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USA vs. Spain, 2019 World Cup: Final Score 2-1 as Underperforming U.S. Scrapes Out Win

Published

7 years ago

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The United States Women’s National Team needed two penalties to advance from the World Cup Round of 16, beating Spain 2–1 in a hard-fought but unconvincing victory that won’t have built any confidence in the U.S. camp. Two Megan Rapinoe strikes from the spot were just enough to set up a giant quarterfinal match-up against host nation France on Friday in Paris at the Parc des Princes at 3 p.m. ET.

In the second-ever meeting between the USWNT and Spain, after having played out a 1–0 U.S. win back in January, Jill Ellis made one change from the 2–0 group stage victory over Sweden, with Julie Ertz returning in midfield at the expense of Lindsey Horan.

Having seen quarterfinal opponents France narrowly squeeze past Brazil in extra time last night, the U.S. had its own warning shot fired directly into the face, quite literally, in the opening 60 seconds. A cross from the left ended up fizzing out to Patricia Guijarro — one of 10 players in the Spain squad to play their club soccer at Barcelona — on the edge of the box. Guijarro struck first time only to find Becky Sauerbrunn putting her head on the line to block the early effort.

Tobin Heath’s first foray into the box ended in her being tripped to earn the U.S. a penalty — the 20th awarded at the 2019 tournament — that was clinically dispatched to Sandra Paños’ right with the Barcelona goalkeeper guessing the opposite way.

The lead didn’t last long with Spain hitting back two minutes later, capitalizing on some slack interplay between goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher and Sauerbrunn on the edge of the area. Having been sold short, Lucía García took advantage of Naeher’s lazy pass and picked the pocket of the Utah Royals defender before finding Jennifer Hermoso, the leading Spanish goalscorer in this squad and the nation’s fourth all-time. “Jenni,” as she’s more commonly known, scored her third goal of the tournament, beautifully lifting the ball over Naeher and inch perfect into top right-hand corner. The ninth-minute strike was the first the U.S. had conceded at the World Cup.

The game continued to stretch with Rose Lavelle slicing a probing through ball in behind the Spanish back line to the onrushing Rapinoe in the 13th minute, an early nomination for pass of the competition. Rapinoe tried to tuck a shot inside the near post, forcing a low save from Paños.

The U.S. continued to probe, with Crystal Dunn sending a couple of long balls over the top for Rapinoe to chase — an outlet continually tested throughout much of the first half — before more Heath wing play once again caused panic in the Spanish penalty area in the 17th minute, with the defenders seemingly scared to make a challenge and give away another penalty. Heath found Rapinoe but Spain had enough bodies back to block the shot and eventually hack the ball out of danger.

Meanwhile, at the other end, Naeher’s nervy game continued as she first clumsily tried to connect with Dunn under pressure before unconvincingly opting to come out and head away another probing long ball. Warm conditions in Reims in northeastern France gave need for a hydration break on the half-hour mark, giving Spain an opportunity to substitute playmaker Vicky Losada, who had continued to struggle following a nasty knock to the head that left her with a swollen eye in the opening 10 minutes.

With Spain forced into a tactical change of shape, Hermoso dropping deeper, the U.S. took a stronger hold of midfield but struggled to carve out the opportunity to regain them the lead. A nifty one-two between Rapinoe and Sam Mewis looked to have once again sprung Rapinoe down the left wing but Marta Corredara made the most out of some incidental contact around her face that ended with Rapinoe in the book.

Halftime saw the U.S. head in at the break without a lead for the first time at this year’s tournament, despite the Yanks’ 62% possession and out-shooting their European opponents, 6-2. Orlando Pride’s Alex Morgan had been well marshaled throughout the first 45 while both Sauerbrunn and Abby Dahlkemper were forced into last gasp blocks as Spain continued to hold its own.

The Yanks started the opening minutes of the second half strong but were nearly caught on the counter as Spain came out at the break with a lower defensive line. It gave a chance for Morgan to drop deep and collect more of the ball in space, earning more touches in the opening 10 minutes of the second half than she did the entire first, drawing Spain into some cynical fouls.

Despite dominating possession, Heath, Lavelle, and Mewis were all forced into taking aim from range as the USWNT struggled to make anything happen, creatively speaking, in front of an increasingly physical Spanish defense. Lavelle just about came closest to hitting the target.

Spain’s best chance since the goal came at the 63rd minute mark. Left fullback Leila Ouahabi switched a cross-field ball out to García before Guijarro fired a shot off, beating Naeher but failing to find the right side of the post.

