WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Some of the big questions surrounding the U.S. women’s national team heading into this World Cup revolved around its relative inexperience. Could the team, with 14 players performing in their first World Cup, deal with the pressure cooker environment? Could they handle moments when things weren’t going their way, especially against the best teams in the world?
The final answers to those queries won’t come until later, but one question was answered in the affirmative in the 1-1 draw with Netherlands. Can the U.S. take a punch? You betcha. Shoulder charges, too.
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For much of the opening 60 minutes, the U.S. was losing the battle in all manners of ways. The Dutch possession game was humming with metronome-like efficiency. This was reflected on the scoreboard, with Netherlands ahead 1-0 following Jill Roord‘s 17th-minute goal.
The physical encounters taking place on the field were going Netherlands’ way as well. It certainly didn’t help that referee Yoshimi Yamashita was taking the lightest of hands when it came to…
