In memory of everything: a hat-trick starts with a bitter bankruptcy

Just to remember
The three-goal self leads to bitter bankruptcy

02/21/2020 at 12:20 pm

For Meikayla Moore, the SheBelieves Cup match against the USA is a very special match: her 50th international match. But this turns out to be a complete drama for the New Zealander. Instead of blocking goals as a defender, she shoots three times – into her goal.

Triple A World Champion Anniversary – Unfortunately In The Wrong Goal: For Meikayla Moore, the 50th appearance of the New Zealand women’s soccer team has become a sports nightmare. For the 25-year-old, the SheBelieves Cup match against the USA ended after six minutes – and it was getting worse.

Less than five minutes were played when Moore tried to stop a cross from Sophia Smith, but unfortunately he caught it. 0:1 was just the beginning of what was probably the worst half hour Moore had seen in football. Just a minute later she scored the next goal on her own, this time with her header. Catarina Macario’s header from Sofia Huerta’s cross would have gone too far if Moore hadn’t deflected it.

Her misfortune was perfect in the 36th minute: she tried to pass Margaret Pierce’s cross from the right wing, and extended her foot – the third goal in her team’s goal. A flawless “hat-trick”. Coach Jitka Klimkova sent off her defender after 40 minutes and Rebecca Stott replaced Moore.

Her teammates couldn’t make up for her bad hat trick. The New Zealanders lost the match 0:5. In addition to Moore, Ashley Hatch and Mallory Pugh scored for the United States.

“It’s been a hard day, but it’s a great personality and player who belongs to this team,” Klimkova said after the match about Moore, who has been with the English second-tier side Liverpool since 2020 and previously played in Cologne and Duisburg. She and the team encouraged her, “We are all behind her in this difficult moment.”

Even opponents expressed sympathy for Moore, Ali Krieger wrote on Twitter: “My heart goes out to Moore.” “I can’t even imagine the pressure you’re feeling right now and I hope you’re okay.” “It’s a game and the special goals are part of it. It happens. She was actually in a very good position, it was just an unfortunate thing,” USA coach Vlatko Andonovsky said.

In fact, Moore may be able to console herself with a strange statistic: She’s a far cry from the first New Zealander to score goals by herself against the United States. The NFL shared a statistic after five of the last 11 goals against New Zealand came from opposite goals.