Here’s Caitlin Murray’s match report from Vancouver:
Thank you for bearing with me tonight on my initial live blog. Many of you sent some fine comments by email and I apologize for failing to pass along your words. I have to fine-tune my live blogging skills. I will try to have some funny comments on hand so you can laugh with me instead of at me. Good night, everyone.
My apologies for neglecting the Australia-Sweden score. That match finished 1-1.
By winning Group D the U.S. will move on to the Group of 16 in Edmonton on Monday.
Game over. U.S. wins 1-0
This was a solid effort from the United States who definitely came out more aggressive than it did against Sweden. Nigeria did a nice job withstanding the initial American charge but was unable to seize some control of the match when it was there to be taken.
90+3: This match is winding toward its conclusion. Nigeria is complaining that the U.S. is taking too much time getting the ball back in after going out of bounds. The complaint is a valid one.
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87 min. Nigeria seems sluggish. While the Americans are playing much slower than they were at the start of the game, Nigeria appears to be worn down. This is a young team, playing in front of a heavy U.S. crowd, down a player. A lot to ask to mount a comeback now.
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84 min. Television gives the first shots of Nigerian fans in the stands. So many of the images from this match have come of the American crowd.
81 min. This match seems to have settled into a lull. Nigeria has not been able to mount much of a threat the last few minutes but this is probably due to the fact it is a player short. The U.S. appears to be playing much more of a defensive game up a goal and a player.
79 min. Christie Rampone is in for the U.S. Hard to imagine she is only a few days from her 40th birthday.
75 min. Telecast notes that Wambach appears to be exhausted but there is no sign she is coming out. It appears to be a nice but not overly warm day in Vancouver. Humidity is usually incredibly low there.
73 min. Another good attempt for Nigeria just couldn’t slip through the American players clogged in front of the goal.
73 min. Rapinoe is out, replaced by Shannon Boxx. Rapinoe helped set the aggressive American tone early in the match but she seemed a bit slower after the half.
72 min. A Nigerian shot on goal is easily picked up by Solo. It wasn’t a terribly dangerous shot but it shows how little Nigeria has been in position to score. Nonetheless, it’s still only 1-0.
Red card for Nigeria! Nnodim sent off
67 min. Nigeria’s Sarah Nnodim has been given her second yellow and is out of the game for taking out Holiday.
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66 min. Readers keep sending me jokes. I am going too fast right now to properly vet them. My first email tonight contained a highly inappropriate comment I think in the hopes that I will be careless enough to post it. My faith in the blog world is shattered.
64 min. Alex Morgan is coming out of the game to be replaced by Sydney Lereoux. Morgan gets a huge ovation from the pro-U.S. crowd. She played well, giving the Americans an early aggressiveness they lacked in the last match.
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61 min. Tremendous save by Dede on Morgan who was running in. By far the best save of the match.
Collision!
59 min. Wambach and Josephine Chukwunonye collide. Both collapse on the field holding their heads. Wambach is ready to play again and has been allowed back in. Chukwunonye is on the sideline with an ice pack on her head. She has also been giving a yellow for coming in late on the play.
55 min. Nigeria’s Oparanozie with a booming free kick that just goes over the crossbar. It’s unclear if it could have been a goal if the ball had been just slightly lower. Solo was there but the ball was spinning with some good momentum. Might have been Nigeria’s best chance so far.
52 min. More requests from readerland requesting me to be funnier. Folks I’m trying, this is my first blog and I feel like I’m running full-speed. I’m much more clever when I’m slow! But I will try to take a minute at some point and think of a good joke or two.
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49 min: Ayinde in for Nigeria. It seems to be a substitution that could have been made at half.
48 min. A question from a loving reader wonders about the pro-American tone of this live blog. A good point, this has been decidedly American-heavy. But the play has been controlled by the U.S. for most of this night.
47 min. Morgan with another open shot on the goal but Dede makes a fantastic save.
Second half starting
47 min. The U.S. picks up right where it left off with more attacks on the Nigerian goal. Morgan has an open shot from the left but she shoots wide.
More halftime thoughts: The crowd is loud and very much an American crowd. The roar after Wambach’s goal was deafening. For those geographically- challenged Vancouver is practically an American city (though is decidedly NOT American if you are there). It’s only a three-hour drive from Seattle.
Thoughts at halftime: The U.S. has been the aggressor for most of the first half of this match. The addition of Wambach and Morgan have given the Americans a faster pace than in the last match. There’s a reason they are two of the very best to play for the U.S. Tonight it shows.
Machnik showed an overhead view of the offsides call on Johnston’s early goal that was waved off. From this angle it appears she was just slightly offsides. It turns out to be the right call.
Half with U.S. up 1-0
Wambach’s score came just before the break. In case anyone is wondering she did not lay out on the turf. She was running as she left her feet and her momentum took her toward the ball, almost as if she was riding a bicycle through the air. Then she caught the ball off her toe. I believe it’s her left foot but I need to see a replay. Unfortunately there is a Buffalo Wild Wings commercial right now.
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GOAL! USA 1-0 Nigeria (Wambach 45)
Rapinoe with a cross to Wambach who leaps in the air and deflects the ball into the goal with her foot. Really spectacular play. You will see highlights of this.
