USWNT: The USA Defeats China 2:0 in Detroit

On Saturday, in front of a crowd of 17,371, the United States Women’s National Team defeat China by a score of 2 to 0, with goals scored by midfielder Carli Lloyd in the 50th minute — off an assist by second-half sub Tobin Heath — and super-sub forward Sydney Leroux in the 82nd minute. Alex Morgan, who did not start the match, earned her 20th assist of the year on Leroux’s goal, making her only the second player in USWNT history to have 20 goals and 20 assists in a single calendar year. Starting in place of Morgan was Amy Rodriguez, who earned her 100th cap for the USA and wore the captain’s armband. Saturday’s match was neither televised nor streamed online, and there are no readily available highlights, whether official or amateur. However, the Detroit Free Press write-up on the match does have a photo gallery of 20 images.

Post-Game Reaction Video:

Regarding Morgan’s rare 20/20 feat, previously, Mia Hamm had a 20 goal and 20 assist season in 1998, where she started all 21 matches for the USA, playing 1655 minutes. Comparatively, in 2012, Morgan has 28 goals and 20 assists after playing in 29 matches, starting 25, with exactly 2200 minutes played.

Morgan is also currently sitting on 76 points this calendar year, and is in reach of tying or breaking  Michelle Akers’ record of 86 points in 1991 (39 goals and 8 assists).

See Also: USSoccer.com write-up, with box score.

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The USA’s final two matches of the year, both against China, will be televised live:
–Wednesday, December 12th, at 8:30 p.m. ET, on FOX Soccer
–Saturday, December 15th, at  7:00 p.m. ET, on NBC Sports Network