Last Tuesday night (11 April), I got off early from work to get to Downtown West St. Louis for a women's soccer friendly. The defending FIFA Women's World Cup Champion USA was hosting the Republic of Ireland at CITYPARK in the second of two matches. Both teams played the previous Saturday, with the Americans winning 2-0.
After finding a street parking area about four blocks from the stadium, I raced to get to CITYPARK. As I entered the stadium, both teams came out for the match. USA honored defender and captain Becky Sauerbrunn, a native of Ladue, Missouri, for her recent 200th international appearance. I saw much of this ceremony on the video monitors along the corridors. The national anthems of Ireland and USA followed this ceremony.
I found my seat in the south end of CITYPARK, a change of pace from the usual north end standing location for St. Louis CITY SC matches. The American Outlaws were in force in the supporter section.
The match began and the Americans asserted themselves early with some good possession and scoring chances. Sauerbrunn nearly scored in the 3rd minute from a header just inside the penalty area, but it hit the crossbar. It would have been quite a goal, especially as she hadn't scored in any international appearances. Sauerbrunn was substituted in the 29th minute to a standing ovation from the 22,294 fans in attendance.
The Irish responded well and asserted themselves more as the match went on. In the 43rd minute, USA defender Alana Cook--who turned 26 that day--scored her first international goal with a long ball some 40 yards (36.6 m) out that sailed over the Irish goalkeeper and into the net.
USA made several substitutions at halftime and their defense held the Irish back. At full time it was 1-0 to the hosts, with Casey Murphy earning the shutout in goal. The teams acknowledged their supporters right after the match. Both USA and Republic of Ireland will be at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this June and July.
I walked out of CITYPARK happy after seeing this match--the first international match and first women's match played at that venue.
Later.
Links to Entities Mentioned in this Post:
CITYPARK: CITYPARK | St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)
US Women's National Team: USWNT | World Cup Champions | U.S. Soccer Official Site (ussoccer.com)
Republic of Ireland Women's National Team: Football Association of Ireland (fai.ie)
American Outlaws: American Outlaws (theamericanoutlaws.com)
FIFA Women's World Cup: FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™
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