USWNT vs Netherlands highlights, scores, stats: Women’s World Cup
USA 1-1 Netherlands
A game of two halves as the USA and Netherlands split the points
The game started with a frantic Netherlands and poised USA, a situation that quickly turned around with an amazing goal in the 17th minute from Jill Roord. The USA were all undone and flailed their way through the rest of the first half.
When the second half got underway, it wasn't that the USA had figured the Dutch out as much as they settled themselves into their own game. They regained their composure and won an equalizer on a fantastic set piece when Lindsey Horan headed a corner home with authority.
Both teams were scrappy and spirited in the final minutes, but in the end, there was little to differentiate the two teams, and the USA goes to the top of Group E with four points and a more favourable goal difference, while the Netherlands sit second.
The USA will go on to face Portugal while the Netherlands will face Vietnam to wind up the group play. Down the road, these two can meet again, and if both win the rest of their games, would theoretically repeat it all in the semi finals. Both teams are good enough to do it.
GOODBYE!
That is going to do it for our live commentary. We hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did. Keep up with all the FIFA Women's World Cup and sports action here on Diario AS USA and we hope to see you next time.
FULL TIME
That is going to be it, and both teams will have to settle for a draw. In the end, there was little to divide them and it ends here USA 1, the Netherlands 1.
There is a long delay here with Van De Donk down on the ground and being attended to. After a two minute break, play resumes.
NETHERLANDS SUBSTITUTION
The goalscorere Roord has been taken off in favor of Renate Jansen.
Both teams are going all out to end it now, neither one wanting to go away with a draw. That mindset is leading to some risk-taking by both keepers, who are coming a long way off their line to clear balls.
Five minutes of added time will be played.
NETHERLANDS SUBSTITUTIONS
Damaris Egurrola comes on for Katja Snoeijs and Kerstin Casparij replaces Victoria Pelova.
The corner won led to another and another before the Netherlands were finally able to clear the danger. More USA chances going begging.
CHANCE USA
The last ten minutes have been a war of attrition, with both sides exchanging possession in midfield, only the merest of probes into either end. After the Netherlands had a sniff at the USA goal, the USA took a shot of their own, with Rodman streaking up the left side and shooting one across the face of goal, well defended for a USA corner.
CHANCE NETHERLANDS
The Netherlands had a chance there, when a centered ball was shot and defended in front of goal, going behind for a corner. The corner came to nothing, but the Dutch were knocking on the door for a second there.
The USA has won another corner, this time from the left side. Rose Lavelle takes and floats one into the area for Horan. The keeper does well and takes it to end the threat.
Play has taken on a far more brisk pace on both sides now. Alex Morgan breaks away and scores a beautiful goal that will be disallowed as she was clearly offside. The USA has the wind at their backs here at the moment, and the Netherlands will have to dig deep to survive this assault.
USA GOAL
The USA wins another corner and what they lack in grace, they are making up for in tenacity.
Lindsey Horan gets onto the end on the take at the near post and heads it sharply into the goal! The USA has equalized!
Alex Morgan runs up the left wing and centers a great ball, but there is simply no help forthcoming in the middle. The ball goes out the other end and the USA has squandered yet another opportunity.
The USA gets a throw in deep in Dutch territoy and wins a corner. The take is cleared and the follow up is a wild shot well wide of the goal. Another wasted opportunity.
The second half pick up where the first left off and it would seem that referee Yamashita has finally left off the warnings as she reaches into her pocket to produce the first yellow card of the match. USA's Rose Lavelle is booked for an aggressive tackle.
SECOND HALF
The USA will kick off and the second half is underway now.
Another key element will be shots on target. The USA took 9 shots at the goal but only two were on target. The Netherlands took only 2 shots but 1 was on target, the goal. The USA is shooting wildly, almost blindly, and they will want to reel that in.
The lack of possession has been the key to the game for the USA. Through the first 45 minutes, they were only able to maintain control of the ball 39% of the time, compared to 61% by the Netherlands. Despite being a squad that depends on the long counter strikes, the sheer amount of time that the Netherlands were able to hang onto the ball made their eventual score inevitable. The USA will certainly want to address this in the second half.
Halftime
The USA takes one last shot at the Dutch goal before the halftime whistle, but like so many before it, the long, probing ball falls on fallow ground, with the Netherlands defense proving too solid, too impermeable for the American attack to slip through.
