In her final worldwide appearance, O’Reilly assisted on Carli Lloyd’s goal 43 seconds into an exhibition against Thailand and scored in the fifth minute as the United States cruised to a 9-0 win in front of 10,490 fans overwhelmingly clad in red, white and blue.
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Striker Carli Lloyd was the woman of the match though, recording a hat trick and four assists on the night.
The American women will look to continue their impressive record in 2016, having won 16 matches with the only blemishes being two ties and a penalty shootout loss to Sweden.
Some interesting selection questions for Jill Ellis are who she picks at keeper in Hope Solo’s absence between Ashlyn Harris or Alyssa Naeher, and how many minutes she gives to NWSL stars already in the playoffs, as the postseason kicks off in two weeks.
Named captain before the game and honored during a pregame ceremony where she was presented a framed jersey, O’Reilly fought back tears before making her 231st career appearance – seventh-most in team history.
While Harris was looking to break into the side, another was calling it quits Thursday night, as O’Reilly retired from worldwide play after the match.
O’Reilly, playing her 231st USA game, scored her 47th goal early in the game as the US took a three-goal lead in the opening five minutes. Through 19 contests, the Americans have scored 58 goals, with 35 of them coming from the trio of Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, and Crystal Dunn.
While the stage wasn’t almost as large, it gave Press an opportunity to move past her failed penalty that sealed the United States’ fate at the Olympics. It marked O’Reilly’s 47th and final global career goal. Then, after Christen Press’ fourth-minute goal, O’Reilly then converted in the fifth minute, finishing a Lloyd feed into an open net on a late run into the penalty area.
Heath made it four in the 36th minute when she beat defender Kanjanaporn Saengkoon to the right of Thailand’s goal and immediately chipped goalkeeper Yada Sengyong, who could only watch as the ball struck off the crossbar and fell behind the goal line.
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Heather O’Reilly celebrates after scoring a goal in the first half against Thailand on September 15, 2016 at MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. She finishes her worldwide career with 231 global appearances, ranking her seventh in national team history. Chawong has 23 goals in 63 caps. When she was subbed out in the 87th minute, the crowd gave her a standing ovation.
