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    Spain, With Flourishes, Bounds Into Women’s World Cup Quarterfinals

    When you think about it, even the own goal was impressive.Yes, Spain scored fives times in its 5-1 victory against Switzerland on Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Yes, the goals had come in all types, a veritable tapas menu of how to put the ball in the net: nifty passing, fancy footwork, opportunistic finishes.But even the own goal, the one that Spain defender Laia Codina wishes she had back, the one that ensured that Switzerland’s humbling exit from the World Cup was not a shutout, was a looker — a smooth finish in which Codina caught her own goalkeeper out of position and beat her cleanly from near midfield.OH NO, IT’S AN OWN GOAL FROM SPAIN 🤯 pic.twitter.com/eTfLdXfB1d— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) August 5, 2023
    It was a self-inflicted wound, but not a deadly one. Spain was back on top six minutes later thanks to Alba Redondo.Aitana Bonmatí made it 3-1 with some wonderful footwork that left at least two Swiss defenders lying on the grass around her. Codina atoned for her own goal with one into the correct net just before halftime, and Jenni Hermoso pounced on an errant backpass to make it five midway through the second half.But Spain knew it was over long before that. It will move on, to face the winner of Sunday’s Netherlands-South Africa game in the quarterfinals, the latest step in a reconstruction project that began after the team nearly broke apart in a mutiny against its coach, Jorge Vilda, last year. That project now will continue for at least one more game, and with the players brimming with confidence.The victory was the team’s first in the knockout rounds of the major tournament. Given how comprehensive it was, it might not be its last in this World Cup. More

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    Inside U.S. Team, a Campaign to Avert Disaster Gets Personal

