The U.S. women’s national team was far from its best against the Netherlands, struggling for a long spell in the middle of the match before recovering for a 1-1 draw.
Jill Roord’s goal on the first shot conceded all tournament by the USWNT deflated the group, and until Dutch star Daniëlle van de Donk clattered into club teammate Lindsey Horan, it was starting to get hard to see a way back in for the favored Americans.
However, Horan — after a fairly heated argument with van de Donk in the seconds that followed — powered home a header, and the U.S. took the game over for the final half-hour.
The good news? Those final minutes were the “real” USWNT. The bad news? They arrived for a reason the team can’t control, and since a winner didn’t arrive (nor did any substitutions after Rose Lavelle’s entry at halftime), the flaws on the day aren’t going to be papered over by three points.
With all that in mind, let’s dig into who delivered, and who didn’t.
As a reminder, here’s the Pro Soccer Wire player rating scale:
Our scale:
- 1: Abysmal. Literally any member of our staff would have been been able to play at this level.
- 6: Adequate. This is our base score.
- 10: Transcendent, era-defining performance. This is Carli Lloyd vs. Japan in the 2015 final.