USA’s Head coach Jill Ellis sent out the supporting cast as she made seven changes from her record-breaking team that scored 13 goals in game one, including a completely fresh front line for there game against Chile in Paris.
USA immediately started asserting there dominance with a string of shots from there veteran striker Carli Lloyd playing in her fourth World Cup they should have gone ahead in the opening minutes when a melee in the box saw Lloyd have two shots only for it to be saved by Chilean Goalkeeper Christiane Endler.
On 12 minutes Lloyd got her reward to pounce on a poor clearance by Su Helen Galaz and take a sweet shot on the edge of the box to put USA deservedly ahead.
Ten minutes later the defending champions were almost stunned when a Chilean free-kick missed everyone and went into the USA goal but the most forward Chile attacker was adjudged to be offside.
On 26 minutes Tierna Davidson whipped in a pinpoint corner which found Julie Ertz wh bullet header doubled USA’s lead. Ten minutes later Davison supplied a carbon copy corner kick, only this time finding the head of Carli Lloyd who duly put USA 3-0 up at the break.
North Carolina Courage attacker, Jessica McDonald, was brought on at half time to replace utility player Ertz. Her husband, Zach, plays for the Philadelphia Eagles and was in the stands. He must have been wondering whether an NFL style score was on the cards in the second half, as was the case against Thailand.
Lindsay Horan had two excellent chances early in the second half. The first one went just over the bar and then the second was superbly saved by Endler. The Chilean keeper was having the game of her life! The PSG & former Chelsea player made a string of outstanding acrobatic saves, notably from Christen Press.
Are we all agreed that @TIANEendler will be the breakout star the the @FIFAWWC even if Chile don’t progress to the knock out stages? #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/Lr4E4CrvfB
— Since 71 (@Since71Blog) June 16, 2019
USA won a controversial VAR awarded penalty for a foul inside the box that looked like it was just outside. Justice was eventually done as Lloyd sent the resulting spot-kick wide.
The game petered out as a contest and USA secured a place in the next round by winning there seventh successive World Cup finals game and are now just three behind Norway who hold the record of ten games between 1995 and 1999. Lloyd also became the first player to score in six successive World Cup games, scoring a superb nine times in those matches.
The brilliant keeper, Endler, who kept the score more than respectable and her side still have a chance to qualifying for the round of 16 with a healthy win against Thailand, whilst USA face their biggest test of the tournament so far with a game against Sweden in a shootout to decide who wins group F.
USA: Naeher, Krieger, Dahlkemper, Sauerbrunn, Davidson, Brian, Ertz, Horan, Press, Lloyd, Pugh
Subs: Harris, Mewis, O’Hara, Morgan, Sonnett, Rapinoe, Lavelle, Heath, Dunn, Long, McDonald, Franch.
Chile: Endler, Galaz, Guerrero, Saez, Toro, Claudia Soto, Araya, Lara, Zamora, Urrutia, Balmaceda
Subs: Campos, Rocio Soto, Diaz, Rojas, Aedo, Lopez, Grez, Pardo, Pinilla, Huenteo, Duran, Torrero
