USWNT can't rely on captain's fury for World Cup wins. Hopefully Lindsey Horan's grit rubs off

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Maybe the U.S. women should try to make Lindsey Horan mad before every game.

The USWNT captain’s fury at a borderline dirty tackle from club teammate Daniëlle van de Donk proved to be the difference maker in a game the Americans really could not afford to lose. Horan scored on the very next play, her thunderous header off a corner kick in the 62nd minute salvaging a 1-1 tie with the Netherlands on Thursday.

A win would have been better, and the Americans have to hope they don’t come to regret their many missed chances over the final half-hour. The top of Group E is still up for grabs, with the USWNT currently having the edge on the Dutch with a plus-2 goal differential going into Tuesday’s group-stage finales.

But that fight from Horan, and the resilience the young Americans had to show, could end up being a positive for the defending champions. A potentially defining moment, too.

“I don’t think you ever want to get me mad, because I don’t react in a good way. Usually I just go and I want something more. I want to do more for my team and win these games,” Horan said.

“We’re going to see more and more of this in the World Cup,” she added. “It’s great for us to have this in the group stage, to feel that kind of pressure and feel such a great opponent. So now we move forward. We learned a few lessons from this game and now we focus on Portugal.”

The USWNT came into this World Cup famously inexperienced. Of the 23 players on its roster, 12 have never played in a major international tournament before. Only five starters have played in a World Cup previously, and one of them is goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.

Yes, the young Americans are talented. But a World Cup is a whole different beast, and there’ve been times in these first two games the USWNT hasn’t looked up to the task.

Like after giving up that goal to the Dutch in the 17th minute.

The U.S. women were dominating before that, creating spaces, connecting passes and looking very much like the No. 1-ranked team they are. After Jill Roord scored, however, the Americans looked flustered, overwhelmed and lethargic.

Bringing Rose Lavelle on to start the second half helped, but it wasn’t until Horan’s dustup with van de Donk that the USWNT started bossing the Netherlands around. Alex Morgan had a goal waved off for being offside. Trinity Rodman had a screamer that was just wide. Sophia Smith had a shot the Dutch had to clear off the line.

They had eight shots on goal in the second half, and spent so much time on the Netherlands’ side of the field the Dutch could have charged them rent.

“It’s huge. It’s huge. And it’s one thing to have an experienced team to do that, it’s a lot bigger with a younger team like this,” U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski said. “There’s lots of positives coming out of this game and going forward into next one.”

That isn’t just Andonovski trying to be positive. If the Americans do become the first team, men’s or women’s, to win three consecutive World Cup titles, it won’t be in a cakewalk. The game has gotten too good.

The USWNT is going to get pushed in the knockout rounds and is going to have to respond, and that isn’t something that can be taught in a video session or replicated in practice. It’s something that has to be experienced, so this game against the Netherlands was actually kind of perfect for the Americans.

The Dutch aren’t the same team as the one the USWNT beat in the 2019 Final – they’re missing Vivianne Miedema, for starters – but they’re still one of the toughest tests around. They’re very organized and tough defensively, and as van de Donk’s tackle showed, physical. They body opponents, doing as much as the referees will let them get away with.

To get a taste of that now, rather than for the first time in a win-or-go-home knockout-round game, is invaluable.

“I think we’re actually really fortunate to have a pretty tough group,” Smith said. “We know as soon as we make it out, it’s going to get harder. These are the games that we’re going to be expecting. So it was a good challenge for us, for sure.”

The next challenge is for the USWNT to show this kind of grit from the opening whistle. And not need Horan to get in a cage match to spark it.