Overview
- Rose Lavelle scored 33 seconds in before Portugal equalized through a Diana Gomes header from a corner and won it when Fátima Pinto finished after another corner.
- The game was the USWNT’s first in 113 days and revealed set-piece and cohesion lapses that Hayes described as a frustrating “whack-a-mole” performance.
- Players backed the assessment, with Sam Coffey rejecting rust as an excuse and teammates noting the group played too individually.
- A pregame ceremony honored retiring legend Alex Morgan at Subaru Park, where a crowd of more than 17,000 turned out.
- The U.S. meets Portugal again Sunday in East Hartford and plays New Zealand on Oct. 29, with the defeat counting as their third of the calendar year.