Women’s World Cup: USA rescue point against Netherlands

Reigning champions USA needed to come from behind to earn a point against the Netherlands at the Women’s World Cup.

In a repeat of the 2019 final, Jill Roord gave the Dutch an early lead from the edge of the area, before USA captain Lindsey Horan headed in on the hour mark.

The result has ended a run of 13 successive World Cup wins for USA, who are on the hunt for an unprecedented third successive title.

Both teams are on four points in Group E, before Portugal meet Vietnam later.

USA missed a hat full of chances in their opening match against Vietnam, and struggled to break down the Dutch defence too.

Savannah DeMelo missed a good chance to give the States the lead, and a good save from Daphne van Domselaar denied Trinity Rodman an equaliser.

Julie Ertz then had a header deflected behind before Horan finally netted the equaliser.

Alex Morgan thought she had scored the winner after finishing from Rodman’s assist, but it was ruled out for offside.

“We performed brilliantly and at times it was really fantastic,” said Netherlands coach Andries Jonker.

“You have to be happy with 1-1. These games are battles from the first second to the last. The only thing you can say is that women’s football has evolved incredibly.

“We’re there, along with the US, and I’m very satisfied with that.”

Improvements still needed for USA

The United States remain favourites to win the tournament, and should have no issues booking their place in the second round with a good result against Portugal next week.

In both matches though, they have been guilty of wasting their chances. Vietnam limited them to three goals when they could have hit double figures, and the States created enough opportunities to beat the Netherlands too.

“In the first half, we allowed them to take control of the tempo and slow down the tempo a lot more than we wanted,” said USA coach Vlatko Andonovski.

“It was a difficult match and even though it didn’t finish the way we wanted it to finish, I thought it was a very good match.”

Cover Photo: vintage USA Flag and blue sky” by DWilliam’s is marked with CC0 1.0 .