U.S. women’s national team veteran Megan Rapinoe watched anxiously from the sidelines as the American side managed a daunting 1-1 against the Netherlands on Thursday night, claiming afterwards ‘I think I could’ve helped’.
The Dutch sought revenge for the 2019 World Cup final, outplaying the USWNT with tenacity in opening minutes before securing the lead with Jill Roord’s goal. Though Lindsey Horan eventually found the equalizer in the second half, scoring a header off of a Rose Lavelle corner kick, the team could’ve done more.
In a heavily criticized decision, head coach Vlatko Andonovski only made one substitution in 90 minutes, bringing on only Lavelle for Savannah DeMelo for the second half to leave the bench earning for minutes.
“I think I could’ve helped, Lynn could’ve helped,” said Rapinoe.
“All of us on the bench, we think we should be on the field as much as players on the field think that they should be on the field. Every player on the field that starts the game thinks that they should play 90 minutes, and every player who doesn’t, who’s a sub, thinks that they should be on at some point.
“We’re always ready. We know at some point during this tournament, obviously, the bench will be huge. That’s a huge asset of ours, a huge reason why we’ve been so successful with this group and obviously historically, winning championships in our past.”
The head coach defended his decisions by stating he didn’t want to ‘disrupt the rhythm’ of those already on the field.
“I think that they were giving everything and still creating chances up till the very end,” added Rapinoe.
But still, the team walked away disappointed with one point.
“We’re unsatisfied with the way that we’ve played, but we know the areas that we can be better, and I think there’s some really simple fixes that we can do to put ourselves in a better position to have more joy on the ball, especially in the final third,” Rapinoe said before revealing what the team needs to change for the upcoming match against Portugal on Tuesday.
“If we keep the field spread and keep our width and keep threatening in behind things will open up quite a bit more.”
Vlatko Andonovski’s side now needs a victory against Portugal and a positive goal difference to top the group, or a draw and Dutch victory against Vietnam to qualify in second place.
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