USA vs. Argentina preview: Emma Sears' homecoming

Racing Louisville forward Emma Sears is getting a homecoming. When the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) plays Argentina on Wednesday night, the team will play at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky.

Home to Louisville City of the USL Championship and Racing Louisville of the NWSL, Lynn Family Stadium will welcome Sears who is in her first season with Racing after playing college soccer at Ohio State. She has five goals in 24 appearances at the club level, and after Sunday afternoon, she has one goal in one cap for the USWNT.

Iceland recap

It wasn’t just the Emma Sears show in Nashville on Sunday, however. The US trailed at halftime after Iceland took the lead directly from a corner kick. It was the first time the US has trailed since Emma Hayes took over as the coach. The US responded well to the new challenge in the second half.

Lynn Williams tied the game in the 72nd minute with a turning shot from seven yards away and Lindsey Horan scored the go-ahead goal just four minutes later, with a tap-in from inside the six-yard box. Sears gave the US insurance to close out the win 3-1 in stoppage time on a wonderful strike that was perfectly placed in the corner beyond the outstretched goalkeeper.

Emma Hayes wins Ballon d’Or

Emma Sears wasn’t the only one making headlines before Wednesday’s game with Argentina. Coach Emma Hayes was announced as the winner of the Ballon d’Or as the Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year after leading the USWNT to the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

For her part, Hayes tried to downplay the importance of her award.

“I think you ask any coach this question and more often than not people would say the same thing,” she said. “The thing we love the most is being part of a team. So, the individual honors part, for me, is the least interesting part. I love the team awards and winning gold medals or WSL championships.”

Hayes was also full of praise for Sears after her impressive debut.

“Emma’s form has been identified by many of us over a period so, we’ve come to expect that,” Hayes said. “But it’s not always easy when you get a debut at the top level. There’s a lot of nerves that go with that. She looked like she was having a great time. She was smiling on the touchline.”

USA vs Argentina preview

Wednesday’s game against Argentina will not be the first time these two teams have met this year. They played each other back in February at the Women’s Gold Cup, with the US winning 4-0 in Carson, California.

La Albiceleste has been having a rough go of it lately. They have qualified for the last two Women’s World Cups but have failed to get out of the group both times. Last year they managed to finish fourth at the Pan American Games. However, they lost their final three games by a combined 8-0. This year they have just three wins from eight games.

Head coach German Portanova has called up a group of 20 players for their only game of this international window. It’s a roster that is light on both experience and goalscoring. Only one player has more than 50 caps (defender Aldana Cometti) and only one player has more than 10 goals (forward Yamila Rodriguez).

Four of their 20 players are based in the US, three of which currently play college soccer: Catalina Roggerone and Anela Nigito of Cal State Bakersfield as well as Chiara Singarella of Purdue. The only player playing professionally in the US is Sophia Braun with Spokane Zephyr FC of the USL Super League.

Game Notes

Wednesday night’s game is set for a 7 PM ET kickoff from Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville. This is the first time since 2004 that the USWNT has played in Louisville, when they drew 7,525 at the University of Louisville’s college football stadium in a 1-1 draw with Japan.

Viewers can catch the game against Argentina in English on TNT and TruTV. Viewers can also watch the game in Spanish on Universo.

Photo: Imago