USA a cut above as Ireland slump to four-goal defeat in Colorado friendly

Mixing the outrageous talent of Alyssa Thompson with the calm experience of Rose Lavelle, the reshuffled world number-one ranked Americans showed the wealth of their player development pipeline

Megan Connolly plays the ball under pressure from Claire Hutton. Picture: Jamie Schwaberow/Getty

Women's Friendly: USA 4 (Patterson 18, Coffey 45+4, Lavelle 53, A Thompson 63) Republic of Ireland 0 

After 16 meetings, these USA-Ireland match-ups follow a well-worn pattern. One which will be hard to shake when they face off again on Sunday.