    Blocking out criticism they call “noise,” Lindsey Horan and other veterans are taking a one-on-one approach to turning around their World Cup fortunes.In the days since the United States team narrowly avoided an embarrassing early elimination from the Women’s World Cup, Lindsey Horan, its co-captain, has been working the room.Horan wants a word, with many of the team’s veterans but especially the 14 World Cup rookies. So she has been tapping teammates on their shoulders and knocking on their hotel room doors and pulling them aside in training. Hey, she might say, can we chat for a few minutes?The message Horan has taken to every player in the dressing room is a simple one. Ignore “the noise” from critics of the team’s play. Embrace the high expectations that shadow the U.S. team. Remember why you started playing this game in the first place.“Find the joy,” Horan says, and the team will find its way.Perhaps as much as any U.S. player, Horan, who was named co-captain less than a month ago, has shouldered the burden of its uneven performances at this World Cup. Much has gone wrong, she admitted on Thursday, days before the United States will face Sweden in a round-of-16 match in Melbourne that will end the World Cup for one of them. But she has seen good things, too. And she has seen enough to know it can all snap back into place quickly. Because it has before.“Once we get a little bit more of that joy back and, you know, that feeling, things are going to move a bit better on the field,” Horan said. “We’re going to have more rhythm; we’re going to have more confidence.”Joy has been in short supply the last two weeks. The U.S. team came into the World Cup as the favorite to win it, but it is far from living up to its potential. The team lacks chemistry, despite its repeated claims to possess it in abundance. It has struggled to score goals, producing only four in three matches. Game after game, it has looked disorganized, or frustrated, or on its heels. In many ways, it has been the worst showing of the United States ever at this tournament. And it can still get worse.Everyone — those on the outside and the players and coaches inside the team’s bubble — knows what’s at stake for the U.S. team as it prepares to play Sweden. Its reputation as the best women’s soccer program in history, a four-time World Cup champion, a team that has never been knocked out of the tournament before the semifinals, hangs in the balance.In this edition of the World Cup, the United States has looked anything but invincible. And in Sweden it is facing a team that knows it as well as any other. The teams have met six times at the World Cup, and in every edition since 2007. The U.S. holds the upper hand in those meetings, having lost only one of them, but Sweden has its victories, too: It eliminated the United States in the quarterfinals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and then humbled it again at the Tokyo Games in 2021.Now Sweden has breezed through the group stage, winning all three of its games and outscoring its opponents by 9-1. It is dangerous and also well-rested going into Sunday’s match, having benched a half dozen regulars in its final group game against Argentina.The U.S., meanwhile, will be without its midfield engine Rose Lavelle, who is suspended after receiving two yellow cards in the group stage. And it has been buffeted by critics, including a few it knows well. Tobin Heath, a World Cup winner in 2015 and 2019, suggested on her new podcast that the team had become tactically isolated, and perhaps a little naïve. Carli Lloyd, the former star U.S. midfielder who is working as a television analyst for the tournament, tore into the team, saying it had lost its passion and appeared to be taking its past success for granted. Opponents, she said, had lost their fear of the Americans because they could see the team’s “arrogance.”Horan bristled at that remark. “For anyone to question our mentality, you know, hurts a little bit,” she said. “But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. I don’t really care.”Instead, Horan, 29, said she and several of the team’s most experienced players have taken it upon themselves to try to close ranks, and to persuade their teammates to start to believe in themselves again.After the Portugal game ended in a 0-0 draw, Kelley O’Hara, a defender competing in her fourth World Cup, leaned into the team’s huddle to deliver a forceful speech about drawing a line under the group stage and seeing how the knockouts offered a fresh start.Then she stood on the field side-by-side with Trinity Rodman, the young forward, while gesturing to spots on the field in an impromptu coaching session. Megan Rapinoe, another longtime veteran now relegated to a substitute’s role, has pulled teammates aside at halftime of matches and in training and in the hotel to share what she is seeing, to offer her experiences as counsel. Horan’s co-captain, Alex Morgan, has urged the team to rediscover its swagger.Some of Horan’s moments of leadership have been unspoken, like when she stood up to a challenge from the Netherlands team and scored a tying goal.John Cowpland/Associated PressAll the while, Horan has continued to make the rounds, to offer words of encouragement behind closed hotel-room doors, in training sessions and at team meals. She has been a conduit to carry the team’s ideas to the coaches, and a messenger to bring them back. She has spoken up, but also taken time to hear people out.The World Cup rookies are listening. Lynn Williams, a fixture on the team for years now taking part in her first World Cup. She said she had seen Horan take players aside and speak to the team’s coaches. The meetings, she said, take place one on one and in small groups, and they happen anywhere, and at any time. Sometimes, the messages are even unspoken, like the moment Horan shook off a hard challenge by a Netherlands player, strode to the penalty, shoved her aggressor in the chest and scored the tying goal.“Not only is she leading by like words, but also by example,” Williams said. “So, yeah, I think she’s done a really good job and in rallying the group and keeping us together.”Sitting at a table in front of reporters, Williams turned to Horan and said, “Thanks, Lindsey.” More

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    At the World Cup, the Field Thins and the Contenders Expand

