LAST TIME OUT

The USA and Brazil haven’t met since a pair of friendlies in October of 2015 during the USA’s Victory Tour following its triumph at the Women’s World Cup in Canada. The USA drew the first game, 1-1, in Seattle, and then won 3-1 in Orlando, which was the most recent meeting between the teams. The win marked the USA’s first victory in its last four meetings with Brazil after falling 3-2 and drawing 0-0 in Brazil in December of 2014.

The 1-1 tie on Oct. 21, 2015, was played in front of a record crowd of 23,603 at CenturyLink Field. The crowd was the largest for a WNT match played in the state of Washington. Prior to the match, Shannon Boxx was honored for her legendary career with the WNT. She retired after 12 years with the WNT with two Olympic gold medals and the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup title.

Brazil got on the scoreboard first with a goal from Monica in just the third minute. The USA tied the match in the 85th minute, when Meghan Klingenberg beat a pair of defenders to get into the Brazil box and sent in a cross that Carli Lloyd hammered home.

Four days later, the WNT faced Brazil on the opposite coast, this time at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. A huge crowd of 32,869 fans attended, marking the largest stand-alone crowd to watch a USA friendly in the state of Florida.

During the match, defender Lori Chalupny and midfielder Lauren Holiday played in their final matches for the WNT and were honored before the game. Both retired as World Cup and Olympic champions, and as two of the most successful players to put on the USA jersey, earning 106 and 133 caps, respectively.

It was a fast-paced, end-to-end match that saw Brazil control the play for significant parts of the game, but it was the United States that got on the scoreboard first. In the ninth minute, Alex Morgan received a perfect through pass from Tobin Heath on the left side, ran past the defense, rounded the goalkeeper and slotted it home.

Nearing the end of the first half, Brazil got its equalizer when Cristiane received a nice slip pass from Marta in the right side of the penalty box. The USA mounted an immediate response to regain the lead three minutes later when a point-blank header from Lindsey Horan was blocked by Brazil goalkeeper Luciana but rebounded to Crystal Dunn, who finished through traffic with her right foot for the 2-1 U.S. advantage. Stephanie McCaffrey, who was making her USWNT debut, added another score in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage, volleying home a perfect Megan Rapinoe cross from the left side for the final score.