LYON, France—The U.S. women’s soccer team has moved through the World Cup with a superstar-loaded roster, a No. 1 world ranking and the 2015 title on its resume. But one question loomed: Did its goalkeeper measure up?
On Tuesday, Alyssa Naeher answered.
Naeher’s diving save of England captain Steph Houghton’s penalty kick in the 84th minute preserved a 2-1 U.S. lead and sealed the victory to send the Americans to Sunday’s World Cup final. They will play the winner of Wednesday’s match between Sweden and the Netherlands.
“I mean, she saved our ass in that moment,” U.S. forward Alex Morgan said.
Naeher also made a crucial save in the first half, blocking a long shot by Keira Walsh in the 33rd minute. Naeher handled 10 shots, four on goal, in the game.
“I’m glad that she had her moment,” said U.S. defender Becky Sauerbrunn, whose foul set up the penalty kick that Naeher saved. Sauerbrunn added that Naeher had always been strong and that she was happy “for the world to know how good she is.”
Naeher’s star turn underscored the lack of weaknesses on this team, which has the world’s best scoring attack and peerless depth. The U.S. won on Tuesday without star Megan Rapinoe, who sat out with a minor hamstring injury. She said after the game that she thinks she will be ready for the final.
Naeher worked her way into the U.S.’s top goalkeeping spot after the departure from the team of Hope Solo. Naeher was on the 2015 World Cup roster but didn’t play a minute.
Where Solo was brash and outspoken, Naeher speaks briefly and plainly. Where Solo courted the spotlight, Naeher is happy to fade into the scenery.
“You can see when she’s getting off the national-team bus and the cameras are on her, she’s like hiding behind bags,” said Paul DelloStritto, a youth goalkeeper coach who trained Naeher for years in her home state of Connecticut.
Naeher favors a quiet morning routine that includes coffee and The Wall Street Journal crossword puzzle. Growing up, her family and Christian faith were among the only things that could divert her attention from soccer.
DelloStritto recalled a rare time Naeher couldn’t make it to training, and her explanation delivered with a crestfallen look. Her excuse: “My family has to do a barn-raising in Pennsylvania.”
A soft-spoken personality off the field is one thing. Some fans and observers worried that on the field, Naeher lacked the big-game chops to follow in Solo’s footsteps.
An ominous sign came against Spain in the U.S.’s first World Cup knockout-round game. In the ninth minute Naeher passed to Sauerbrunn, who didn’t realize Spain players were converging on her and the goal. Spain nicked the ball and Jennifer Hermoso fired it past Naeher to tie the game, 1-1.
It was the first goal Naeher had conceded in this World Cup. The U.S. needed a penalty-kick conversion by Rapinoe in the game to win.
But Naeher was strong against host team France on Friday in the pulsating, packed Parc des Princes quarterfinal in Paris. And she was masterful in Lyon on Tuesday in another big stadium with another rising European power, England, firing away.
“Just tried to stay focused, take a few deep breaths and focus,” Naeher said. “Tried to get a good jump on it, tried to get a good read, and hoped to make a save—and was able to do that.”
On Tuesday, Naeher’s preparation shone through. She guessed correctly on the penalty save, diving to her right to collapse on the ball just as Houghton kicked left. It wasn’t a lucky guess. U.S. goalkeepers practice saving penalty kicks daily—and even taking them, should the need arise—on top of extensive video study of their opponents’ tendencies.
Asked if all that study meant the U.S. goalkeepers knew where Houghton was likely to shoot, backup goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris played coy.
“I’m not going to tell you that,” she said. “But there’s a lot of research that goes into knowing what side people go to.”
One of the challenges of playing in goal for the U.S. is that its goalkeepers are rarely tested. In the three group-stage games of the World Cup, Naeher needed make only a total of four saves. In the game against Chile she scarcely saw the ball.
But on Tuesday when the U.S. needed her, Naeher delivered.
“As a goalkeeper on this team, you know that you’ll have to make one impactful save that’ll change the game,” Harris said. “Tonight she made two.”
—Joshua Robinson contributed to this article.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-goalkeeper-rejects-a-penalty-kickand-questions-about-her-skill-11562153836
2019-07-03 11:37:00Z
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