SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
A little take down brought some jawing and recently engaged Lindsay Horan followed with the tying goal as the United States drew with the Netherlands 1-1 in Wednesday’s Women’s World Soccer Cup first round match played in Wellington, New Zealand.
Down 1-0 after the Dutch struck initially on a first half tally by Jill Roord to surprise the Americans, it was an angry Horan who responded in the second half with a header off a corner kick from Rose Lavelle in the 62nd minute.
That turned into the deadlock that had both teams in Group E with a win each in the four-team bracket, each with four points apiece, but the U.S.A. with the edge in goals regarding the next round, the one of 16-teams.
The red, white and blue had opened with a 3-0 zip over Vietnam and the Netherlands had turned in a 1-0 win over Portugal, which leaves the Dutch to play the Vietnamese and the United States to face Portugal on Tuesday.
With the tie, neither team secured a spot in the knockout round yet with the one match remaining. But currently the Americans have the advantage with more points that takes on the win and draw, and the edge for the lead with more points.
Thus, both will be looking to score in the key upcoming matches.
The little take down involved Horan and Lyon France club teammate Danielle Van de Donk. Horan was very angry after being knocked intentionally to the ground by Van de Donk not long into the second half.
Horan was so upset she began jawing with the much smaller Van de Donk, then they went face-to-face and Horan retaliated with a knock down shove of her own, then walked away in a huff with a few curse words. Van de Donk in turn just shrugged her shoulders.
Not long after, it was Lavelle assisting Horan with a header that found Horan just outside the goal, and the two celebrated. Horan’s shot was right on target and she even tossed in a few words in the direction of Van de Donk.
“Honestly,” said Horan, “me and Dan always go up against each other and it’s a physical battle. I respect her so much because that’s how it should be, competitive at all times. Once we got through that, all I wanted to do was score.”
Horan said she got the ball from Lavelle and before it even crossed the goal line, her expression showed she was on target.
Meanwhile, the U.S. plays Portugal in its group Tuesday in Auckland, New Zealand, and the Dutch play Vietnam the same day in Dunedin.
The game was a rematch of the 2019 Women’s World Cup final, a 2-0 triumph by the United States in a game contested in Lyon. It was the Americans second straight championship trophy and now they are in quest of a record third in a row and fourth overall.
Roord’s strike from atop the box went quickly through Horan’s legs to put the Netherlands ahead in the 17th minutes.
Dominique Jannen of the Dutch had a good chance from a distance in the 29th minute, but U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher jumped for it and the ball skirted over the crossbar and into the netting.
Horan’s hooker off a cross in the 35th minute went wide left as the pace became more frenzied with halftime looming.
Meanwhile, Lavelle, who was hampered by a knee injury in the run-up to the World Cup, came in as a substitute for Savannah DeMelo to start the second half. She had scored one of the goals in the World Cup final four years ago.
Now it’s the goals in first round play that can make the difference. Can the Vietnam defense make stops, can the United States tally versus Portugal? Can Horan and Van de Donk settle down?
