{"id":2362,"date":"2019-07-07T22:39:50","date_gmt":"2019-07-07T22:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=2362"},"modified":"2026-07-09T17:33:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T17:33:47","slug":"the-united-states-won-the-womens-world-cup-for-a-record-fourth-time-as-they-eventually-overpowered-the-netherlands-in-lyon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2019\/07\/07\/the-united-states-won-the-womens-world-cup-for-a-record-fourth-time-as-they-eventually-overpowered-the-netherlands-in-lyon\/","title":{"rendered":"The United States won the Women&#8217;s World Cup for a record fourth time as they eventually overpowered the Netherlands in Lyon."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"USA v Netherlands | FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup France 2019 | THE FINAL\" width=\"1290\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_6VeZAZdff0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Megan Rapinoe&#8217;s penalty and Rose Lavelle&#8217;s fine run and finish gave  the defending champions victory in the second half, after resilient  first-half defending from the Dutch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Veteran winger Rapinoe&#8217;s \ncalmly-slotted opener came from a spot-kick awarded after a video \nassistant referee (VAR) review, at the end of a tournament in which the \nsystem has been a major talking point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barcelona defender Stefanie\n van der Gragt&#8217;s high boot caught USA striker Alex Morgan and French \nreferee Stephanie Frappart pointed to the spot after assessing replays, \nand the holders did not look back after taking the lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \nEuropean champions, reaching the final in only their second World Cup, \nkept the favourites at bay in the first half as former Arsenal \ngoalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal produced four excellent saves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But\n the USA, playing in their third consecutive final, continued their \nreign as the world&#8217;s finest side as they added to their titles of 1991, \n1999 and 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rapinoe&#8217;s goal also meant she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/48902004\">won the Golden Boot<\/a> after finishing with six goals and three assists, while she also took the Golden Ball award for the tournament&#8217;s best player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Victory for the USA saw their English-born boss Jill Ellis, from Hampshire, become the first coach to lift the trophy twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her\n side&#8217;s second consecutive world title was a hard-fought one, but they \nhave been the best side in a 24-team tournament that was fiercely \ncontested, despite facing more serious trophy contenders than four years\n ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They laid down a daunting marker in their first match of \nthe competition as they cruised to a 13-0 win over Thailand &#8211; the \nbiggest-ever victory at the finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Comfortable successes over  Chile and Sweden followed, before they faced three much more detailed  tests of their title credentials in the knockout rounds but battled to a  trio of 2-1 wins over Spain, hosts France and England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2015&#8217;s final in Canada, the USA took a 4-0 lead over Japan inside \n16 minutes, as a Carli Lloyd hat-trick helped them win 5-2, but the \nDutch posed a far stiffer test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sarina Wiegman&#8217;s side, who beat \nSweden in the last four on Wednesday, did well to absorb pressure from \nthe USA in the first half and counter attack with pace when they could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However,\n the Oranje created very few clear chances over the 90 minutes and \nwinger Tobin Heath spurned multiple opportunities to extend the USA&#8217;s \nlead late on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Champions making headlines on and off the pitch<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\n Stars and Stripes became only the second nation to successfully defend a\n Women&#8217;s World Cup title, after Germany did so in 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But their \noutstanding squad of players have generated headlines off the field as \nwell as on it during an absorbing 52-match tournament in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rapinoe,\n who scored twice in their last-16 tie and did so again in the \nquarter-final, made front-page news during the tournament by saying she \nwould <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/48792042\">reject a hypothetical invitation to the White House,<\/a> for which she was criticised by US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ellis&#8217;s  team were sometimes accused of being arrogant &#8211; and even branded  disrespectful when striker Morgan celebrated her semi-final goal against  England by pretending to sip a cup of tea &#8211; but their confidence has  ultimately been fully justified by their