Having continued to struggle to fashion an opening, the U.S. break came in the 71st minute, when the Yanks were awarded their second penalty of the game: Dunn found Morgan with her back to goal before an onrushing Lavelle was sent to the deck courtesy a loose leg from Spain’s defensive midfielder Virginia Torrecilla. As has become the norm at this tournament, there was a lengthy VAR check before the decision was confirmed and Rapinoe, who had taken the ball from Morgan during the VAR delay, buried home six minutes after the penalty was initially awarded, picking out exactly the same spot as her first. This time Paños guessed right but was beaten by the pace and placement of the strike.

With the tournament on the line, Spain made two changes, bringing on attackers Andrea Falcón and Mariona Caldentey, as La Roja pushed forward in numbers and searched for another equalizer. Ellis made her first change in the 86th minute, replacing Morgan who had been largely been shut down by Spain, with Carli Lloyd.

As Spain continued to commit forward, Heath found herself with a two-on-two alongside the fresh-legged Lloyd with a chance to put the game to bed but couldn’t find a way past Ouahabi.

Looking to see out the game, Ellis made her second substitution, turning to Horan to shore up the midfield in place of Lavelle. And that is what largely happened, as more than seven minutes of stoppage time ticked by with little in the shape of a Spain chance — the USWNT’s European counterparts left chasing shadows in the early evening sun. Rapinoe, ever-present in the U.S. attack, was the final change in the 95th minute, making way for Christen Press.

A last gasp punt forward drew half-hearted jeers and appeals from the Spanish supporting sections of the crowd when Mewis challenged for the second ball from behind — a nervy moment for those of an American disposition in the age of VAR — but the referee waved play on before shortly blowing for full time.

It’s knockout soccer and getting the win is the most important thing but Spain ran the U.S. close today. Nobody will be happy at the lack of offensive threat or creativity from the team and the game also finally saw the inevitable defensive breakdown at the other end, courtesy of some slack playing out of the back by Naeher, who put her defense in a bad position. The United States will have to be much better to reach the semifinal finals, given that the victory today has set up a true heavyweight clash in the quarterfinals against hosts France, the number three ranked team in the world, in the French capital’s Parc des Princes stadium on Friday.

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. San Jose Earthquakes: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

Orlando City restarts its 2026 MLS campaign late tonight out west at San Jose.

Published

2 weeks ago

on

July 22, 2026

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Image of Braian Ojeda taking a shot in a friendly against FC Dallas.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Justin Glatt

Welcome to your match thread for a late night midweek matchup tonight between Orlando City (4-9-2, 14 points) and the San Jose Earthquakes (10-3-2, 32 points) at PayPal Park (10:30 p.m., Apple TV). This is the only scheduled meeting between the teams in 2026 and the first time the teams have met since 2024.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of tonight’s match.

History

Orlando City is 3-1-3 in the previous seven MLS meetings with the Quakes since the club joined Major League Soccer in 2015. The Lions got their only away win in the series in the last meeting and enter tonight 1-1-2 on the road against San Jose.

The teams last met on May 18, 2024, with Jack Lynn coming off the bench to score the game’s only goal. Lynn’s strike in the 89th minute broke the scoreless deadlock and lifted the Lions to a 1-0 victory.

The teams met in Orlando most recently way back on June 22, 2021, with the Lions beating the Quakes down, 5-0. Orlando got things started with an early penalty kick goal by Nani, followed by braces from Benji Michel and Daryl Dike to easily put the game away. The lasting memory from the game is Michel’s celebratory dance wearing a cowboy hat that came out of the stands.

Prior to that Orlando City romp, the last time the teams met was on Aug. 31, 2019 when the Lions got freight trained 3-0 at Avaya Stadium, giving the Quakes their first win in the series. San Jose’s offense came via a Chris Wondolowski brace and an early opening goal by Magnus Eriksson. Orlando looked flat and weary out of the gate.

The Lions were victorious in Exploria Stadium in the 2018 meeting on April 21, a 3-2 Orlando win. It was the first win in the series for either side after three straight draws. Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, and Dom Dwyer gave the Lions a 3-0 lead before Florian Jungwirth pulled two back in the game’s late stages.

The Lions led all of the first three matches in the second half only to see San Jose pull level, with two of those tying goals coming late. In the 2017 meeting, Carlos Rivas finally broke the scoreless tie and gave Orlando City the lead in the 81st minute, but Wondolowski spoiled the Lions’ night with an equalizer two minutes later as the teams drew at Avaya Stadium, 1-1.

