United States 1-1 Netherlands (July 27, 2023) Match Analysis

The Orange women drew against the United States in their second group game of the World Cup on Wednesday night. The replay of the 2019 World Cup final ended 1-1. The Netherlands took the lead in the first half through Jill Roord, but the United States equalized in the second half through Lindsay Horan.

Ahead of this crucial group match, the focus in recent days has been on the fitness of Lynette Bierenstein, who was injured in her World Cup opener. The attacker didn’t match in time, so Katja Snoijs got a chance from Andries Jonker. Also, the national coach selected the same ten names in his familiar 5-3-2 formation.

Orange is useful

In the opening stages, the defending champions put the Netherlands under immediate pressure. Jonker’s team mainly held back, but played excellent football at times. For example, after playing for more than fifteen minutes. Leek Martens created a lot of space with a good move and passed the ball to Viktoria Belova, who got the ball to Rourde in two instances. The attacking midfielder immediately pulled the trigger without thinking twice. Her shot from the edge of the box was too powerful for experienced goalkeeper Alyssa Neher to give the Dutch a 0-1 lead against the odds with their first shot on target.

For the USA, it marked their first loss in a World Cup match since July 10, 2011. It was in the quarter-finals against Brazil at the time. The Americans trailed 2-1 in overtime thanks to Marta’s second goal, but eventually won on penalties.

Immediately after the opening goal, the United States fired at the Dutch goal. Trinity Rodman tested Daphne van Domselaar from distance, but the Dutch goalkeeper was able to turn away. Dominic Johnson also scored a try for the Netherlands from the second row in the 29th minute. Her effort landed on the roof of the goal. It was also the last real achievement in the first half.

The battle for the midfield

In midfield, Jocki Kroenen, playing in his 100th international, made several tackles against Portugal. She won the battle for midfield against American Savannah DeMelo in the first half. The two engaged in several fierce battles. Referee Yoshimi Yamashita had the cards in his pocket in the first half, although DeMelo came close as he became frustrated.

Van der Gracht remains behind

The Netherlands started the second half without Stephanie van der Gracht. In the first group match, the goalscorer was sent off in the first half and left behind in the dressing room. Aniek Nouwen lined up for her.

After the break, Yamashita immediately picked up a yellow card. DeMelo’s replacement Ross Lavelle got the game’s first draw with a hard tackle on Cronen five minutes into the second half.

Horan will lead the United States next to the Dutch team

By missing out, the Netherlands lost a dominant force at the back. USA’s corner kicks were dangerous throughout the game and scored in the 62nd minute. Captain Lindsay Horan headed home from a post near America.

Five minutes later, the Americans made it 2-1 through Alex Morgan, but his goal was disallowed for offside. In the second half, things looked less for the Netherlands. So Jonker intervened and dropped striker Snoijs for controlling midfielder Damaris Egurola.

A thrilling finale

With the score tied at 1-1, the teams entered a thrilling final. In the eightieth minute, the Netherlands looked dangerous again in front of goal. Esmee Brugts was the final stop in the Dutch attack, played well. Her attempt was crushed at close range by American defenses.

Both teams continued to fight for victory. Two minutes later, Rodman, daughter of former basketball legend Dennis Rodman, drove deep and eventually shot wide. After that goal attempt, the USA had a series of dangerous corner kicks in quick succession. One of them had to go out of line with Martens.

This later turned out to be the last major danger in the group stage. Both the teams were tied 1-1 with one point in the match. With this, both the Netherlands and USA teams reached four points. The other two nations in Group E, Portugal and Vietnam, are still on zero points and will play later.