SYDNEY, Australia (Oct. 19, 2023) – With their spot in the semifinals already booked, the U.S. Power Soccer National Team ensured a second-place finish in the group by defeating Uruguay 2-0 before drawing Argentina 1-1 on the final day of round-robin matches at the 2023 FIPFA Powerchair Football World Cup.
With the results, the USA will face England in the tournament semifinals on Thursday at 11 p.m. ET. The winner of that match will face the winner of France-Argentina (9:30 p.m. ET) in the 2023 FIPFA Powerchair Football World Cup Final on Friday morning at 4 a.m. ET. All matches will be shown live via the Official FIPFA YouTube Channel.
Pete Winslow again set up all three U.S. goals on Matchday Five, providing assists to Riley Johnson and Nathan Mayer against Uruguay, before dishing to Zach Dickey later in the day against Argentina. Winslow finished the group stage having played a part in 16 of the 21 U.S. goals, registering 14 assists to go with two goals of his own.
| 2023 FIPFA World Cup Final Group Standings | ||||||
| TEAM | W | L | D | Pts. | GF/GA | GD |
| x-France | 9 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 45/2 | 43 |
| x-USA | 7 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 21/6 | 15 |
| x-England | 7 | 2 | 0 | 21 | 25/8 | 17 |
| x-Argentina | 4 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 12/13 | -1 |
| Australia | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 12/19 | -7 |
| Denmark | 3 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 10/15 | -5 |
| Japan | 1 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 6/16 | -10 |
| Uruguay | 1 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 6/21 | -15 |
| Republic of Ireland | 1 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2/19 | -17 |
| Northern Ireland | 0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 5/25 | -10 |
| x-Top four teams advance to semifinals | ||||||
Oct. 14 5-0 W vs. Australia
Oct. 15 1-3 L vs. France
Oct. 15 3-0 W vs. Northern Ireland
Oct. 16 2-0 W vs. Republic of Ireland
Oct. 16 2-0 W vs. France
Oct. 17 3-1 W vs. England
Oct. 18 2-1 W vs. Denmark
Oct. 18 2-0 W Uruguay
Oct. 18 1-1 D Argentina
On the final day of group stage play, head coach Tracy Mayer continued to rotate his squad, notably giving Lexi Heer her first start in goal while starting a front three of Zach Dickey, Natalie Russo-Dickey and Peyton Sefick.
A chippy first 10 minutes was devoid of many scoring chances, and Uruguay’s Francisco Wild was cautioned early for accumulating a number of collision fouls.
Still, the South American side got the first quality chance in the 13th minute on a free kick following a two-on-one violation against the United States. On the restart, Brian Medina touched the ball centrally for Wild, whose powerful spin kick from the top of the area was well tracked by Heer who powered the ball out of danger from the goal line.
Following that close call, the USA got two of its own chances from set piece opportunities. In the 14th minute, Sefick’s take from the right found Dickey, whose driven spin kick was well saved by Uruguay ‘keeper Diego Nin. Three minutes later, Dickey and Sefick reversed roles in a near carbon copy of the earlier play, but this time Sefick’s take from the top left corner of the box beat Nin before pinging back off the right post.
Mayer elected to swap his front three at halftime, inserting Jordan Dickey, Riley Johnson and Pete Winslow, while Heer remained in goal.
It took the attacking trio just four minutes to break through, and once again it came from a Winslow set piece. Lined up for a corner kick on the left, Winslow found Johnson driving toward the near post, where he redirected the ball before it deflected off an Uruguay defender and trickled slowly over the goal line to make it 1-0.
The USA continued to take advantage of set pieces to keep Uruguay under pressure, but the South Americans did well to track them and deny multiple opportunities.
In the 26th minute, Winslow’s free kick from the right picked out Jordan Dickey at the back post, but his attempt was saved on the line by Nin. A minute later, after a two-on-one violation was called, Winslow’s free kick from the right tracked across the box for Dickey, whose poked effort at the back post was again denied on the goal line.
In the 31st minute, Winslow again spun a free kick from the right for Johnson, whose alert effort was turned back once more.
Following those three chances, head coach Tracy Mayer elected to insert regular U.S. goalkeeper Nathan Mayer (above) into the match for his first minutes of the tournament out of the goal box. It took just 60 seconds for him to solve Uruguay, as another Winslow free kick from the right found Mayer at the top of the box where he punched home his first goal of the tournament to make it 2-0.
A great passing sequence in stoppage time nearly made it 3-0. Winslow dug a ball out on the left, played it back for Riley Johnson at midfield who swung it to Russo-Dickey on the right. The veteran attacker poked it back across goal where Winslow crashed the back post, but Nin was there to deny the danger. Just seconds later, the full-time whistle blew.
Heading into the USA’s group stage finale, Pete Winslow recorded 13 assists and two goals. The Monticello, Minn. product has played a part in 15 of the team’s 20 goals at the 2023 FIPFA Powerchair Football World Cup and all seven goals in the team’s past three matches.
Match: U.S. Power Soccer National Team vs. England
Date: October 18, 2023 (October 19, 2023 locally)
Competition: 2023 FIPFA Powerchair Football World Cup
Venue: Quaycentre; Sydney, Australia
Attendance: 562
Kickoff: 8:30 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m. local time on October 19, 2023)
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
URU 0 0 0
USA 0 2 2
USA – Riley Johnson (Pete Winslow) 24th minute
USA – Nathan Mayer (Pete Winslow) 33
Lineups:
USA: 5-Lexi Heer; 4-Natalie Russo-Dickey, 8-Peyton Sefick, 11-Zach Dickey
Substitutes: 2-Nathan Mayer, 3-Jordan Dickey, 9-Pete Winslow, 10-Riley Johnson (Capt.)
