A great game for the United States and a mostly competitive game from Mexico. Alex Morgan gets the brace and the final score of the match is United States 4 - 1 Mexico. This is Aaron Bellamy signing off. Come back to VAVEL USA on Sunday for the second leg of the derby!
The referee blows the final whistle and the game is over! Final score, United States 4, Mexico 1
90+3' Dunn puts the ball on Hatch's foot, but somehow she misses the net.
We will have at least two minutes of stoppage time.
89' Robles is down with some cramping, from the looks of it.
89' The corner kick for Mexico is cleared out and leads to a shot, but it is always high.
86' Henninger cuts off a cross from Dunn.
80' United States and Mexico Substitutions: Hatch in, Morgan out; Flores in
77' United States Substitution: Sauerbrunn in, Pugh out
77' Henninger grabs a cross out of the air.
76' Mexico Substitution: Cuellar in, Johnson out; Martinez Mariano in, Ocampo out
75' Henninger makes an amazing save to prevent Alex Morgan from getting the hat trick.
74' Horan kicks it way high.
73' Morgan is fouled by Sierra just outside the box.
71' USA Substitution: Long in, Brian out; McCaskill in, Rapinoe out
71' Pugh takes a shot wide.
68' Espinoza commits a foul
United States 4 - 1 Mexico
64' Mexico GOALLLLLLLL! Katie Johnson collects the ball off a beautiful flick and easily chips Naeher.
60' Alex Morgan is offside.
59' Calderon fouled by Lloyd.
57' Mexico Substitution: Murillo in, Mejia out
United States 4 - 0 Mexico
54' USA GOOALLLLLLLL!! Lindsey Horan collects the ball and puts it into the box to the feet of Lloyd who scores just seconds after entering the game.
54' USA Substitution: Lloyd in, Sullivan out
United States 3 - 0 Mexico
53' USA GOALLLLL! Morgan takes an absolute ripper of a shot and it bounds in off the inside of the side post. A perfectly placed shot.
United States 2 - 0 Mexico
51' USA Goal. Henninger guesses right and gets a hand on the ball, but Morgan's shot has too much pace and finds the back of the net.
50' Morgan is touched from behind and goes down easily in the box. It's a touchy foul, but it gives the USA a penalty kick. Morgan will take her own PK.
49' Rapinoe takes a corner, but it doesn't provide much of an opportunity to be directed onto frame.
46' The second half begins!
Mexico Substitutions (HT) : Espinoza in, Flores out; Calderon in, Ferral out
Tournament of Nations will be held July 26 - July 2. Not sure if those dates were already out there.
Halftime!
45+2' Horan takes a shot, but it is always wide. The half ends when the ball goes out of play.
45+1' Rapinoe tries to shoot on the corner, but the ball finds the top of the net.
45' USA corner kick and we will have one minute of stoppage time.
42' Ciara (MEX) takes down Horan and the USA takes a free kick, but it comes to nothing.
40' Dahlkemper attacked the ball through the back of the Mexican player giving Mexico another dangerous free-kick opportunity. The free kick is weak and Naeher catches the ball.
37' Morgan collects a pass and takes a shot, but Henninger saves it.
35' Ocampo took a corner and Naeher completely whiffed the cross. Luckily for the USA there was nobody there to redirect it on frame for Mexico.
34' In this lull, we've noticed that Becky Sauerbrunn and Hallie Mace are warming up. The defense has looked suspect over the last few minutes.
28' Pugh gets the ball into the box, but Henninger controls the ball.
27' Ocampo takes a hard shot with the US defense off-kilter, but she sends it high. Probably should have been a goal.
26' Morgan beats a few defenders, then sends the ball on the ground to Rapinoe, but she misses wide with her shot.
25' Pugh sends a cross in the the 6-yard box, but Morgan can't get the ball into the net.
21' Foul committed by Mayor (MEX)
19' Sullivan (US) takes down Johnson (MEX) from 24 yards out, but the dangerous free kick by Ocampo is over the bar.
18' Morgan is fouled by Ferral.
17' Flores comes back on.
13' Horan takes a no-look shot, but the ball connects with the face of Mexico #5, Monica Flores. She goes off to get cleaned up.
9' A good response from Mexico. They build three good attacks but have come away empty so far.
United States 1 - 0 Mexico
6' Rapinoe collects a through ball from Morgan and pushes the ball to the right to Pugh around the goalkeeper. Pugh scores an easy goal.
4' Another dangerous moment for the USA, but Sullivan takes a weak shot off target.
