By Samindra Kunti in Auckland
August 1 – Defending world champions the United States survived a major scare against Portugal to squeeze through to the knockout phase of the Women’s World Cup, but following the goalless stalemate the Americans downplayed the gravity of their disappointing form.
The US were inches away from going out of the tournament when Ana Capeta rattled the woodwork in the 92nd minute after a disciplined Portugal had gone toe-to-toe with the title holders, restricting their opponents to a limited number of opportunities. It was one of the worst performances by the United States in living memory, and as a consequence, they finished runners-up in Group E behind the Netherlands who thrashed Vietnam 7-0.
“To question the mentality of this team, to question the willingness to win, to compete, it’s insane,” said US manager Vlatko Andonovski. “ I’ve never seen this team step on the field and not try hard and not compete.”
“I’m very confident with the group that we have that can execute this, and some of these things, it did show in the previous game as well, but we also saw how good it looks when we execute it. So, against a top opponent like the Netherlands, now going forward, we just have to find those moments, get on the same page and execute them in the next game.”
The Americans have struggled for goals with their front three of Alex Morgan, Sophia Smith, and Trinity Rodman – replaced by Lynn Williams against Portugal – failing to gel. In midfield, Rose Lavelle, a bright spot in two substitute appearances against Vietnam and the Netherlands, failed to set the tempo and instead will be suspended for the round of 16 match after receiving another caution.
Veteran star Megan Rapinoe, who came off the bench at the hour mark, said she was not too worried by the performance levels of the team.
“There are things that we could do better from the last couple of games, but I’m not going to dwell on it,” explained Rapinoe.
“It is what it is. We got out of the group what we wanted to get out of the group, which is to get to the next round,” said Rapinoe. “Obviously, we want to win the games. Obviously, we want to play great and score a bunch of goals. We didn’t do that, so we know that that can be better and that has to be better moving forward.”
The United States will meet the winner of Group G – most likely to be Sweden – in the last 16.
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