In 2016, the Lions were gut-punched in the 94th minute in an emotional match that ended in a 2-2 draw. It was the first home match following the Pulse nightclub tragedy and what appeared to be a storybook ending to a cathartic win turned sour on a last-gasp equalizer by Shea Salinas. Seb Hines — now the Orlando Pride’s head coach — opened the scoring for Orlando, only to see Chad Barrett tie it up. Julio Baptista restored the lead in stoppage time, but Salinas ruined everything.

The two teams also drew in the first meeting, a 1-1 affair at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, with the Lions down to 10 men after Brek Shea was sent off in the first half. Kaká and Wondolowski each scored from the penalty spot four minutes apart in that initial meeting.

Overview

The teams meet tonight to get their post-World Cup portion of the season started. Orlando City has been terrible on the road all season long, keeping only one MLS opponent under two goals all year away from home and allowing five goals twice (at New York City FC and Nashville) and six goals twice (at LAFC and in the team’s most recent match away at FC Cincinnati just before the break).

Orlando City is a putrid 1-6-1 on the road this season, and now the Lions must face the Western Conference co-leaders tonight before coming home to face Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville SC at home on Saturday. They’ll have to play at least tonight’s game without Martin Ojeda, who is out with a thigh injury sustained some time between his first-half goal a week ago in a friendly against FC Dallas and the time the availability report dropped on Tuesday.

But it isn’t all bad news for the Lions, who should have both Antoine Griezmann and Dike in the lineup. Griezmann was the club’s highly prized and widely publicized summer Designated Player signing, while Dike’s return to Orlando came together more recently, following his departure from West Bromwich Albion. They’ll help the club’s offense, but the attack hasn’t been the issue in 2026 — it’s been the historically porous defense, which is on pace to shatter the MLS record for goals conceded.

Meanwhile, San Jose is one of the first half of the season’s biggest surprises, as the Quakes have been outstanding in 2026. Scoring 34 goals while conceding just 15, San Jose is among the league leaders in goals scored (tied for third), goals conceded (third), and goal differential (+19, third).

The Earthquakes are 4-2-1 at home and are coming off a 3-1 road win at Portland in their last game prior to the World Cup break. San Jose boasts Golden Boot challenger Preston Judd, who leads the Quakes with 11 goals, adding two assists in his 15 appearances. Ousseni Bouda has chipped in five goals and three assists. Niko Tsakiris leads the team with seven assists to go along with his two goals, but he’s still recovering from a lower body injury and is not available tonight. However, the arrival of Timo Werner (four goals and five assists in just seven games) has truly elevated Bruce Arena’s Quakes, and he’ll need to be one of the main focal points for the Orlando defense.

To have any shot at taking something from this game, the Lions will need to play better road defense than they have all season. Orlando can score goals, but with Ojeda out, Griezmann will need to adapt quickly, and someone other than the team’s leading scorer will need to find the net.

The Lions will play without Ojeda (thigh), Joran Gerbet (knee), Nolan Miller (knee), Colin Guske (international duty), and Clovis Archage (international duty). In addition, Marco Pasalic may or may not have returned to the team after the World Cup. He was not in training Monday, although interim head coach Martin Perelman said he expected the Croatian back soon. The Earthquakes will be without Nonso Adimabua (lower body), former Lion Earl Edwards Jr. (lower body), DeJuan Jones (lower body), and Tsakiris (you guessed it, lower body…come on, San Jose).

Match Content

Official Lineups:

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Adrian Marin, David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Griffin Dorsey.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Tiago.

Forwards: Justin Ellis, Antoine Griezmann.

Bench: Javier Otero, Bernardo Rhein, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi, Iago, Wilder Cartagena, Luis Otavio, Harvey Sarajian, Tyrese Spicer

San Jose Earthquakes (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Angus Gunn.

Defenders: Jamar Ricketts, Reid Roberts, Daniel Munie, Benjamin Kikanovic.

Defensive Midfielders: Beau Lerouox, Ronaldo Vieira.

Attacking Midfielders: Timo Werner, Nick Fernandez, Ousseni Bouda.

Forwards: Preston Judd.

Bench: Jonathan Gonzalez, Dave Romney, Paul Marie, Jack Skahan, Jack Jasinski, Ian Harkes, Francesco Montali, Max Floriani, Darius Johnson.

