their title defense begins down under, big questions persist across the backline and in goal.

U.S. captain Becky Sauerbrunn also turns 38 before the World Cup; will she be playing at the level that has made her the USWNT’s defensive linchpin for the last two cycles? Can veteran fullback (and new mom) Crystal Dunn reclaim her starting job? Who will be in nets, steady vet Alyssa Naeher or Casey Murphy, whose acrobatic second-half save on Tuesday kept the U.S. in the match before González put it away?

The coach will be hoping that November’s year-ending home friendlies against Germany — another elite foe — provide more clarity than the two games that preceded them.

This month was about more than soccer 

Nobody should forget that these two October games were played on the heels of former acting U.S. Attorney general Sally Yates’s devastating report that identified a culture of systemic sexual and psychological abuse in the U.S.-based NWSL and across the women’s game more broadly. 

Before last Friday’s kickoff against the Lionesses at a sold-out Wembley Stadium, on both teams stood together on the field in a moment of solidarity, holding a sign that read “Protect the Players.”

It’s an appeal that transcends borders.

The Spanish team the U.S. faced in Pamplona was missing 15 regulars — plus captain Irene Paredes and 2021 Ballon d’Or Féminin winner Alexia Putellas, widely considered the world’s best player — who are boycotting the national squad over the conduct of coach Jorge Vilda. The players claim the methods employed by Vilda and his staff negatively “affect our mental and personal well-being.”

The Royal Spanish Football Federation has not been receptive, to say the least. “The players who have submitted their resignation will only return to the national team in the future if they accept their mistake and ask for forgiveness,” Spain’s federation said.

On ESPN’s broadcast of Tuesday’s match, USWNT great Julie Foudy said she believed that the contents of Yates’ report had been so emotionally draining for the U.S. players this month that it impacted their performances on the field.

Why wouldn’t it? This month has been moment of reckoning for women’s soccer, one that is being driven by the fed-up athletes themselves. Against that backdrop, these two exhibition losses for the Americans couldn’t feel any more insignificant.

One of the leading soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.