U.S. women blow out Costa Rica in Heinz Field friendly
The Women's World Cup champions played like champions, and the hometown star had her perfect homecoming.
Pine-Richland grad Meghan Klingenberg joined in on an American goal blitz, and the U.S. women's national team blew out Costa Rica, 8-0, on Sunday at Heinz Field in its first match on U.S. soil since winning the World Cup in Canada.
The game kicked off the team's Victory Tour, but nothing sparked a celebration as loud as Klingenberg's goal that made the score 5-0 early in the second half.
Usually a defender, Klingenberg played the second half on the left side of the midfield, and in the 56th minute, she got her left boot onto a Tobin Heath cross for a one-touch goal into the left side of the net.
“I think that was just a great team goal,” Klingenberg said. “We kind of brought it around to the sideline. I think (Ali) Krieger played it in to Tobin, (and) Tobin picked her head up and found me on a run in the box. She played a perfect ball in to me.”
The applause for Klingenberg's third career international goal only got louder when she ran to the bench in celebration to grab a Terrible Towel from U.S. coach Jill Ellis and wave it for the Pittsburgh crowd.
“We're always going to try to win and try to score goals and put on the best show we can for our crowd, but I think part of that was giving back to the Pittsburgh crowd today,” said forward Christian Press, who had a hat trick. “I'm sure when (Heath) looked up and saw Meghan in the box, she was going to hit that one straight on target.”
The match was played in front of a crowd of 44,028, which set records for the largest soccer crowd in Pittsburgh and the largest crowd for a single friendly match for the women's team. Pittsburgh's previous largest crowd was 34,347 to see Manchester City defeat AC Milan, 5-1, on July 27, 2014, at Heinz Field.
It was the 10th-largest crowd for any U.S. women's match on home soil, which includes the 1999 Women's World Cup played in the U.S.
“I've constantly heard that we've gained more fans through the World Cup,” Ellis said. “To play in front of a crowd like this, I don't have to worry about the players getting motivated for games when they've got that much energy in the stands. It's huge.”
It took less than four minutes for the U.S. to open the scoring, when Heather O'Reilly created a turnover from the left side of the Costa Rican defense and beat goalkeeper Dinnia Diaz with a near-post shot.
O'Reilly scored a second goal, and Julie Johnston and Whitney Engen also found the net for the U.S., which led 4-0 at halftime.
“I said to them at halftime, that was a really professional first half,” Ellis said. “(The fans) like to see goals, and this is a celebration. We've got 10 games (on the Victory Tour), and we've got good opponents on the schedule. Costa Rica's a World Cup team, but in terms of making it exciting, I think fans love goals.”
Costa Rica, which drew with Spain and South Korea in its World Cup debut this year, stayed in a defensive formation all match, usually with five or six players forming the back line. Its only threatening moment came early in the second half, when Karla Villalobos broke away from the U.S. defense, only to have her shot saved wide by charging goalkeeper Hope Solo, who entered as a halftime substitute.
The U.S. fielded a strong lineup that included World Cup hero Carli Lloyd and former Penn State star Ali Krieger. All-time U.S. goal scoring leader Abby Wambach entered the match as a substitute for Lloyd in the 54th minute.
Matt Grubba is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at mgrubba@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Grubba_Trib.
