The USA had its first game of the 2015 Women’s World Cup last night against Australia. The U.S. won 3-1, in spite of a sloppy first half.

Since it was the first match for both teams, I was expecting a certain level of rustiness. (There have been comments about Abby Wambach in particular but I’d hardly think with the amount of training the USWNT has been doing, even with their unfortunately necessary switch to turf, that she can be considered “rusty.”)

The U.S. was definitely the more disorganized team in the first half. Australia dominated the game, a role, traditionally speaking, the U.S. takes.

I was particularly surprised by Australia’s first goal, not because I wasn’t expecting them to score (I was), but because the U.S. left De Vanna wide open. You simply cannot leave a player that open, particularly at this level of play, without an almost sure chance of the ball finding the back of the net.

I’ve seen articles citing Rapinoe and Solo as the women who carried the team. Athletically, that’s absolutely true: Rapinoe scored 2 of the United States’ 3 goals along with Press; Hope Solo literally saved the team from losing.

She undoubtedly made some great saves, but is she the player we think she is?

Athletically, yes. Personally, not as much.

As a fan, I had already looked up to Solo. How can you miss that combination of beauty and brawn?

But then she was involved in a scandal, and then another, and then some questionable behavior, and now…

I wondered as I was watching the game how Hope was still the starting goalie after all that. Then, I immediately stopped wondering: she’s just too good.

Solo thankfully put the U.S. in a position to have a beautiful second half, gaining traction with each passing minute. Perhaps this will be a lesson for them to come off strong from the beginning in future games. I would guess that if Australia had stayed on the attack longer, the result might have been different.

Either way, I’m excited to watch the U.S. again this Friday.