The U.S. Women’s National Team defeated Japan 2-0 on goals from Julie Johnston and Alex Morgan in front of 23,535 fans – a record attendance for a WNT game in the State of Ohio – in a match that was abandoned in the 76th minute due to inclement weather.
After a thrilling 3-3 draw last Thursday in the teams’ first meeting since the historic 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, the USA put in a dominant performance in the second leg of this two-game set, controlling large swaths of the game and generating numerous goal scoring opportunities while holding firm defensively. The USA held Japan to just two shots on goal.
Johnston scored what proved to be the game-winner in the 27th minute with her eighth career goal, all of set plays, before Morgan capped things off in the 62nd with her team leading 11th goal of 2016.
With the U.S. in control of the match, both teams began introducing numerous second half substitutions, but after playing almost the entire match under sunny skies, the weather abruptly took a turn for the worse and in the 76th minute the match officials were forced to send the players back to the locker room due to lightning and heavy rain. After a long delay, and with more bad weather rolling in, the matched was called off.
U.S. Soccer is awaiting final word from FIFA as to whether the match and all the statistics will count as official.
The U.S. WNT will finish its preparations for the 2016 Olympics in Rio next month, beginning with the first match in team history against South Africa at Soldier Field in Chicago on July 9 (12 p.m. CT; FS1). The team will play a second match later in July against an as yet to be announced opponent before departing for the Olympics.
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