The much-anticipated rematch of the 2019 Women's World Cup Final between the United States (1-1-0) and the Netherlands (1-1-0) did not exactly live up to the hype as it ended in a 1-1 tie tonight in Wellington, New Zealand during the 2023 Women's World Cup group stage. Both teams had to settle for a point as the Dutch dominated in the first half and led for much of the match on midfielder Jill Roord's goal. The Americans lacked urgency and seemed tentative in the first half but responded with a solid second half that included the tying strike by co-captain and midfielder Lindsey Horan. Their head coach Vlatko Andonovski did them no favors though as he only used one substitution for the entire match-putting in midfielder Rose Lavelle for the overmatched Savannah DeMelo to start the second half. It felt like another move or two for the U.S. could have resulted in a win but I guess we will never know about that for sure.
It was clear that the Netherlands' gameplan was to control possession which they successfully did 56%-44%. The United States took a bunch more shots (18-5) but only had three more of them on goal (4-1). The craziest part was that the Americans earned 10 more corner kicks (11-1) than the Dutch which seems like a misprint but it is true. Roord's goal in the 17th minute came after a series of defensive miscues by the USWNT that ended with her taking a quick touch at the top of the box then depositing a low and hard shot into the corner of the net past a diving Alyssa Naeher. Even though there was surprisingly only one card all game (a yellow for Lavelle five minutes after she came on in the second half), it was a very physical battle from start to finish.
Horan got taken out by her club teammate at Lyon (France) midfielder Danielle van de Donk in the 59th minute. She was understandably upset about it since between getting hit on the knee not to mention a hard fall on her head, she could have suffered a couple of serious injuries. Thankfully, she let that temporary anger fuel her as she was first to a subsequent corner by Lavelle and knocked in a powerful header to tie it up 1-1 in the 62nd minute. If you had any question as to why the normally quiet Horan was named a co-captain before this tournament, here was living proof. She stepped up when her team needed her the most.
From there, the U.S. had all the momentum and poured on the pressure hunting for another goal. Forward Alex Morgan scored in the 67th minute after a pretty touch on a through ball by forward Trinity Rodman but it was rightfully called offside. By the end, it felt like the Dutch were hanging on for dear life but it seemed fitting that it ended 1-1. Neither side really deserved to lose but conversely, you could say that neither was owed a victory more than the other.
In terms of excitement, this could not set up much better for the third and final group match as the U.S. meets Portugal (1-0-1) on Tuesday (3 am, Fox) while the Netherlands takes on Vietnam (0-0-2) at the same ungodly time stateside. Playing in their first ever World Cup, the Portuguese beat fellow debutant Vietnam 2-0 this morning. The U.S. will be favored but Portugal is not a layup so they have to come out faster from the opening whistle and not wait so long for the game to come to them. Without giving you too much of an ice cream headache, I will just say that the USWNT is up two goals in goal-differential on the Netherlands so if they win and as long as the Dutch do not blow out Vietnam (a possibility), the U.S. should finish on top of Group E. Lavelle should start against Portugal and I would also like to see Megan Rapinoe (who did not appear vs. Netherlands) get some playing time. Teenage midfielder Alyssa Thompson should see the field as well in my opinion since Andi Sullivan is nothing special by any means.
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