There is the whistle and the Americans will now have to go into the locker room and regroup. The second half will need to see a more focused plan on how to wear down a Netherlands defense that is clearly more up to the task than perhaps the USA thought coming into this game.
Halftime sees us with the Netherlands leading by a score of 1-0.
The US now has a wild, frantic air about them. They want desperately to equalize before the half. None of their passes are stitched together, however. The Dutch are simply frustrating everything that the Americans do.
The US is on the attack again, but now it is the Netherlands who look solid, confident, and poised. They maintain their shape and snuff out the attack in front of goal, working the ball out on the ground, not flailing wildly trying to clear the ball, but controlling it, walking it down the pitch.
The USA wins a corner and this is a good opportunity for them. It is taken at the near post and Julie Ertz gets her head on it and whips it toward goal. Just wide!
That was the USA's best chance so far.
USA now with a free kick, Naomi Girma takes and Alex Morgan's header is out the back harmlessly for a goal kick.
The intervening ten minutes since the Netherlands goal and the USA's response, has been scrappy and ugly. Both teams have stiffened at the back although the USA is throwing more bodies foreward regularly. Referee Yamashita has had to speak to both teams several times. So far, she has kept her cards in her pocket, but you feel that it won't be that way for very long if this keeps up.
Immediately upon the restart, the USA took a shot and came within a whisker of levelling the score. Brilliant save by the Dutch goalkeeper.
GOAL NETHERLANDS
The Netherlands went on the attack and it is now the USA's turn to be out of shape. A pass to the right wing sees an open goal, and one touch too many looks as if the USA may get away with one, but a centered ball for Jill Roord is smashed into the bottom left corner. Blinding shot, and a wonderful start for the Netherlands here.
The Netherlands look to be settling into this contest, winning more of the ball in midfield, holding their own in the one-on-ones. A hard tackle by Stefanie Van Der Gragt on Savannah Demelo draws a stern word from referee Yoshimi Yamashita. It could have been a yellow, but at this stage, she clearly felt that a warning was sufficient.
Another chance by the USA as Sophia Smitch lays one onto Savannah Demelo's left foot about 10 yards out and the midfielder puts it just wide of the mark.
The Netherlands get a throw in and now it is the turn on the USA to swarm the ball. A probing pass in front of goal by Crystal Dunn goes begging as not one but two Dutch defenders let it pass and Alex Morgan is just an inch or two behind it!
Here in the first minutes the Netherlands are swarming the ball in midfield, trying to establish some sort of control, but they are all out of shape doing it. The USA seems content to simply play the ball back to their own goal and bide their time.
When the USA gets onto the ball, there are flickers of their quality, flashes showing that they are unbothered by the Dutch numbers. Morgan dashes forward but the attack comes to nothing.
KICKOFF
Here we go! The Netherlands kicks off and we are off.
Yoshimi Yamashita leads a Japanese crew of referees for the game. Yamashita has been making waves in the J-League, as the 37 year old referee has become one of the most popular and successful in the Japanese men's game.
With the squads now at the ready, the anthems will now be played and we are only minutes away from kickoff!
The Haka
Both teams are ready to take the field and the traditional Haka is performed, bringing a hushed wonder to the stadium.
Trinity Rodman made her World Cup debut in the USWNT’s group stage match against Vietnam, starting in attack in the 3-0 Group E win. The exciting talent has represented the United States at senior, U-20, and U-17 level. She featured for her country at the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, playing a total of 165 minutes and providing one assist.
Read Kieran Quaile's assesment of the USA's bright future here.
Lineth Beerensteyn has been ruled out of tonight's match with an ankle injury, placing a dampner on the Netherlands chances.
Welcome to our live coverage of the USWNT’s Group E match against the Netherlands here in Wellington, New Zealand. The USA is favored to win the group but in order to get there, they will have their hands full with the Netherlands tonight.
The USA defeated the Dutch 2-0 in the 2019 World Cup Final and squeaked past them on penalty kicks after a 2-2 draw in the 2020 Olympics quarterfinals.
Leaning on superstars Lineth Beerensteyn, Lieke Martens and Sherida Spitse, the Dutch will put up an almighty struggle against the USA. And while the Americans are the team to beat in this World Cup, their defense can not soften, even for a minute, against this strong Netherlands attack.
The USA lost the first meeting between these two teams in 1991, before going on a run of eight consecutive wins. The Netherlands will be looking to break that streak tonight.