Horan takes it into her own hands, USWNT rallies to avoid Group Stage gut punch
Don’t make Lindsey Horan mad.
From the many things we learned from the United States-Netherlands draw, that is the most positive takeaway for American fans, and the most frightening sight for opposition. As USMNT legend Clint Dempsey would say: “Don’t tread on me.”
The USWNT tied the Dutch 1-1 in the second game of the World Cup Group Stage, leaving the two teams tied on four points entering the final game of the group. The winner of the group will likely come down to which team has superior goal difference.
“That’s where you get the best football from Lindsey,” Horan said, referring to herself in the third person. “I don’t think you ever want to get me mad because I don’t react in a good way. I just go and I want something more. I want to win more, I want to score more, I want to do more for my team.”
The fire under Horan’s belly began after a hard foul by Danielle van de Donk, Horan’s club teammate at Olympique Lyonnais. Horan hobbled off the field to receive treatment. With the score at 1-0, favoring the Dutch, Horan re-entered the fray a few moments later on a 60th minute corner kick, and found herself being marked by van de Donk. After Rose Lavelle’s pinpoint delivery, Horan darted toward the front post, leaving van de Donk in her wake. Horan, and her 5’9” frame jumped to meet the train at the station, powering her header home with venomous power. Dutch goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar was glued to the ground. The USWNT had leveled the game 1-1.
The USWNT found themselves down a goal via a Dutch dominance in the first half. Netherlands coach Andries Jonker out-coached Vlatko Andonovski, the U.S. manager on the game plan, and it showed from the outset. To no ones surprise, the Dutch came out with a 3-5-2 formation that looked to outnumber the U.S. in midfielder and match up one-on-one with the two American center backs. The Dutch commanded the middle of the park, picking the U.S. apart with their possession and cross-field passes. The U.S. tried to take advantage of the 3-v-3 shape with American’s dynamic attackers facing off against the slower Dutch defense trio, to no avail—mostly because the States hardly had the ball in the first 45 minutes.
“This was the intention,” Jonker said. “This is our quality, playing the ball from orange to orange. If anybody gives us the space to play, we’ll be the better team. What you need is the conviction of the group of players who can do this against No 1 in the world or the previous No 1 or one of the top teams in the world. They showed themselves that they can.”
The Japanese referee, Yoshimi Yamashita was too leniant on punishing the physical Dutch play that rattled the young USWNT. There were 28 fouls in the match but only one yellow card. The USA midfielder Savannah DeMelo and Netherlands midfielder Jackie Groenen were locked into frequent duels, with Groenen committing six fouls in the first half alone.
Delving into the midfielder duel further, the Netherlands’ demonstrated their authority in the center of the park on the first goal of the game. Lieke Martens beat Andi Sullivan, before switching the point of attack. On the initial Dutch cross, Crystal Dunn poked the ball away, but the American midfielders were too slow and not well positioned to step to the second-ball at the top of the box, where an unmarked Jill Roord placed the ball in the back of the net.
“We knew exactly what they were doing so I think in the first half we showed exactly what our plan was today,” Dutch defender Dominique Janssen said. “The second half I think they just pressed a bit better, gave us a little less space and for us, it was a bit harder to play. I think we got impatient but at the end of the day, 1-1, I think it’s a good score.
“We analyzed them and we saw that there were a few spaces available to play in,” Janssen continued. “We know we can play a possession game very well, I think it’s one of the characteristics of the Netherlands. So that was one of the things we could do and that we could show in the first half especially.”
At the intermission, adjustments for a trailing U.S. were essential, while a change was forced for the Netherlands. Andonovski brought on the Rose Lavelle, who helped move the ball faster in midfield, something DeMelo couldn’t quite do. Lavelle also was more comfortable on defense, tracking and picking off the Dutch passes. The Netherlands lost their center-back linchpin in Stephanie van der Gragt, a vital leader and organizer on the field, due to injury. How would the changes affect the second stanza?
The U.S. regained more control of the ball in the second half, and began to threaten the Netherlands with stronger ball-carrying in the midfield. Then, Horan got fouled hard by van de Donk, a corner was earned for the U.S. The States, who have historically been known for their set-piece adroitness—but had yet to convert on their efforts in the tournament—had Lavelle serving the ball into the danger area.
"I got a little heated and [van de Donk] got to hear it,"said Horan. "Julie [Ertz] came up to me in the box and she was like 'Linds, please, just don't get another yellow card. Just score this goal to shut everyone up.'"
And silence the Netherlands she did, letting off a cathartic leap in celebration. The USWNT continued to control the match, more chances came, but no game-winner materialized.
“No one was happy with our first-half performance, letting them have the ball a little bit too much,” Horan said. “We changed things and I’m proud of our team and how we responded in getting that goal.”
In the aftermath of the result, questions must be asked of how the States got their game plan so wrong and had to scramble to salvage a point. In the midfield, DeMelo was chasing shadows on defense and lacked the confidence on the ball to break lines with her passing or carry the ball forward. Again, Sullivan was invisible—in a negative way. She simply seemed to have no desire to get on the ball in a No.6 position expected to dictate play. After being at fault for the first goal, her defensive positioning and anticipation was off frequently. I simply do not understand what Andonovski sees in DeMelo and Sullivan to warrant starting them in the first two games of a tournament of this magnitude. For me, they are not up to the level and speed of play of the world’s stage.
On top of that, Andonovski rolled out the same starting XI that featured in the U.S.’s opener vs. Vietnam and made only one sub, effectively bringing on Lavelle at the half. As the Rush lyrics go, and how Fox Sports’ Alexi Lalas described it: “If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.” Over to you, Vlatko:
“We were around the goal the whole time, and I just didn’t want to disrupt the rhythm at that point because sometimes a substitute comes in and it might take a minute or two to get into a rhythm,” he said after the game. “We just didn’t want to jeopardize anything because I thought all three of our forwards were very good today, dangerous, created opportunities and were a handful.”
The worry is that the States will struggle with fatigue entering the final match of the Group Stage and the beginning of the knockout stage. You need strong depth to win the World Cup and trust all 23 players on the squad to do a job, if they are called upon, and the players—Lynn Williams, Ashley Sanchez, Sofia Huerta, Kelley O’Hara, Megan Rapinoe—that were not utilized will lack match sharpness when they will most likely be needed in the latter stages of the tournament, if this off-color U.S. team can even make it that far.
Is it true that the depth of this team is not the same of the potent 2019-winning squad? Yes, but the major concern is that Andonovski has no proven big-game success to point to during his tenure, and instead, has made manifold tactical decisions that left American fans scratching their heads. It was his choice to roll out almost the same team that won the 2019 World Cup in the 2021 Olympics only for the USWNT to play poorly and lack cohesiveness in multiple games and record an unimpressive third-place finish. More hurdles are coming, and Andonovski has not passed the first few with flying colors.
The final match day of the group will be a measure of goal differential, as both the U.S. and Netherlans will look to run up the score against inferior oppositions (USWNT vs. Portugal and Netherlands faces Vietnam) in order to top the group.
With an American performance that flattered to deceive, future opponents have a blueprint of where the USWNT is weak, and will look to expose it, unless the U.S can adapt to the competition, like they eventually did on Thursday.
But one thing opponents learned not to do is to make Horan angry.