In a replay of the 2019 Women’s World Cup final that included both of these teams, the United States and the Netherlands played to a 1-1 draw on Thursday at the Women’s World Cup in France.
The United States’ captain Lindsey Horan scored the equalizer for the United States in the second half of the match.
Jill Roord, a Dutch midfielder, scored the game’s opening goal in the first half to give the Group E match in Wellington the potential to have a significant impact.
Nevertheless, US captain Horan answered in the second half as the Americans retained their unblemished record at the World Cup since their loss in the 2011 final on penalties to Japan.
The most anticipated match of the group stage of the competition took place in a manner that was very unlike to the decisive match that took place in France four years ago, when the United States of America won easily by a score of 2-0 to keep their championship.
This time around, the Dutch were the superior team in the first half, finding chinks in the armor of the United States’ defense that were also there in their 3-0 victory against a weaker opponent, Vietnam.
In spite of the fact that they dominated the game’s latter phases, the Americans were unable to hit the back of the net. Their hot-and-cold performance brought an end to their streak of winning 13 consecutive World Cup matches in a row and placed some doubt on their standing as favorites to win the tournament once again.
After beginning their campaign with a victory of 1-0 against Portugal, the ninth-ranked Dutch seemed to be on their way to a similar outcome until Roord scored an astute goal in the 17th minute.
The new signing for Manchester City, who came off the bench in the final in Lyon four years ago, completed the game with a low drive from the outside of the box to hush thousands of US fans who had traveled to see the game. There were 27,312 people in attendance.
It wasn’t until the latter third of the game that the Americans found their offensive energy, and it seemed as if they were being ruffled by a frigid, whirling wind throughout that time.
Horan was able to find space in the box and score the second goal in the 2019 championship game by heading home a corner kick taken by replacement Rose Lavelle in the 62nd minute.
Horan had just recently been knocked to the ground by Danielle van de Donk when this event occurred. As a result of his fall, he required medical attention.
The resurgent United States then had two opportunities when they were quite close to finding a winner.
Alex Morgan, the striker, struck the back of the net, but the offside flag cut short her celebrations, and Lieke Martens, the goal-line defender, cleared the ball away from Sophia Smith’s bullet shot to prevent it from going in.
Before their final group games next Tuesday, in which the United States will play Portugal and the Netherlands will play Vietnam, neither side can say for certain that they will advance to the knockout round of the competition.