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USWNT Takes Home SheBelieves Cup After 3-1 Victory Over Japan

Megan Rapinoe scored a beautiful free kick as the Americans capped an undefeated three-game tournament.

Ben Pickman

The USWNT won the 2020 SheBelieves Cup on Wednesday night after defeating Japan, 3-1.

The victory capped an undefeated three-game tournament for the United States. 

Megan Rapinoe opened the scoring just seven minutes into the game, converting a free kick opportunity.

Christen Press doubled the USWNT's lead just under 20 minutes later when she floated a beautiful shot from just outside the penalty area into the left corner of the goal.

The Americans took a 2-0 lead into halftime and added an 83rd minute goal from Lindsey Horan to stretch their advantage to three.

The defending World Cup champions conceded just a single goal across its three SheBelieves Cup victories over England, Spain and Japan. 

By winning the tournament, the United States has now won three of the first five SheBelieves Cups.

Prior to Wednesday's victory, the U.S. women's national team orchestrated a silent on-field protest in respond to an on-going an equal pay lawsuit with the U.S. Soccer Federation,

Taking the field in their warm-ups, the USWNT emerged with jerseys turned inside out—hiding the U.S. Soccer crest, but leaving visible the four stars representing its FIFA World Cup titles.

The protest comes following the controversial tactics taken by U.S. Soccer in its efforts to win an ongoing equal pay case. The tactics concern the argument made by representatives of the women's team that the men's and women's teams perform equal work, a position U.S. Soccer disagrees with.

New USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski improved to 10-0 with the win on Wednesday.

Spain finished second in the SheBelieves Cup, followed by England and Japan, respectively.

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Ben Pickman
BEN PICKMAN

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