The U.S. women’s national team hadn’t trailed in a World Cup match since 2011, but that quickly changed in Wednesday’s Group E matchup against the Netherlands.
In a rematch of the 2019 final, the USWNT fell behind after allowing a 17th-minute goal to Jill Roord. Yet, the hero from that 2019 final — Rose Lavelle — wasn’t even on the field at the time.
As the USWNT went down a goal in the match, fans desperately called for Lavelle to get subbed into the game. Lavelle was available for the match and made appearance in the Group E opener against Vietnam. But head coach Vlatko Andonovski had been skeptical about Lavelle’s readiness to play 90 minutes.
The reason: Lavelle injured her knee in the April 8 friendly against Ireland. And though the injury wasn’t seen as a longterm issue (unlike Mallory Swanson’s patella tear in the same game), Lavelle went three months without appearing for the USWNT. She trained with the squad and was able to make the World Cup roster, but as Andonovski said earlier, she’s not a 90-minute player yet.
Via The Athletic:
“We’re not going to force a lot of minutes from the very beginning but we’ll ease everything up as we move on.”
At halftime, Andonovski clearly thought that the team needed a spark, and he made the decision to sub Lavelle in to start the second half.
Rose Lavelle comes in to replace Savannah DeMelo 🔄 pic.twitter.com/LpWHwMfvxV
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 27, 2023
In the 62nd minute, Lindsey Horan evened the score on a corner delivered in from Lavelle.
LINDSEY HORAN SENDS THE ULTIMATE MESSAGE 🇺🇸
THE @USWNT HAS LEVELED IT 🤫 pic.twitter.com/IV7hnG4CyK
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 27, 2023