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43 min. Nigeria’s Ebi gets a yellow for taking out Rapinoe on a near breakaway. Close to being a red.
42 min: U.S corner deflected away. A second corner is knocked over the goal line by the U.S. Two more missed opportunities.
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39 min: Corner was played away by Nigeria.
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38 min. Another U.S. chance deflected away by Dede. Corner for the U.S!
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37 min. Nigeria’s Nnodim is given a yellow card for a trip.
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35 min. Machnik is saying a handball against Nigeria was missed. Combined with the goal that was waved off this means two great American changes have been taken away.
34 min. Holiday setting up a free kick for the U.S.
33 min. An open shot on goal by Rapinoe was wide and deflected by Dede.
29 min: A request has been made from one of the handful of you still with this blog to add more humor to my account, but I find the gravity of the situation to be too heavy to add silliness!
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29 min: The shadows that have engulfed Solo this game have moved away as the stadium is now blocking the low Northwest sun. This will be easier for her now.
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27 min. The game is being played more and more in the Nigerian end now. U.S. appears to be off a bit on timing each time it moves toward the Nigerian goal.
25 min: The American aggressiveness has waned a bit. Nigeria appears to be gaining some confidence.
24 min. Solo and Johnston stop Oshoala’s open drive to the goal. Johnston tips the ball away as she and Solo nearly collide. A very close call for the U.S.
22 min. Something I can’t emphasize enough... Solo is standing in the field’s one bright spot -- right in front of the goal -- the rest of the field is in shadows. It’s hard to see the ball going from shadow to light on TV but it’s also hard for someone on the field to pick up the ball as it switches from darkness to bright.
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21 min: A Nigerian corner attempt is cleared away by the U.S.
20 min: Another chance for the U.S., Morgan runs in on goal but the Nigerian keeper, Dede, scoops up the ball.
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16 min. Rapinoe with a blistering shot on goal but a diving save by the Nigerian keeper.
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15 min. US continues to be the aggressor. Two more chances in the last two minutes did not yield goals but it seems only a matter of time.
12 min. Joe Machnik, former USMNT assistant coach says on TV he thought Johnston was onside on the goal that was waved off. Machnik appears frequently in my oral history on the 1990 US World Cup team (shameless plug)!
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11 min. Nice diving save by Hope Solo. It probably looks more spectacular than it needed to be but a good sprawling stop.
10 min. Another US longball. No threat to Nigeria but its more evidence of the U.S. aggressiveness.
7 min. Goal for the US is waved off! Wambach passes to Johnston who pounds the ball into the net but the score is disallowed because Johnston was offside!
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5 min. Rapinoe with a cross on the goal line but no one there and the ball rolls away.
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3 min. Free kick for the US. Rapinoe shot at the goal was wide.
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1 min. US on attack again and offsides once again, but it is clear the Americans are going to attack with a rested and healthy Wambach and Morgan.
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We are on!
U.S. on the attack immediately. Morgan just offsides as she ran in on goal.
Almost gametime. Television says Nigeria’s coach has not watched highlight tape of the American players. As with all of his team’s opponents.
5 min to gametime... The very much pro-American crowd at B.C. Place is singing the Star Spangled Banner. Very cool scene.
The two teams are making their way onto the field. Very dramatic as they walk into the contrasting darkness and light of the once-domed stadium that is now open-air. Think old Texas Stadium in Dallas.
The all-important standings and scenarios that are at play. Better to let U.S. soccer explain it than attempt to do so myself...
Reminder: Here are the Group D standings and possible #USWNT scenarios for the final game of group play. #USA pic.twitter.com/JczfWglxoI
— U.S. Soccer WNT (@ussoccer_wnt) June 16, 2015
So as anticipated, Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan are starting for the U.S. tonight.
USA XI: Solo, Sauerbrunn, Lloyd, Krieger, Holiday, Morgan, Rapinoe, Heath, Johnston, Wambach (c), Klingenberg.
Nigeria XI: Dede, Ebi, Chukwunonye, Sunday, Oshoala, Dike, Okobi, Nwabuoku (c), Ordega, Nnodim, Ebere.
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Hello everyone, welcome to the liveblog. This is my first live blog for the Guardian so please bear with me and excuse any blunders because there may well be. Feel free to email all complaints, criticisms, suggestions and insights to les.carpenter@theguardian.com and I will will race them onto the blog...as soon as I figure out how to post them. Wish me luck. Let’s have some fun.
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Les will be here shortly, in the meantime here are some thoughts on Abby Wambach’s future:
When American forward and goalscoring legend Abby Wambach assessed what was happening on the pitch at the USA’s second group game of this Women’s World Cup, she had to do it from the bench.
For only the second time in her career and the first time in 12 years, Wambach did not start in a World Cup match. Wambach didn’t come on until the 68th minute as the USA played out a scoreless draw against Sweden on Friday. They now need a point against Nigeria to be sure of qualification; Nigeria need to win.
This day was going to come eventually, but is now the right time? It depends on who you ask, but Wambach said she doesn’t mind her new role – it’s just a different challenge.
