USWNT blanks Brazil in memorable SoFi Stadium debut

INGLEWOOD — Trinity Rodman made her return to the U.S. Women’s National Team, Tara McKeown got the starting assignment at center back and went the full 90 minutes and Alyssa Thompson, in front of a large number of family, friends and teammates, showed why coach Emma Hayes said she is closing the gap.

Three players, from various areas of Southern California, all played a key role in the USWNT’s 2-0 win against Brazil in front of 32,303 at SoFi Stadium Saturday.

This game was the first women’s sporting event at SoFi Stadium. The attendance is the second biggest crowd, excluding World Cups, in L.A.

“These past four days in training, we knew it was going to be a battle,” McKeown, who is from Newbury Park, said. “It’s a dream come true to be able to get called up.”

Rodman (Laguna Niguel) and Angel City FC’s Thompson (Studio City) connected on the first goal of the game.

In the fifth minute, Thompson made a run through the midfield, the former Harvard-Westlake High star beating her defender and slipping a perfect through ball toward Rodman. Rodman, in her first game with the national team since last year’s Olympic final, did the rest with a simple right-footed finish.

“She’s an amazing player,” Thompson said of Rodman. “Every time I’m on the field with her, I know to feed her the ball or she is going to feed me. It’s really nice having her back on the team and her healthy, she’s a great addition to the team.

“They (Brazil) gave me a lot of space to drive in the middle and when Trin is on the run, you’re going to feed her, so being able to play through the lines is really good and her finish was amazing.”

Rodman has been bothered by a back injury, initially suffered during club play last season with the Washington Spirit, where she is teammates with McKeown.

“For me, it’s stay healthy and building off of the minutes I’ve progressively getting each game (in NWSL play),” Rodman said Friday. “Backs are very difficult because you can’t avoid using it at every moment of a game or every moment of your day-to-day life. For me, it is about management and training my back to be in certain positions so I’m not overworking other muscles to kind of overcompensate for it. So it’s been an interesting and hard journey, but at the same time, it’s been good getting back.”

Rodman was subbed off after 60 minutes. She even gave Hayes a scare with her goal celebration, faking a back injury.

“I didn’t think she was pretending,” Hayes said. “I turned to the physios and said her back is hurting. Then I realized she was tricking us. She had already pranked me early on when I was doing media and she was in the behind in the background distracting me. I just made sure to distract her during her media scrum, so 1-1.

“Having her back is such a difference. She is a game-changer.”

Thompson was subbed off in the 85th minute.

The U.S. added to its lead in the 66th minute on Lindsey Heaps’ successful penalty kick. Lily Yohannes, who entered the game in the 61st minute, was tripped up in the box, leading to the penalty call.

Thompson nearly had a goal in the 76th minute. On a cross from Heaps, Thompson, who was making a central run, was able to get a side-volley attempt on goal, but Brazilian goalkeeper Lorena made a one-handed save, sending the ball out for a corner.

“It’s dream come true playing for the U.S. and playing in our home city and in front of our family and friends is amazing,” McKeown said. “I’m so happy for Trin getting her goal in her first game back, she’s been working so hard and so has Alyssa and this whole team.”

Phallon Tullis-Joyce, one of several goalkeepers vying for the starting job with the retirement of U.S. star Alyssa Naeher, was credited with six saves.

This was the first meeting between the teams since the Paris Olympic gold medal final, which saw the USWNT win 1-0 on a 57th-minute goal by Mallory Swanson.

The teams will head north for a meeting Tuesday at PayPal Park in San Jose.

“I feel like our fans, fans of this team have always been tremendous, but I told some of the players, I’m so proud that we have a team that’s representative of the United States,” Hayes said. “I look across the crowd, and there’s so many people that our looking at our team and going I can see myself down there and I love that about us and something we’re really proud of.

“We’re going up north to a sellout, I’m really excited for that. I want to feel a different type of pressure and it’s up to us make that count. I want the crowd to get on top of them and make it hostile.”