Head coach: Tracy Mayer
URU: 5-Diego Nin, 7-Brian Medina, 8-Marco Diaz (Capt.), 9-Francisco Wild
Substitutes: 2-Lucia Barboza Doldan, 11-Fabián Medina, 21-Nicolás Cibils
Head coach: Juan Coloretti
Stats Summary: URU / USA
Shots: 1 / 11
Saves: 6 / 1
Corner Kicks: 0 / 7
Misconduct Summary:
URU - Francisco Wild (Caution) 8
URU – Diego Nin (Caution) 30
Officials:
Referee: Rebecca Gullé (AUS)
Assistant Referee 1: Mark Simon-Green (AUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Mika Whalsten (FIN)
4th Official: David Wieber (AUS)
With center Riley Johnson one yellow card away from facing a one-game suspension, it was decided before the match that the U.S. co-captain was unlikely to play in order to ensure his availability for Thursday night’s semifinal. Even without Johnson, the USA dominated play early on.
Argentina pulled level in the 12th minute with a set piece goal of their own. After Zach Dickey turned a shot out for a corner kick, Heber López’s ensuing take found Agustin Zanoli on the left side of the box where he poked his effort through Dickey and goalkeeper Nathan Mayer to equalize at 1-1.
The USA nearly had an instant response in the 14th minute when Winslow swung a corner kick from the left for Dickey at the near post, but his first-time effort was saved of the line by Argentina goalkeeper Lisandro Uretti and the teams went into halftime deadlocked.
In the 24th minute, a free kick at mid-court saw Winslow play the ball for Heer in motion. The substitute attacker’s slight touch redirected the ball toward goal, but it was again saved off the line by Manzur before her rebound attempt was turned out for a kick-in by Uretti.
The Argentine defense continued to push back the wave of U.S. attacks, turning one away again in the 32nd minute when Winslow’s corner kick from the right found Heer, only to have her poked effort saved first by Uretti, and the rebound turned back by Manzur.
Despite Argentina needing just a draw for a place in the semifinal, La Albiceleste held possession at the U.S. end for much of the rest of the match, but substitute Jordan Dickey did a great job to manage one-on-ones and close out the match at 1-1.
Match: U.S. Power Soccer National Team vs. Argentina
Date: October 18, 2023 (October 19, 2023 locally)
Competition: 2023 FIPFA Powerchair Football World Cup
Venue: Quaycentre; Sydney, Australia
Attendance: 450
Kickoff: 10:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. local time)
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
ARG 1 0 1
USA 1 0 1
USA – Zach Dickey (Pete Winslow) 7th minute
ARG – Agustin Zanoli (Heber López) 12
Lineups:
USA: 2-Nathan Mayer; 4-Natalie Russo-Dickey, 9-Pete Winslow, 11-Zach DickeySubstitutes: 3-Jordan Dickey (Capt.), 5-Lexi Heer, 8-Peyton Sefick
Did Not Play: 10-Riley Johnson
Head coach: Tracy Mayer
ARG: 11-Lisandro Uretti (Capt.); 7-Heber López, 13-Khaleb Manzur, 14-Agustín Zanoli
Substitutes: 5-Arturo Rodríguez, 8-Juan Bautista D’Angelo, 9-Matías Vignola
Suspended: 10-Valentino Zegarelli
Stats Summary: ARG / USA
Shots: 2 / 11
Saves: 6 /1
Corner Kicks: 2 / 4
Misconduct Summary:
ARG – Heber López (Caution) 35
Officials:
Referee: Nico Balin (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Rebecca Gullé (AUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Mark Simon-Green (AUS)
4th Official: Nurdin Sabovic (AUT)
NEXT UP: Another semifinal date with England awaits the U.S. Power Soccer National Team on Thursday evening. The rematch of the 2011 World Cup Final and 2017 World Cup Semifinal will kick off Thursday at 11 p.m. ET in the United States (Friday at 2 p.m. AEDT). Should the USA win, the team would face the winner of France-Argentina in the 2023 FIPFA World Cup Final on Friday morning at 4 a.m. ET (7 p.m. AEDT). Should the USA lose, it would face the losing team from France-Argentina in the Third Place Match on Friday at 2 a.m. ET (5 p.m. AEDT). All matches will be shown on the Official FIPFA YouTube Channel.
The U.S. Power Soccer National Team features male and female athletes with disabilities that include quadriplegia, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, and cerebral palsy, among others. The game is played in a gymnasium on a regulation basketball court with four players who attack, defend, and spin-kick a 13-inch soccer ball in a skilled and challenging game similar to mainstream soccer.
Power Soccer is the first competitive team sport developed specifically for power wheelchair users and has been played internationally since 2006. Thie 2023 FIPFA Powerchair Football World Cup marks the first world championship event for the U.S. Power Soccer National Team under U.S. Soccer supervision. The team officially became part of the Extended National Teams program in 2022 as part of U.S. Soccer's effort to build out programming for soccer in all of its forms.
For more information on the sport or to inquire about athlete eligibility, please contact U.S. Soccer's Extended National Teams Department via email at extendednt@ussoccer.org.
Founded in 1913, U.S. Soccer has been the official governing body of the sport in the United States for more than 100 years. As U.S. Soccer looks toward the future amid an unprecedented moment of opportunity, we’ve aligned our efforts around five strategic pillars: Grow the game by increasing youth and adult participation and accessibility to the sport; Foster the best playing environments through quality of referees and coaches, increase DEIB and participant safety; Develop winning teams through solidified pathways and success of professional leagues; Grow the soccer economy to fuel reinvestment by increasing membership, fandom and commercial success; and Create a world-class organization through revitalized structure and culture, best-in-class talent, progress in DEIB, and more. For more information, visit ussoccer.com/ourvision.