The U.S. women's national team rolled to another win over Portugal on Tuesday despite playing without a host of the team's star names as Carli Lloyd scored twice in a 2-0 victory.
Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and Rose Lavelle were all out of action for the match, with Jill Ellis turning to veteran star Lloyd to lead the line alongside Tobin Heath and Jessica McDonald.
The first of the night from Lloyd came 22 minutes in amid a scramble in the box as Portugal failed to clear the lines.
An attempted clearance that actually went backwards ended up, after a few other wayward bounces, falling at the feet of Lloyd to put home.
Her second of the night came from the penalty spot just after the half-hour mark.
Heath's cut in from the left saw he tripped on the edge of the area, and it was 37-year-old Lloyd who stepped up and put away her 81st goal for the USWNT.
Ellis made a number of changes at the half, including replacing Heath with Christen Press, and it showed in a second half that lacked some cohesion.
The USWNT continued to dominate much of the match, controlling possession and creating a few scoring chances, but wouldn’t add the third until late on.
A corner from Press found Lindsey Horan open for a fine header, rounding out the scoring on the night.
The win continues an impressive year for the USWNT, which has not tasted defeat since its first match of 2019, a 3-1 loss to France back in January, with the side having claimed another World Cup title this summer.
While little was riding on the match, Tuesday’s win did hold a bit of historical significance for Ellis.
Having won back-to-back Women’s World Cup titles, she has now tied Tony DiCicco for the most wins all-time as USWNT manager with 105.
