Captain America: 'Victory over Vietnam helps ease tensions'

"We could have scored more if we took advantage of the opportunity," said Lindsey Horan after the 3-0 win at Eden Park, Auckland on the morning of July 22. "Sometimes it happens but we're happy with the win. It eases the tension for the whole team."

Meanwhile, Megan Rapinoe assessed this as a good start when the US controlled the game completely. "What I want to see is the team holding the ball very well, creating many chances from many angles and keeping a clean sheet."

With outstanding class, the US controlled the ball 66%, launched 28 shots with seven on target and three of them on goal, with doubles from Sophia Smith and Lindsey Horan. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese rookie did not have any shots or corners.

Interspersed between America's first two goals was a missed penalty kick by veteran striker Alex Morgan. Goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh said she had carefully studied the video and caught the opponent's cards, and Morgan admitted that she kicked a bad 11m ball.

This was the first penalty saved by the US women's team since 2003 when Mia Hamm missed in the match against Norway. For Morgan personally, she missed her first penalty since 2020.

This victory helps the US to top Group E. The remaining match in the first leg is the Netherlands against Portugal tomorrow, July 23.

The 2023 Women's World Cup recorded penalties in the first six matches, but only three were successful, belonging to Stephanie Catley (the match Australia won 1-0 the Republic of Ireland), Ramona Bachmann (the match between Switzerland and the Philippines 2-0) and Riko Ueki (the match Japan beat Zambia 5-0). The four skaters are Ria Percival (New Zealand) won 1-0 Norway, Christine Sinclair (Canada) drew 0-0 Nigeria, Jennifer Hermoso (Spain) won 3-0 Costa Rica and the latest is Morgan.

In the next round on July 27, the US met the runner-up Netherlands, and Vietnam played Portugal.