Colombia Women’s team fell to the United States, current world champion

Colombia Women’s Selection team lineup that faced the United States in Orlando, Florida, USA. Credit Colombian Football Federation

In the first of two matches to be played against the current women’s soccer world champion team, the United States, the Colombian National Team lost 0-4 at the Explora Stadium, in Orlando, Florida.

Those directed by coach Nelson Abadía, They started the match by contesting the midfield against the hosts, but they surpassed the Colombians in physical and technical display, whose squad is made up of the players participating in the local league, given that those who play abroad did not obtain the permits to join the friendly cycle.

Instead, the United States National Team had its figures: Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd and Samantha Mewis, participants of the last title obtained by said selection, the Women’s Soccer World Cup, in 2019.

The North American superiority started early: at minute four, due to a quick action on the left wing, Megan Rapinoe threw a pass into the area to Samantha Mewis, who gently finished off the arch protected by Sandra Sepulveda, tricolor goalkeeper.

Samantha Mewis, USA, celebrates one of her goals in the match played against the Colombian Women’s National Team. AFP Credit 

From that moment, the North American National Team exercised a dominance based on physical power and tactical hierarchy. Relevant performance by Sepúlveda, very attentive in defending her goal, which made her the player of the match, despite the adverse result of the selection.

The second goal had the signature of Samantha Mewis, this time upside down after connecting a cross to the area of Carli Lloyd.

In the second half, the panorama did not change: The United States did not stop the march while the Colombian National Team tried unsuccessfully to contain the North Americans.

The third was the work of Samantha Mewis after a foul in the area caused by Jorelyn Carabalí a Lindsey Horan.

There was still a goal, obtained five minutes from the end by Keri Mewis, after a pass from Samantha, who had once again overflowed the left wing.

The hat-trick of Samantha Mewis and the deployment of the United States National Team overshadowed the Colombian intentions, which maintained an attitude of containment in the face of the strength of the world champions.

There remains a friendly, scheduled for Friday, January 22 in Orlando, Florida, again against the North American National Team.

The alignment of this first friendly was: Sandra Sepulveda; Oriánica Velásquez, Jorelyn Carabalí, Daniela Arias, Kelly Ibarguen; Jéssica Caro, Liana Salazar; Gisela Robledo, Catalina Usme, Manuela Paví; Kena Romero.

It is worth highlighting the words of Catalina Usme before the trip to the USA, when she was asked about the challenge of playing against the world champions: “Playing against the United States will always be a motivation for anyone, but I think we should get past just going to play with them. Now we must go to compete, with the mentality of going to beat them ”.

Usme, who had a discreet match, also stressed that continuity for female players is necessary to achieve better results:

“It cannot be that a National Team player has 12 games in a year, it is impossible. At the National Team level, we had just been Pan American champions and a year and a half ago we did not meet. All the teams are aiming for that Copa América 2022, qualifying for the World Cup and Olympics, and I feel like we were neglecting ourselves a bit. That is the biggest difference there is ”.

Preparatory is the first phase on the way to Copa América Women 2022, from which an outstanding participation of the Colombian National Team is expected, which has the support of the fans.