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After walking a mile uphill to the match yesterday, my legs, like Rapinoe’s after her 200th cap, have earned a rest. I’m Emily Olsen, here with Meg Linehan and Steph Yang — welcome to Full Time!
USWNT Wins World Cup Opener
What we learned from the 3-0 win over Vietnam
When FIFA announced it would expand the Women’s World Cup to 32 teams, there were concerns that it would cause too many lopsided scores as developing soccer nations were added. The U.S.’s opener against Vietnam eased those worries – the rest of the world, not just France, England, or Japan, is catching up too. And that’s a good thing.
The U.S. missed plenty of chances it should have converted in its 3-0 win Saturday, but Vietnam never looked like a team that was going to let the score run up against them. Goalkeeper Thi Kim Tran faced 28 shots with seven on target, and just three went in.
The USWNT starting lineup featured six players making their World Cup debuts, with an average age of 27.8 years, making it the youngest lineup to start a World Cup match for the USWNT since 2007.
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