There was truth in what the United States players were saying in the moments after their brush with World Cup infamy. The task for their game against Portugal on Tuesday had been to survive it and reach the knockout stage, they said, and that is precisely what they did.
Of course the U.S. players were not satisfied with a scoreless tie. They had all wanted to win the game. And of course they want to be playing better. But the job on Tuesday was to live to fight another day, and the United States woke up on Wednesday knowing it was still in the fight.
“It’s not like everyone’s sitting there like, ‘Wow, that was the most amazing performance we put together,’” the veteran defender Crystal Dunn said. “But that’s where you have to dig deep. That’s what it takes to win a World Cup. It’s not easy to do this.”
It will not get easier from here. By failing to beat Portugal, the United States dropped into second place in its group, and that means a matchup on Sunday in Melbourne against the winner of Group G, an opponent most expect to be Sweden.
Tougher games loom after that: a potential quarterfinal against Japan, and…
