Millions of soccer fans across the world have been dying from anticipation since the arrival of the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup. Hosted in Australia, professional women’s soccer teams from across the world are coming together to compete for the title of 2023’s Women’s World Cup Champions.
With the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) being two-time reigning champions and four-time winners of the World Cup, fans were expecting the U.S. to take home another World Cup trophy with ease; however, to much disappointment, that has proven not to be the case this year.
The U.S. team was eliminated from the tournament during their fourth game in the knockout stages. Many people are critiquing the USWNT’s mediocre performance thus far, and for a good reason. It is no secret that the players have been off their game these past few weeks.
On July 22nd, team USA played their first game against Vietnam. They were able to secure a 3-0 win, but it was not exactly a pretty game. They were continuously shooting the ball off-frame, but managed to get three in the back of the net. In addition, the players panicked when they had the ball, executing poorly on simple passes and shots.
On July 27th, the USA and the Netherlands faced off in a hectic match that ultimately ended with a 1-1 tie. The first goal scored by the Netherlands was a product of poor and unorganized defending on behalf of the U.S.
Again, the USWNT had a very hard time finding the goal when taking shots, either shooting off-frame, or right to the hands of the Netherlands goalie. The USA goal, scored by Lindsey Horan was a beautiful header coming from a corner kick. It only took an aggressive foul from the Netherlands to get her riled up enough to score. The U.S. could have secured a win when another goal was scored by Alex Morgan, but her run was offside, and the goal was not counted.
On August 1st, the USA and Portugal went head to head. The result of this match was a 0-0 tie. During this game, USWNT player, Rose Lavelle earned herself a yellow card. According to the tournament’s rules, a player that receives two yellow cards in two different games, must be suspended for their next game. After receiving a yellow card against Netherlands and her second against Portugal, Lavelle was forced to sit out of the upcoming match against Sweden.
While in overtime, each team scraped for a goal hoping they would be the first to score, and end the match with a win. Portugal came very close to a goal when a shot was fired and hit off of the right goal post. Many people have joked about how lucky the US got, and ultimately they are right. That goal post saved the USWNT from losing that game!
Despite having one win and two ties, the U.S. team was able to make it to the knockout stages of the tournament. They played Sweden on August 6th, where they sadly lost in an overtime match of penalty kicks.
Throughout the game, the USWNT had many chances to score, and took many shots, but the Swedish keeper, Zećira Mušović, saved all of the potential goals, keeping Sweden in the game.
After ending overtime with a tie, both teams were forced to compete in a penalty kick (PK) shootout. The U.S. showed promise in the beginning, making their first few shots and USWNT goalie, Alyssa Naeher, even saving a PK from Sweden.
But then after Sophia Smith, Megan Rapinoe, and Kelly O’Hara all missed their shots, they put the US behind, ultimately leading Sweden to a win that advanced them into the quarter finals.
There were many emotions following the USWNT’s last match. All the players were clearly devastated and even in disbelief at the fact that they had been eliminated from the World Cup.
Over the years, the USWNT has built this reputation around them for being one of the best women’s sports teams in the world. Going into this year’s World Cup, expectations were high and the room for error was zero.
Ultimately, these players are human, and bound to make mistakes, but the displays from some of the nation’s favorite players were disappointing. Fans were left angry and confused at how the USWNT was prematurely eliminated from this year’s World Cup tournament.