Referees

REF: Elijio Arreguin.
AR1: Adam Wienckowski.
AR2: Mike Nickerson.
4TH: Timothy Ford.
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.

How to Watch

Match Time: 10:30 p.m.

Venue: PayPal Park — San Jose, CA.

TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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Podcasts

PawedCast Episode 542: Tampa Bay Friendly, McGuire Traded, OCB Beats Cincinnati, and More

Lions maul the Rowdies in friendly action, OCB wins on the road, and it’s transfer season.

Published

3 weeks ago

on

July 14, 2026

By

Image of Antoine Griezmann and Ivan Angulo celebrating a goal in a friendly against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City welcomed I-4 Derby rival Tampa Bay to Inter&Co Stadium for a friendly match on Wednesday and then proceeded to bludgeon the Rowdies with a couple of hammers named Antoine Griezmann and Justin Ellis. The two attackers combined for a goal and four assists in a 6-0 beatdown of the team from the Gulf Coast, with five different Lions scoring and Griffin Dorsey forcing an own goal. We discuss Griezmann’s first minutes with Orlando City, what the team showed in its formation, and how good Justin Ellis’ vision is.

Oh, and it’s also transfer season now. Duncan McGuire is on his way out and Marco Pasalic reportedly will follow soon, while a new left back may be headed from Spain to Orlando.

Following all of that, we discuss Maxime Crepeau being added to the MLS All-Star Team and the announcement that he’ll participate in the 2026 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge.

Our mailbagbox asked us about which World Cup semifinalist players we’d want to join Orlando this season (if we could only pick one), and more. Remember, if there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the show, just ask us by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC, or hitting us up on Bluesky Social with that same hashtag.

After the mailbagbox, we dive into OCB’s 2-1 road win at FC Cincinnati 2. It wasn’t the prettiest game by the Young Lions, but they managed to do enough to earn three points on the road, where they’ll stay to face Chattanooga on Saturday. We briefly preview that game.

Finally, Orlando City will be in Dallas Wednesday for the second of two friendlies leading up to the restart of the MLS season. It’s unlikely we’ll get a lot of details about that one, but we’ll see what happens. Maybe the FC Dallas folks will help us out.

Be sure to rate and review our show wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, we’ll read any five-star reviews we get on Apple Podcasts on the next show.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how No. 542 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City crushed the Rowdies, the transfer season is in full swing, plus: hey now, Crepeau’s an all-star.

28:50 – The mailbagbox is always good for a hypothetical scenario.

36:54 – The Young Lions slipped past Cincy and head to Chattanooga, while the senior Lions head to Dallas.

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Podcasts

SkoPurp Soccer Episode 119: International Break, USWNT, Louisville Preview, and More

The Pride return from a long international break looking to get their first-ever road win against Racing Louisville.

Published

3 months ago

on

April 22, 2026

By

Image of Haley McCutcheon scoring the opening goal in Orlando's home playoff win over Seattle.
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

It feels like months since the Orlando Pride last took the field, but the calendar says otherwise. If you believe calendars, it’s only been a little less than three weeks, but time moves strangely in the post-pandemic apocalyptic world.

Anyway, we don’t have a match to recap, so we touched on a couple of Pride players putting the ball in the net during the international break and chat a bit about the United States Women’s National Team’s three-game friendly series against Japan. Emma Hayes used a lot of players, and the team looked solid for two of the three matches, but the rotated middle game seemed a bit disjointed. Hayes has greatly expanded the player pool and will have plenty of options when the World Cup approaches.

Our mailbagbox had questions about a potential change in the NWSL schedule, as the league explores adopting the fall-to-spring slate, and opposition own goals. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We’d also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we’ll find them easily and read them on the show.

After the mailbagbox, we turned our attention toward Friday’s late afternoon tussle with Racing Louisville in Kentucky. The Pride have never won on the road against Louisville, and it’s about high time they did. This match begins a congested push to the June World Cup break, and although Friday’s hosts aren’t high in the table, the Pride must be at their best to get a road result in this fixture. We look back at the series history, compare the two sides, provide our key matchups in the game, and make our final score predictions.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 119 went down:

0:15 – We open the show with a little banter about the Pride in the international break and the USWNT’s series vs. Japan.

9:03 – The mailbagbox features questions via both eletronic mail and social media. We welcome all modes of delivery.

19:59 – The Pride travel to Louisville to face Racing. They’ve never won in Kentucky, but we inform them how to do so.

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