impressive defence of their  title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their 2-0 win in front of a capacity crowd of 57,900 at the Stade de \nLyon saw them lift the title in Europe for the first time, after \ntriumphs in China, on home soil and in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Scoring 26 goals \nover their seven matches in France, they set a new record for a single \nWorld Cup campaign, while 34-year-old Rapinoe became the oldest player \nto score in a final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her penalty took her narrowly above team-mate Morgan and England&#8217;s Ellen White to win the Golden Boot award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\n came after Van Veenendaal had kept the USA at bay in a frenetic spell \ntowards the end of the first half, first saving from Julie Ertz&#8217;s \npowerful strike &#8211; the final&#8217;s first shot on target after 28 minutes &#8211; \nbefore denying Samantha Mewis and keeping out two Morgan efforts, the \nfirst of which hit the post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8216;They&#8217;ve made history&#8217; &#8211; what they said<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>United States boss Jill Ellis, speaking to BBC Sport: <\/strong>&#8220;This is an amazing group of players &#8211; they showed fantastic resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;They\n put their hearts and souls into this journey, I cannot thank them \nenough. I could barely speak immediately after the game but I told them \nthey had made history and to enjoy it.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>USA co-captain Megan Rapinoe: <\/strong>&#8220;It&#8217;s\n unbelievable just to know all of the people in our group have put in so\n much work. We have all our friends and family here, it is surreal.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">USA&#8217;s record-breaking run &#8211; the stats<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>USA  attacker Megan Rapinoe is the second player in history to start three  Women&#8217;s World Cup finals (2011, 2015, 2019) after Germany&#8217;s Birgit Prinz  (1995, 2003, 2007).<\/li><li>The USA scored 26 goals at the 2019 Women&#8217;s World Cup, the most by a team at a single tournament in the competition&#8217;s history.<\/li><li>Rapinoe  became the first player to score a penalty in a Women&#8217;s World Cup  final, as well as being the oldest scorer in a final (34 years and two  days).<\/li><li>This was a 12th consecutive victory at the Women&#8217;s World  Cup for the USA &#8211; the longest run in World Cup history (men&#8217;s and  women&#8217;s).<\/li><li>Netherlands goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal made eight  saves in this match &#8211; the most by a goalkeeper in a knockout stage match  at the 2019 Women&#8217;s World Cup.<\/li><li>Since failing against Australia  in July 2017, the USA have scored in 45 consecutive matches in all  competitions, netting 148 goals and scoring at least twice in each of  their past 12 games.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"USA v Netherlands | FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup France 2019 | THE FINAL\" width=\"1290\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_6VeZAZdff0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Megan Rapinoe&#8217;s penalty and Rose Lavelle&#8217;s fine run and finish gave the defending champions victory in the second half, after resilient first-half defending from the Dutch. Veteran winger Rapinoe&#8217;s calmly-slotted opener came from a spot-kick awarded after a video assistant referee (VAR) review, at the end of a tournament in which the system has been [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6409,12],"tags":[11261,2363,285,5304,7953,3347,641,2735,10387,1953,189,8908,9171,10339,1258,7712,6621,9505,5455,5575,6351,6225,7090,66,803,2959,2361,5205,3874,4696,7699,8126,1620,12309,286,11973,13256,3805,1920,2360,11259,4293,5818,1378,3885,7419,9262,6348,11331,2858,10885,8033,6571,2982,5320,10415,36,5248,594,7082],"class_list":["post-2362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","category-world-news","tag-accused","tag-alex-morgan","tag-arsenal","tag-attack","tag-attacker","tag-australia","tag-barcelona","tag-bbc","tag-campaign","tag-canada","tag-chile","tag-coach","tag-crowd","tag-dutch","tag-england","tag-english","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-family","tag-france","tag-french","tag-friends","tag-games","tag-germany","tag-goalkeeper","tag-japan","tag-jill-ellis","tag-july","tag-lead","tag-lloyd","tag-lyon","tag-match","tag-megan","tag-men","tag-netherlands","tag-one","tag-players","tag-president","tag-samantha","tag-sarina-wiegman","tag-shot","tag-spain","tag-strike","tag-sweden","tag-thailand","tag-the-game","tag-united-states","tag-us","tag-us-president","tag-us-president-donald-trump","tag-victory","tag-video","tag-white","tag-white-house","tag-women","tag-work","tag-world","tag-world-cup","tag-who","tag-world-title"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2362"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52130,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362\/revisions\/52130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}