3' Horan collects the ball in the box, but she loses possession.
2' Rapinoe slips the ball in to Brian, but she can't beat Henninger with the shot.
0' The USA starts with the ball and we're underway!
It's nice to see that Alex Morgan has overcome the concussion she suffered in the first week of the NWSL season.
The players are on the field and the national anthems of Mexico and the United States are playing.
Sofia Huerta, who played for Mexico against the United States in 2013, is not suited up for the USWNT. She won't be available to play tonight.
Both NWSL players (Bianca Henninger in goal and Katie Johnson at forward) are starting for Mexico tonight.
Mexico Starting XI: Henninger; Sierra, Mejia, Flores, Robles; Nieto, Palacios, Ferral, Mayor; Johnson, Ocampo
Interesting decisions by head coach Jill Ellis here. It almost looks like a 3-back system. Davidson, Dahlkemper, and Sonnett are all traditionally center backs, and Dunn can play a winger position with her strong attacking abilities. On the front side, both Pugh and Rapinoe work hard on offense and defense. It looks like the goal was to put as much talent as possible on the field without worrying about filling prescriped positions. I like that strategy.
United States Starting XI: Naeher; Davidson, Dahlkemper, Dunn, Sonnett; Sullivan, Horan, Brian; Morgan, Rapinoe, Pugh
Happy game day, ladies and gentlemen! Kickoff is about 30 minutes away in Jacksonville, FL! Let's take a look at the starting lineups from the two teams.
Be sure to check back in for preiodic updates leading up to the game and minute-by-minute action once the game commences!
Prediction: Despite the rash of injuries, the United States should be more than capable of holding their own in this match. The United States is the top team in the world for a reason, and the players should be relatively in form after starting the club season in the NWSL. I think the defense will be lacking on the flanks, but the offense should be ready to roll leading to a 3-1 final scoreline.
The Match will be held at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida at 7:00 pm ET. The game will be broadcast on FS1.
The United States will attempt to continue their strong start to 2018. They claimed victories over Denmark, Germany, and England while earning a draw against France. The USWNT has outscored their opponents 8-2 during that stretch, but the extremely high injury count will limit the value of the coming games. Head coach Jill Ellis has played goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher for the full time in all four matches so far this season despite calling three or four goalkeepers into each camp. Naeher has allowed four goals in the two NWSL matches played this season.
From two days out, the most interesting storyline is the career progression of Sofia Huerta. In 2013, Huerta played for Mexico against the United States, but she opted to sit out the next five years to allow her eligibility to reset. Now, Huerta is poised to play for the United States against Mexico instead. The match in 2013 finished 7-0 in favor of the United States.
The Mexico women's national team has had a respectable start to their 2018 campaign. They beat Latvia, Jordan, and Poland at the 2018 Turkish Cup before losing to France's B-team in the final. Mexico is hoping to get a solid pair of warm-up games in advance of the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship in October. The top three finishers in that tournament will advance to the 2019 Women's World Cup in France, and the fourth-place team will have a play-in opportunity against the third-best finisher in the 2018 Copa América Femenina tournament to determine the WWC participants from South America. Mexico has advanced to the WWC three times and is currently ranked 25th in the FIFA Women's Rankings.That rank is third in the CONCACAF region behind the United States (1st) and Canada (4th).
The USWNT will be vastly different despite the last meeting occurring just two years ago. Just three starters from that match, midfielders Carli Lloyd and Lindsey Horan and forward Crystal Dunn, are available for the game on Thursday. Many of the missing players are currently injured. Sam Mewis, Tobin Heath, Alex Morgan, Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelley O'Hara, Casey Short and Julie Ertz are all dealing with individual injuries. None of the aforementioned players participated in the last weekend of National Women's Soccer League play for their respective teams and will not be available for the upcoming matches against Mexico.
The United States and Mexico have not faced off in women's soccer since 2016 when the USWNT won a tight 1-0 contest in Frisco, Texas during the 2016 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The lone goal of the match was scored by Carli Lloyd in the 80th minute of play. The United States is 32-1-1 in their history against Mexico.
Welcome to live coverage of the international friendly match between the United States women's national team as they face off against the Mexico women's national team at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. My name is Aaron Bellamy and I am excited to bring you minute-by-minute coverage of the match here on VAVEL USA. From now until the game kicks off on Thursday, April 5th at 7:00 pm ET, news and notes about the game will be posted here to keep you up to date, and make sure to come back at kick off for LIVE updates!