    After 48 games, half of the teams have been sent home. And yet it feels as if the field of potential winners is bigger than it was at the start.There are a few things that can be known for certain. Canada, the Olympic champion, will not add a Women’s World Cup to its list of honors this year. Marta, the Brazilian star, will not end her career with the one international trophy that has eluded her. And Germany, somehow, managed to engineer its own exit despite winning its first game by six goals. Three superpowers, from three continents, are out.At the end of two weeks, this World Cup has incontrovertibly delivered on its stated aim — to provide a stage on which women’s soccer’s simmering revolution might burst into life. That is about as far as the certainty stretches. Nigeria beat Australia. Colombia overcame Germany. The United States could not score against Portugal. Jamaica held France at bay.That unpredictability, that sense of old hierarchies and longstanding orders being overturned on a daily basis, has illuminated the World Cup, of course. After 48 games — three quarters of the tournament — half of the teams have been sent home, and yet it feels as if the field of potential winners is broader than it was even two weeks ago.In part, that is testament to the spirit, talent and organization of the teams — Jamaica, South Africa and Nigeria — that have gate-crashed what many had assumed would be a party for the richer nations of North America, Europe and Australasia. To some extent, though, it can be attributed not just to the strength of those new contenders, but to the weakness of the squads assumed to be at the head of the field.The United States is, strictly speaking, still on track for a third straight world title. Australia, co-hosting with New Zealand, eventually emerged unscathed from its group. And most of Europe’s squadron of contenders — England, Spain, France, Sweden and the Netherlands — is present, too.It would be an exaggeration, though, to suggest that any of them look entirely convincing. The United States was the width of a goal post away from group-stage elimination against Portugal. Vlatko Andonovski’s team has looked insipid in all three of its games. It has won only one, the first, against Vietnam. Against more polished opposition, the U.S. has seemed to lack both ideas and inspiration.The United States faces Sweden on Sunday. The loser is out.Andrew Cornaga/Associated PressIt has not been the most convincing start to the defense of its trophy, as several former members of the team — all working in the news media — have noted. Tobin Heath, Christen Press and Carli Lloyd have all offered a little friendly fire in the days since the United States’ scoreless draw with Portugal; their assessments, certainly, have been less glowing than those of the first lady, Jill Biden. That feedback may help to bind the squad together. It may have a galvanizing effect. It may not.As they attempt to work through the team’s issues and find some sort of patchwork solution, Andonovski and his staff will take small solace in the fact that almost every one of the Americans’ peers and rivals has experienced similar teething problems. This year, few teams have been immune from the joyous chaos of the tournament.Australia has lost its captain, its goal threat and its talisman — three roles, one Sam Kerr — and, until that demolition of Canada, it had started to show. It squeezed past Ireland and lost to Nigeria, all while seeming a little dazed and directionless in the absence of Kerr, who was supposed to be this tournament’s star.If Kerr can recover from her calf injury, then the Australian become a formidable prospect. If she cannot, then it is hard not to feel they are just a little diminished.Halimatu Ayinde and Nigeria brushed aside Australia to become one of three African teams in the round of 16.Patrick Hamilton/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesA similar suspicion lingers over England, the reigning European champion. Sarina Wiegman’s team has won all of its games relatively comfortably. It sealed first place in its group with an ominous 6-1 victory, against China, the sort of win that might yet look like an omen by the end of the month.The issue, though, is injury. England came into the tournament without several key players and has subsequently lost another, the Barcelona midfielder Keira Walsh. Wiegman, astute and pragmatic, has always managed to find solutions, but even her inventiveness would be tested should her resources thin any further.Other teams do not even have the excuse of injury for their inconsistency. Spain started the tournament well, smooth and imperious, and then promptly lost heavily to Japan. France started poorly, held to a draw by Jamaica, but has slowly grown in stature, defeating Brazil and then sauntering past Panama.Chloe Kelly and England have a favorable path and a bit of momentum.Brenton Edwards/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThere is an art to that, of course, a skill in gathering momentum as a tournament turns into the home straight. But then there is something to be said for serenity, too, and only two teams can lay claim to that state: Sweden, which sailed through what was admittedly a relatively kind group and now faces the U.S. in the round of 16, and Japan, which produced the performance of the tournament so far in picking apart Spain, both as a team and a concept.A couple of weeks ago, both of those countries would have been regarded as respectable outsiders, the sort of teams that might pose a threat if they caught a break, if some of their more illustrious opponents fell by the wayside, if they could click while others sputtered. Now, it does not look like quite such a long shot to suggest one or the other might be able to stay the course.It has taken 48 games to reach this point. Sixteen teams are gone. Sixteen teams remain. They will all have seen enough, experienced enough, to believe there is very little reason to rule anything out. There is very little that can be known, even now. The Women’s World Cup has reached that point when it becomes a smaller, more ruthless tournament. It feels, though, as if it is more open than it was at the start. More

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    Morocco Wins, Then Waits, and Then Starts Celebrating

