USWNT vs Brazil Round 2: 3 key takeaways and film breakdown - Lily Yohannes, Alyssa Thompson, Mandy McGlynn, Natascha, Gio Queiroz, and Kerolin

The US lost in round two against Brazil. La Canarinha made history by registering the first-ever win by a CONMEBOL team against the USWNT on American soil.

After a very early goal by the hosts, things looked promising to them until Brazil regained some composure almost 30 minutes into the match and started to press the US to regain possession and direct fast counterattacks.

Not clinical enough

The US lost but not for a lack of trying. When we look at the stats, both teams had many opportunities, but couldn’t find the back of the net more. The hosts had 18 shots total and 5 SOTs while Brazil had 19 shots and 7 SOTs, according to Opta.

Opta

Brazil was having trouble keeping up with the pace of the US forwards. The through balls sent by Lily Yohannes or Alyssa Thompson left them outpaced or outnumbered. It was a shame the US couldn’t be more clinical in the final third.

Of course, Brazil’s goalkeeper Natascha helped a lot in this regard. She came up big and registered three saves.

The defense

No doubt this young backline didn’t have the best of performances. Gio Queiroz and Kerolin were doing a lot of damage and kept the defense busy the whole game.

Kerolin’s goal exposed many of their problems and just like Brazil did, the US gave a lot of space to the attackers, making things too easy for them.

In the image below, we can see how Emily Sonnett is trying to point out to her teammates where to be, but it’s already too late. La Seleçao’s No.10 has way too much time and space, and she knows how to seize them.

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Goalkeeping

After seeing Phallon Tullis-Joyce's good performance in round one, it was time to see what Utah Royals’ goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn could do.

Although her feet game was better than Tullis-Joyce, she wasn’t better than her teammate in shot stopping, claims, punches, or saves. And of course, McGlynn found it hard to move on once she made some passing mistakes that could’ve ended in disaster.

Although distribution is good and all, coach Emma Hayes will need to decide if she wants a good distributor who could be shaky under pressure or a decent distributor who is a better shot stopper.