Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before: all the might and power of the United States of America, struggling to overcome the indomitable spirit and dogged determination of the Vietnamese.
This time, the Americans prevailed, securing a hard-fought 3-0 victory in Auckland to get their bid for a third consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cup crown off to a positive enough start. But Vietnam, making their very first appearance in either a men’s or women’s World Cup, won plenty of admirers for making them sweat.
Four years ago, the USA opened their World Cup campaign in France against another lowly ranked Asian nation in Thailand. They won 13-0, and showed precisely zero mercy.
Alex Morgan bagged five, tying the tournament record for most goals by an individual in a single match; her and her teammates celebrated each and every goal they scored, to the point where they were criticised for disrespectfully rubbing their dominance in the faces of their minnow opponents.
The fear – or, for Americans, the hope – was that this would be a repeat, and that the back-to-back reigning champions would run up another cricket – or, for Americans, baseball – score.
In the official pre-match press conference a Vietnamese journalist asked US coach Vlatko Andonovski: “Are you going to crush us like you did to Thailand?”
Lindsey Horan celebrates scoring the US’s thrid goal with Megan Rapinoe and Sophia Smith. Credit: AP
They didn’t. Vietnam and their team of little-known, lowly paid, part-time battlers – some of whom juggle jobs in restaurants, others who get by through selling clothes, cosmetics and even coconuts – refused to yield.
In pure quality terms, they were obviously outmatched, even accounting for some of the less familiar names in the US starting side – veteran Megan Rapinoe, this time sporting blue hair instead of the purple she had at France 2019, came off the bench for her 200th international appearance. Nor did Vietnam muster a single shot on goal themselves; the US finished with 28. But they would not be outworked.
Committing numbers behind the ball, they squeezed out every ounce of effort they had in them, blocking shots and clogging up passing lanes, while Vietnam’s goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh will probably be feted as a hero back home for turning the US away time and again.
There wasn’t much they could do about the Americans’ opening goal – a slick 14th-minute move in which Alex Morgan deftly flicked on a pass behind her to set up Sophia Smith, one of the team’s emerging superstars, and slice open Vietnam’s defensive structures.
American striker Alex Morgan and Vietnam’s goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh collide.Credit: AP
It was certainly not the last time they would be prised apart with relative ease – indeed, Smith added a second just before the break – but through an array of flying limbs and desperate challenges, the damage was limited to a legitimately remarkable degree.
Kim Thanh had a lot to do with it – when she saved a woefully taken penalty by Morgan in the first half, she celebrated with a double fist-pump, her teammates mobbed her, and the pro-Vietnam fans in the 41,107-strong crowd at Eden Park cheered as if they’d scored themselves.
Lindsey Horan scored the US’s third goal in the 77th minute, with Smith turning provider after winning the ball back in the penalty area and crossing in for her captain. But the floodgates never actually opened.
They probably should have – Rose Lavelle hit the crossbar in the second half, Rapinoe blazed a shot over an open net, and there were plenty of other wasteful moments.
Whether this was just one of those days in front of goal, or an early sign that the Americans aren’t the team they used to be, remains to be seen.
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