    It had been more than an hour since Anissa Lahmari had scored the goal that put Morocco in front, the one that was poised to deliver another historic win for her team at its first Women’s World Cup.But it was not over yet. And so Morocco’s players had to wait.They huddled together around a staff member’s cellphone as Germany bombed balls upfield, as it tried to thread passes through a stingy South Korea defense and as it lofted hopeful ones over it. A Germany goal, any goal, would save its World Cup and dash Morocco’s improbable dream of advancing to the knockout rounds. The minutes ticked on, and on, and then suddenly, it was over.Morocco had beaten Colombia, 1-0. Germany had not beaten South Korea, 1-1. And after all the minutes, and all the waiting, that was all it took: Morocco, a team in its first World Cup, a team that had never won a game in the tournament a week ago but now has won two in a row, was through. And it didn’t seem to know what to do.When the referee’s whistle blew in the Germany game, Morocco’s players broke their huddle and ran. They ran in search of hugs. They ran to find teammates. A few ran just to run.Morocco had already won, of course. The first North African team to qualify for the Women’s World Cup, and the first to field a player in a hijab, its mere presence in the tournament had been an achievement, and an inspiration. Yet Morocco was interested in more than mere participation.As one of eight first-time entrants in this year’s expanded tournament, it had arrived with a squad that was little known even to most Moroccans before it qualified on home soil last July. It had won fans and respect in its qualification journey, but even its coach knew the next step would be a big one.“They showed us that they can fill stadiums and make Moroccans happy,” the team’s French coach, Reynald Pedros, had said before the tournament. “They did it on the African stage. Now we are hoping to do the same on the international one.”Now that they had, Pedros didn’t seem to know what to do. He burst into tears on the field as his team and his staff celebrated their achievement. Players dropped to their knees in thanks. Others embraced. In the center of it all, seemingly lost and uncertain where to go, or who to hug next, was Pedros.Back home, joy took over Morocco, where only seven months ago fans had filled the streets to cheer the men’s team as it made a run to the World Cup semifinals. Now, the nation may soon be cheering for its women’s squad.In Casablanca on Thursday morning, people (mostly men) had filled cafes quietly to watch the game. There was little hope for Morocco entering the day, since Colombia led the group and Germany was widely expected to join it in the knockouts. But when South Korea scored early, and Morocco took the lead against Colombia just before halftime when Lahmari banged in the rebound of a missed penalty kick for the opening goal, fans started to hope.In one cafe, the men inside checked their phones repeatedly, updating the score in the Germany game. A few said quiet prayers.As a stunning victory, and an even more shocking possibility — advancement out of the group stage in the team’s first World Cup — crept closer, the stress mounted. Across the Mediterranean in France, Kenza Haloui, 34, had left work in Nice to watch the match alone while texting with her cousins in Morocco. She had grown up in Fez and played soccer her whole life before moving to Europe. When Morocco finally won, she said, “I felt so many emotions.”At the final whistle, though, the celebrations were muted: briefs shouts of joy, some honking of car horns. And then people move on with their day.Soumia Idba, 39, watched the game at the office in Casablanca, but couldn’t help but notice how difficult it had been to view it. “It was very hard to find a way to watch a game,” Idba said. “It wasn’t like in Qatar. Most Moroccans watch online.”If the celebrations were subdued, though, the team’s next game may stoke more emotions: By advancing, Morocco earned a date with France in the round of 16 on Tuesday. It is the same matchup that, in December at the men’s World Cup, brought fans into the streets of Casablanca and Marrakesh and dozens of cities across North Africa and Europe. France won that day, ending the dream of Morocco’s men’s team.The country now has a second chance. Its women’s team has something no one expected: its first. More

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    Spain’s Team Went to War. At the World Cup, It Has to Win the Peace.

