There was fact in what the USA gamers had been saying within the moments after their brush with World Cup infamy. The duty for his or her recreation in opposition to Portugal on Tuesday had been to outlive it and attain the knockout stage, they stated, and that’s exactly what they did.
After all the U.S. gamers weren’t happy with a scoreless tie. They’d all wished to win the sport. And naturally they need to be taking part in higher. However the job on Tuesday was to reside to battle one other day, and the USA awakened on Wednesday figuring out it was nonetheless within the battle.
“It’s not like everybody’s sitting there like, ‘Wow, that was probably the most superb efficiency we put collectively,’” the veteran defender Crystal Dunn stated. “However that’s the place it’s a must to dig deep. That’s what it takes to win a World Cup. It’s not straightforward to do that.”
It is not going to get simpler from right here. By failing to beat Portugal, the USA dropped into second place in its group, and meaning a matchup on Sunday in Melbourne in opposition to the winner of Group G, an opponent most anticipate to be Sweden.
Harder video games loom after that: a possible quarterfinal in opposition to Japan, and maybe a showdown with Spain or a rematch with the Netherlands within the semifinals. However nobody was speaking concerning the semifinals on Tuesday evening.
“This end result was ok to to place us by way of to the subsequent spherical,” stated the U.S. co-captain Lindsey Horan, who was substituted as her workforce chased a purpose within the second half. “Nevertheless it’s not ok for us, and we all know that.”
As participant after participant and even Coach Vlatko Andonovski confronted questions, although, there was a sample to their self-criticisms and their evaluation of all that had gone fallacious that sounded not like an try to persuade others that every one was nicely, however a gross sales pitch to persuade themselves that the worst was over.
“Clearly, we need to win the video games,” Megan Rapinoe stated. “Clearly, we need to play nice and rating objectives, and we didn’t try this. So we all know that may be higher.”
Stated Andonovski: “I’m very assured with the group that we’ve.”
Confidence, although, is a humorous factor. The opposite day, the Individuals had been assured they might win the group. Assured that their new lineup would discover its footing. Assured that the objectives would come.
In opposition to Portugal, they didn’t. And now the one factor coming is a storm, of criticism, of fear, of second-guessing. The USA will hunker down and block that out, they stated. It might not be unprecedented in her personal profession, Morgan famous, for the U.S. to complete second within the group stage, rediscover its magic and go on a run to the ultimate.
However saying it and doing it are various things. On Wednesday morning, all of the Individuals had was a second likelihood. The place it goes from right here, or if it goes any additional than Melbourne on Sunday, is as much as them.
“I do know this workforce, and I do know what we’re able to,” Morgan stated. “And simply because it hasn’t clicked each second on the sector, and we’re not placing the objectives at the back of the web, doesn’t imply these aren’t the suitable gamers for the job. The arrogance is there. Now we simply need to show it out on the sector.”