Oct 10 (Reuters) – US women’s coach Emma Hayes shook off a dismal 2-0 defeat on Saturday in the first of two friendlies against Spain, with the Americans building towards next month’s World Cup qualifiers.
The match between top-ranked Spain and the Olympic champions was billed as a marquee showdown but the visitors took control as Patri Guijarro and Eva Navarro scored inside 15 minutes.
Spain’s Adriana Nanclares saved a second-half penalty from Lily Yohannes to keep a clean sheet for the world champions.
“When you play the best team in the world you have to execute everything really well in the first instance,” said Hayes. “Did I think we did enough to score a goal? Of course we did. Did we do enough to score more than one? Absolutely.
“We just didn’t make necessarily the right decision and execute with the quality I know we should have.”
The US had 10 shots on target to three from Spain, who had Athenea Del Castillo sent off in added time for pulling Michelle Cooper’s hair three minutes after coming off the bench.
Hayes said that efficiency would be a key target for the US when the two sides play again on Tuesday.
“We create the most chances in world football. But finishing, we do not do that in world football,” Hayes told reporters. “So I wasn’t concerned about us creating today, and I’m not concerned about us finishing. You just have to lock in, get the details right, and keep working on it.”
The US aim to qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil via the Concacaf W Championship, three years after their worst performance at the global tournament where they exited in the last 16 and Spain staked their territory as the world’s finest.
Briton Hayes’ arrival months later from Chelsea sparked a renaissance for the US, who collected gold in Paris and welcomed back veteran Mallory Swanson to camp this month.
“We’ve got some really, really good players and we’re a really good team regardless of the result today,” said Hayes. “I think we’re much closer to them than we were three years ago.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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