In-Sync In-Pink

Attention: After watching the US WNT’s 6-2 dissection of Canada, US soccer has implemented an official jersey switch. For intimidation purposes, pink stays, red goes. (Clint, Gooch, and the rest of the MNT, please return to the locker rooms immediately). Every night should be breast cancer awareness night. Seriously.

Okay, okay, maybe we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves. It wasn’t the pink that made the US attack look so special-edition against their northern rivals, but rather the weeks of hard training and a contagious team chemistry. Scoring six goals on seven shots isn’t about luck. They weren’t just taking a couple cracks at the keeper to go through the motions. Every attack seemed to be meticulously built up, with a little flick by Abby or Tarp crowning the effort. When Canada scored—give credit where credit is due—the US defense kept their composure, snuck down the flanks, and helped the front line answer back. The fresh jersey’s simply highlighted the fact that Coach Greg Ryan’s team is peaking right when they need to.

What you saw on Saturday night was the best team in the world against a very talented, hard-nosed opponent. The Americans are not only the toughest to play against, but as Boxxy seems to demonstrate every time she goes in for a tackle, they are the toughest that play. When you have physical and technical ability top to bottom on the roster, the consequences are pretty devastating. Ryan’s strategy is essentially this: play at a high enough pace for a full 90 minutes that only a handful of foreign players, let alone full-teams, can keep up. Evidently, it works. Offensively, Canada had to resort to a long-ball game and throwing too many numbers forward. Defensively, their backline came in trying to keep a high off sides line (close to midfield) in hopes of shortening the field and making space more congested. It was less than successful. After Carli Lloyd drew a 3rd minute penalty and Abby hammered home her first of two goals on the night, the passing lanes opened and the US midfielders, not to mention air delivery specialist Cat Whitehill, slotted diagonal thru-balls to the corner flags for some well-timed counterattacks. The pink made everything look so light and easy; trust us, it wasn’t.

With three months left the numbers are looking good: 6-2 over Canada, number one in the world, 7-0-2 in 2007, undefeated in their last 40 matches. The countdown begins.

Suport the WNT in the fight against breast cancer with your own limited-edition pink jersey at nikestore.com.