As they have always seemed to do in the last year and a half, the members of the U.S. women’s national team completed a comeback to top Australia 2-1 on Sunday at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., in their second game of the post-Olympics victory tour.
Lisa de Vanna’s 34th minute goal gave Australia a 1-0 lead it would maintain into halftime. U.S. forward Alex Morgan converted a cross from midfielder Heather O’Reilly to score the equalizer in the 55th minute. Morgan drew a foul inside the penalty area and Shannon Boxx scored the game winner on the penalty kick in the 63rd minute.
Sunday’s match was Alex Morgan’s 50th cap. In this interview with NBC Sports, she addresses former USWNT player Kate Markgraf’s question about the possibility of playing overseas if no women’s professional soccer league becomes finalized in the U.S. She said it is “the right time for me in my career” to consider the possibility of playing in Europe.
The team also autographed a guitar which they presented after the match to coach Pia Sundhage, whose era with the national team ends after Wednesday’s match against Australia in Commerce City, Colo. She serenaded the crowd with Elvis Presley’s “Jail House Rock” (you can hear her singing it in the background of Alex Morgan’s interview linked in the previous paragraph. You can also watch her performance in this video by U.S. Soccer). She talked with NBC Sports about her decision to pursue the Sweden women’s national team head coaching job, which she officially begins December 1 and that “it’s hard to leave the best team in the world.” She singled out Abby Wambach’s game-tying goal in the 2011 World Cup quarterfinals against Brazil and coaching the USWNT in Wembley at the Olympics as her best moments as coach. She also shares what she thinks will be key for the USWNT to win a World Cup and, as always, threw in a couple of laughs, too. Hard to believe the jovial coach’s five years with the U.S. will end in a little more than 48 hours.