Match Report: Arsenal Women 2-1 Washington Spirit in Gunners USA tour friendly

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·19 August 2024

Match Report: Arsenal Women 2-1 Washington Spirit in Gunners USA tour friendly

Arsenal Women vs Washington Spirit match report

Arsenal Women started their pre-season in the USA last night, walking away victorious after a difficult game and strong output by NWSL side Washington Spirit who managed to make the game a challenging one. In the end our women walked away with a 2-1 win after a great game of football from Alessia Russo, securing both of our goals and kicking our pre-season tour off well. Here’s a run down of everything that happened.

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The game started off and Arsenal looked a tad rusty, which is expected after having a long break without each other, and were almost caught out early when Washington’s star striker Ouleymata Sarr nearly got an early goal, but her shot was sent wide by Zinsberger’s foot.

It didn’t take our women long to get into the flow of things and get on the scoresheet when Kim Little sent a lovely ball over the top of the Washington defence to Frida Maanum who at first tried to control the ball down but a Washington defender got her foot in the way and sent the ball high into the air and down into the path of a waiting Alessia Russo to nudge the ball into the back of the net with the outside of her foot, and into the bottom left corner of the net to make it 1-0 after just 10 minutes.

Washington didn’t put their heads down and continued to push hard for an equalizer, coming very close in the next 20 minutes, with two shots just going wide and managing to catch our defenders napping.

Just before half time Washington finally managed to get a goal back after a great cross into the box and onto the head of Sarr who managed to lob the ball over the top of Zinsberger and into the net to level up the scores at 1-1. Arsenal caught napping again and were this time punished.

The second half started, and Arsenal looked a bit more comfortable and compact and in the 75th minute managed to nab a goal back and put us back in front. New signing Rosa Kafaji didn’t take long to get herself into the game and in the assists after a beautifully timed through ball into the feet of Russo who side stepped the keeper with a touch and then sent the ball into the bottom left corner of the net to make it 2-1 and bag her second goal of the night.

Washington came close to equalising in the dying minutes of the game when Sarr again beat the Arsenal Women’s defence but sent the shot just wide of the post.

It was a good start to the pre-season, we got to see a lot of young and new faces and walked away with the win. Obviously, there’s a lot to improve upon, but it is pre-season, and it was great to see our women back on the pitch enjoying themselves.

What’s your thoughts Gooners?

Daisy Mae

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