Algarve Quote Sheet: Jill Ellis and Players Discuss WNT's 2-0 victory over France
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U.S. WNT head coach Jill Ellis:
On the Algarve Cup Final:
“I’m obviously pleased with the result. I think it was a competitive match with two good opponents. It was good for our confidence to get on the board early, but France put us under a tremendous amount of pressure. Having Hope [Solo] back with us and settled in was great and obviously she did very well. Now it’s about what are the takeaways, and what do we need to continue to work on? Because obviously June is the target.”
On the continued development of the team:
“For me and my staff – which haven’t been on the job as long as other staffs – I think what we had to do was kind of accelerate the process. We continue to believe in the process and this was a nice result and good for the momentum which can start to build. It was good for the players to get this result.”
On what she saw during the play that led to the USA’s second goal by Christen Press:
“It was a run with confidence. She’s been picking up those balls underneath and it’s a great spot for her to get the ball. I think she saw a gap and she’s got the acceleration going and the technique to get through. It was a world-class goal in transition.”On the aggressive play from the team:
“We started the game on the front foot and obviously got a goal, which was great. We knew it was going to be a 90-minute battle but I thought our physical presence was solid. I thought we got numbers around the ball and we limited the space better than we did before when we played them. The aggression and the defensive battles for 50-50 balls were really important to the outcome of this game so, I was really pleased.”
On the play of young center back Julie Johnson:
“She’s had an amazing tournament. Opportunity has knocked and she’s responded really well. It makes our job hard but in a way makes our job easy because now we’ve got great depth at that position and now she’s gained experience that she didn’t have in these games. I’m really, really proud of her and happy for her. “
On the play of Hope Solo:
“The minute she rejoined the team she’s had a focus. I was really pleased with giving up just one goal in this tournament and she’s a big part of that. I thought today her distribution was tremendous, her presence was excellent and obviously she had the big save on the penalty kick that was massive for us to maintain the two-goal advantage.”
On the takeaways from the tournament and what comes next for the team:
“We want to enjoy this for a day certainly but, we’re going into camp again in a matter of days. For me, the fitness piece and continuing to build that is important. I think our legs are getting there and this tournament was good in terms of getting a lot of players’ experience. It was a big tournament for Morgan Brian, Meghan Klingenberg, Christen Press and Julie Johnston in terms of getting experience at this level. I said to them at the beginning of camp, it’s really about finding ways to win and, sometimes you have to find ways to win when you don’t play well. Sometimes you win pretty or ugly. This has to be our mindset moving forward to gain the advantage.”
U.S. WNT goalkeeper Hope Solo
On today’s game and the team as whole moving forward:
“France is a very good opponent and one of the best teams in the world. Jill had a great game plan, we stuck to it, and had an organized defense, which led to our counterattacks and we came out on top.”
On the continued development of the team:
“We’re on the right track to peak for the World Cup which is still three months away. We’re not at our best yet but we’re getting there. I was a very tactical game, but we had an organized defense, we were on the same page and we knew what we were doing.”
On her penalty kick save:
“It’s one of those things that you never know what you’re going to do when you step on the line. I stayed calm, I stayed relaxed and made the save,”
U.S. WNT midfielder Carli Lloyd
On what the tournament did for this team in terms of World Cup preparation:
“I think it’s a huge confidence booster. We’ve struggle a little bit in our previous games and we played against top contenders and it’s been really good. We came here with a certain game plan, certain things we wanted to work on and today we executed the game plan and scored two fantastic goals. We closed out the tournament on a high note which was a good boost for us.”
On the differences between this game against France and the one form a month ago:
“France came out and played well. They missed a penalty kick, which was a great save by Hope and a great follow up clear by Julie. We may not have did not created a ton of chances like we did in last game (in Lorient), but we took our chances well this time, had two great opportunities and put them away. It’s always good to play a top team and I think we can take a lot away from this. We can still improve. We still have some months to prepare, get ready and improve on a lot of things.”
On getting to return to the United States to play a home match for the first time since last October, which will be attended by more than 30,000 people in St. Louis:
“It’s been a while since we’ve played at home. It will be good to play in front of a home crowd. Thirty thousand tickets is an amazing number. It’s tremendous to see that, especially heading into the World Cup. These couple of games that are left before the World Cup are big preparation for us. We’ll be in Canada before we even know it.”
U.S. WNT midfielder Megan Rapinoe
On the impact this tournament had on the team:
“I think we got some confidence. I think we’re clicking more in all cylinders, especially defensively. We’re looking stronger by only giving up one goal in the first game. The team is feeling good.”
U.S. WNT defender Julie Johnston
On how it felt to score her first goal with the WNT:
“Happiness for sure. (Assistant coach) Tony (Gustavsson) gave me exactly the role that I needed to play on in set pieces so I was going to make sure that I did what he said I needed to do. They were happy and I was really happy to have my first goal.”
On Lauren Holiday’s cross that lead to her goal:
“It was a phenomenal ball; driven, perfect for a header. It was a great ball.”
On the experience of playing in her first big games for the WNT:
“The experience was great. I’m very thankful to even have the opportunity to be on the field and be able to play. I’ve learned a lot watching these players and playing with them every single day, so to be able to play with them in games like these is unbelievable. It’s definitely a dream come true.
U.S. WNT forward Christen Press
On her goal:
“It’s always hazy looking back on it, but I remember getting the ball in the pocket between the defensive line and midfield line and having a little bit of space as the defender was dropping off. Sometimes, as an attacking player, you see the little hole through the back line that you can try to wiggle through. Honestly, it doesn’t often work out so I’m glad it worked out today, and it was a great game to have it.”
On what getting that early goal lead did for the team:
“I think it was great for our momentum after having just played them and getting a difficult result. This time we came out and we took the power. We were able to settle down, play our style and dictate the tempo of the game and impose ourselves on the game. Towards the ends it changed because they were trying to push the goal and we were trying to hold them off but for a big part of the game we were able to play in a better style with more power and more influence in the game.”
On having a goalkeeper like Hope Solo:
“She’s a rock. We never doubt her. She knows what she’s doing. We listen, trust and respect her. The best part is that other teams do too and she imposes herself in every game. She’s huge for us and she makes the saves when we need her.”