TAMPA, Fla. -- The cannons aboard the pirate ship beyond one end zone in Raymond James Stadium couldn't have launched a projectile with much more power than Tobin Heath when she put her foot through the ball midway through the first half of the SheBelieves Cup finale against Brazil.
One goal so early in the night wasn't guaranteed to win Tuesday's game. One victory so late in the event couldn't salvage the title. But maybe one kick offered catharsis at the end of a frustrating week.
England won the trophy in the four-team event. By beating Brazil 1-0, the U.S. won a reprieve.
Like most consolation prizes, it has its satisfaction limits. But it beats no prize at all.
After her team settled for a draw in its opening game of the event, U.S. coach Jill Ellis said she was satisfied with most everything except the result. The finale offered a different problem, namely that even a good result wasn't going to be satisfying. By virtue of a victory in the first game of the day in Tampa, England clinched the tournament title before the U.S. stepped onto the field against Brazil.
U.S. players and coaches like to talk about using these games to replicate scenarios they might encounter in an event like the upcoming World Cup. That presumably doesn't include playing games when already eliminated from contention, but there was still a purpose to these proceedings.
"We wanted more than a win," Becky Sauerbrunn said. "Obviously we wanted a win because we hadn't gotten one this tournament, but I think it was more about having a good performance and leaving the field feeling like we got the result based on the performance."
In its first two games, the U.S. left too many chances unfinished and thus suffered when it left too many leads unprotected. It still didn't finish as many chances as it wanted against Brazil.
But it protected the one it had. It earned the result based on performance.
After a cautious opening 10 minutes, the U.S. began to accumulate chances at a noticeably greater rate than its opponent, much as it had to little avail in the first two games.
Mallory Pugh went down in the box with a potential penalty shot in the opening minute. Sam Mewis sent a shot over the top of the bar from just inside the 18-yard box in the 12th minute. Megan Rapinoe put the ball in the back of the net a minute later, only to see the potential goal negated by an offside flag. Heath ripped a barely less venomous shot from a tight angle in the 16th minute that the Brazilian goalkeeper struggled to steer to safety.
Still there was no goal for all the endeavor. It was a familiar theme.
In three games, the U.S. outshot opponents 51-22.
"On the attacking front, it's just converting, and I think that final piece -- the final pass, the final finish," Heath said of the takeaway from a tournament in which the U.S. had the most touches in the attacking third of any of the four teams. "We're getting so many awesome opportunities. We're getting into the final third so much, which are all such positives. And it's just that final piece. That's where we're at right now. It's not a bad place to be at. ...
"The game is the greatest teacher, and there is a lot we can learn from this tournament."
Then another foray forward soon after Heath's first blast hinted at yet more frustration. Heath's cross found Alex Morgan, freed by a nice run from Rapinoe, but Brazilian keeper Aline blocked Morgan's shot. Only this time, the ball rebounded to Heath at the top of the box. She let loose.
The frustration valve vented? Even a little?
"Yeah, a little bit," Heath allowed, albeit grinning.
More important in the only game in which the U.S. didn't at least turn all its opportunities into multiple goals was that it was the only goal needed to win.
This was the second time this year that the U.S. starting lineup included Julie Ertz at defensive midfield and Abby Dahlkemper and Sauerbrunn next to each other in the middle of the back line. It was the second time in as many instances when the U.S. kept a clean sheet, the other a 1-0 victory against Spain. There are all sorts of caveats. Spain and Brazil, knockout-round material though they should be, might be the weakest three teams the U.S. has faced in a loaded schedule. Nor is Tierna Davidson, the other likely starter at center back, any kind of liability.
But with that foundation up the middle, and with a timely second-half save from Ashlyn Harris in place of injured starter Alyssa Naeher in goal and a strong midfield presence from Mewis in her first start of 2019, the U.S. recorded just its second shutout in its past eight games against Brazil.
"I'm partial to clean sheets, so I think it's always good to get a shutout against a team like Brazil," Sauerbrunn said. "Brazil has a lot of attacking firepower, they've got a lot of flair, they've got Marta. I think getting a clean sheet against a team like that is big."
She stopped to confirm that the U.S. was the only team in the event to blank Brazil. It was.
"I think that's a statement, yeah," Sauerbrunn continued. "I think we want to make a statement that our defense is strong, that our attack is potent, so we're going to start that from this game on."
England effectively clinched the tournament title even before night fully fell in Tampa, scoring three goals in the opening 30 minutes of its game against Japan. The Japanese were without several players because of what was described as a stomach illness, but England also rotated its starting lineup from its opening two games and controlled play all the same. The two teams also share a group in the World Cup and will play again June 19 in Nice, France.
For the champions, the chance to dance on stage amid pyrotechnics after the final game might have been worth the wait of an extra couple of hours in the stadium. A team still on the ascent, or so it certainly hopes, England got what it needed with a practice championship.
And an American team that wasn't beaten but was still dethroned on home soil? It remains committed to a process.
"I've already come out of this tournament with less question marks now because of the takeaways in terms of personnel and different things that we've seen," Ellis said. "And that feels good. Obviously you want to lift that trophy, 100 percent, you want to win every game. But now it's going in with even more clarity, I think that's a positive."
If perhaps also a little frustrating at times over the past week.