Thursday’s meeting between the United States and the Netherlands was billed as the decisive match of Group E at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, but clarity will have to wait a few more days. They played out a draw in Wellington, New Zealand, in a first half dictated by the Dutch before Rose Lavelle entered the game and the Americans found their rhythm.
Jill Roord opened the scoring for the Netherlands in the 17th minute with a low strike from 17 yards that went through the USA midfielder Lindsey Horan’s legs and into the far side netting.
Lieke Martens broke through the USA midfield, evading a challenge from Andi Sullivan before hitting a ball wide to Victoria Pelova, who had two cracks at finding an open teammate. It was the first goal the USA have conceded in the group stage since their opening match of the 2015 World Cup against Australia and the first time they had trailed at a World Cup since their 2011 quarter-final against Brazil.
From there, the Dutch controlled the half in possession, frequently hitting big, diagonal balls to Pelova, who had space on the right side as the USA defense collapsed. The Americans struggled to string together passes in the final third, frequently settling for individual duels as the Dutch defense wobbled but did not break.
Lavelle’s entry to start the second half – and the Netherlands’ half-time substitution at center-back to take off the injured Stefanie van der Gragt – changed the match. The breakthrough came in the 62nd minute when Lavelle delivered the left-footed, inswinging corner kick to the head of Horan for the equalizer.
“No one was happy with our first-half performance, letting them have the ball a little bit too much,” Horan said. “We changed things and I’m proud of our team and how we responded in getting that goal.”
Horan’s goal came after the referee, Yoshimi Yamashita, pulled aside Horan and the Netherlands’ midfielder Daniëlle van de Donk to discuss an incident between the two.
“That’s where you get the best football from Lindsey,” Horan said of herself. “I don’t think you ever want to get me mad because I don’t react in a good way. I just go and I want something more. I want to win more, I want to score more, I want to do more for my team.”
Yamashita allowed a physical match to ensue without issuing any yellow cards in the first half. There were 28 fouls in the match but only one yellow card, for Lavelle for her first foul of the game. The USA midfielder Savannah DeMelo and Netherlands midfielder Jackie Groenen were locked into frequent duels, with Groenen committing six fouls in the first half alone.
Groenen said: “I think we really played some good football for the first 60 minutes and we know the qualities that we have on the ball. I think we have to look why we got pushed back so much in the end. Obviously, America’s got fast forwards and it was hard to keep that in control the whole game, so we have to look at that. In the end, I’m happy with a draw, but I think the first 60 minutes we were the better team, so it’s a bit happy-not happy.”
DeMelo started again in the No 10 position for the USA as the head coach, Vlatko Andonovski, deployed the same starting XI as he did in the team’s opening match against Vietnam.
The USA, with Lavelle on for DeMelo, were dominant on set pieces and continued to apply pressure from corner kicks – 11 on the day to only one for the Dutch – from the left foot of Lavelle. It nearly paid off again in the 83rd minute, when the Netherlands cleared a corner kick right to the feet of Sophia Smith at the edge of the box. Smith struck a stinging volley to the far post that was cleared off the line by Martens.
The Netherlands coach, Andries Jonker, said before the match that he would not waver from his 3-5-2 formation, and he stuck with it again on Thursday. Defensively, the system shaped up as a five-back low block, which the USA traditionally struggle to break down. That was the case again on Thursday in the first half.
“This was the intention,” Jonker said after the match. “This is our quality, playing the ball from orange to orange. If anybody gives us the space to play, we’ll be the better team. What you need is the conviction of the group of players who can do this against No 1 in the world or the previous No 1 or one of the top teams in the world. They showed themselves that they can.”
The winds shifted after half-time as Lavelle created in the middle of the park and the Americans applied pressure higher up the field. With Van der Gragt off, the Dutch had less “guts” to win 50-50 balls, Jonker said. It was clear on set pieces, in which the USA frequently looked to find Horan or Julie Ertz at the near post. The strategy paid off just after the hour mark, when Horan ran in front of Sherida Spitse for an uncontested header at the near post.
Alex Morgan also found more space centrally with Van der Gragt out of the game. She pulled the Dutch defense out of shape and opened up space for Smith and Trinity Rodman to run in behind.
Finishing was still at a premium for the USA, an issue Andonovski said the team needed to work on after the 3-0 win over Vietnam. The USA attempted 17 shots but put only three on target. Afterwards, however, Andonovski pointed to the positives and praised his team, noting that they gave up only four shots to a talented Netherlands team.
The 1-1 draw means the group winner will probably be decided by goal difference in the final matches, assuming the Netherlands and USA both win their final matches. The USA face Portugal and the Netherlands play Vietnam in simultaneous matches on Tuesday. The Americans currently top Group E with a superior goal difference.
“Going into the next game,” Andonovski said, “the first thing we’re looking into is winning the game and then we’ll go from there.”