    A failed rebellion against Coach Jorge Vilda ended with a dozen players dropped for the Women’s World Cup. Those who remain might be good enough to win it.A couple of days before Spain’s first genuine test of this World Cup — an encounter with Japan in Wellington, New Zealand — team officials became aware of an issue. The players, it turned out, were bored. Their families and friends, who had traveled halfway around the globe to watch their games, were bored. Some of the squad had young children in tow. They were bored, too.Spain had chosen the town of Palmerston North as its base for the tournament. It made perfect sense. The team was guaranteed to play all of its games until the semifinal on New Zealand’s North Island. Palmerston, a university town a couple of hours north of Wellington, and a short flight from Auckland, fit the bill.But three weeks into their stay — Spain arrived in New Zealand well in advance of its first game, hoping to draw the sting from the jet lag — the place had started to pall. New Zealand’s second-largest noncoastal city boasted precious little to do, particularly in the evenings. The players, and their families, wanted to move.Even with the game with Japan looming, the Spanish federation acceded to the players’ request. Officials began the laborious task of moving an entire elite sports team — 23 players, 31 coaches and support staff, piles of equipment and mounds of accouterments — to the James Cook Hotel in Wellington in the middle of a tournament.And as if that was not enough, the federation did what it could to help the dozens of family members who formed the team’s traveling caravan with their arrangements, too. Logistically, it was a considerable heave. The kind that is hardly ideal from a sporting perspective. In Spain’s case, though, it was worth it, just to keep the peace.Alexia Putellas, the two-time Ballon d’Or winner, racing upfield against Japan.Marty Melville/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFew teams arrived in Australia and New Zealand with more pedigree than Spain. Jorge Vilda’s team, after all, boasts not only Alexia Putellas, the two-time Ballon d’Or winner, but also Aitana Bonmati, the midfielder regarded as her heir apparent. They are two of nine members of the squad drawn from Barcelona, European club soccer’s unquestioned powerhouse.No team, though, landed in quite such a fragile state. Last September, in the aftermath of Spain’s elimination from the European Championship a month or so earlier, 15 players sent the country’s federation a boilerplate email withdrawing themselves from consideration for the national team.The signatories included not just Bonmati, but Patri Guijarro, Mariona Caldentey and Mapi León, central figures in the great Barcelona side, as well as Ona Batlle, Laia Aleixandri and Leila Ouahabi, some of the country’s most high-profile exports. Three players — Putellas, the forward Jenni Hermoso and Irene Paredes, then the national team’s captain — did not send the email but were seen as giving it their tacit support.Spain had, in an instant, lost the core of its golden generation.The precise nature of the grievances that had forced the players’ hand remained oblique in public — the email referred only to “the latest events that have occurred in the national team, and the situation they have created” — but, privately, the list of complaints was both long and, in the context of women’s soccer, distinctly familiar.The players, now ensconced in professional environments at their clubs, felt the national team program was outmoded, not up to the standard they had come to expect. The facilities the federation provided for them were subpar, the players believed. They traveled to some games by bus, rather than plane, as many of their rivals did, or as they would at club level.Vilda with Luis Rubiales, center, the federation president, in Wellington on Monday.Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto, via Getty ImagesVilda, the coach, was said to have fostered an oppressive workplace environment, one in which the players’ every move was monitored by his staff. Nobody ever confirmed as much, but it was widely assumed that his removal would be required if the players were to contemplate returning.The federation, though, decided on a less conciliatory approach. Vilda was, in the words of Luis Rubiales, the federation president, “untouchable.” If the group of “15 plus three,” as it had come to be seen, did not want to play for Spain, that was fine: Spain would go and find some people who did. Vilda called up a scratch squad, and immediately embarked on a run of 16 games in which his team drew once, lost once, and won the rest. Among the teams it defeated was the mighty United States, but also Japan, Jamaica and Norway.As the World Cup drew closer, though, the hard-line stance started to soften. Hermoso and Paredes, only informally associated with the strike, were called back into the team, forging a path for the others. The Spanish players’ union volunteered to mediate a meeting between the holdouts and Ana Álvarez, the federation’s director of women’s soccer.Ana Álvarez, the federation’s director of women’s soccer.Luis Millan/EPA, via ShutterstockThe federation refused, but made an alternative suggestion: Álvarez would meet with every player individually, giving them an opportunity to lodge their complaints. Through May and June, she held more than a dozen meetings with the disaffected players, inviting some to Madrid and traveling to Barcelona to see others.Each meeting lasted two or three hours, according to people in soccer with direct knowledge of the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private, and personal, discussions. Álvarez sought to understand the roots of their discontent, to gather feedback, to ask how each player would like things to change in the future. Most of the meetings were cordial, and constructive.At the end, though, there was an awkward coda. The players had removed themselves from international contention by email. They had to make themselves available again in the same way. The federation would not risk calling up anyone who might reject the olive branch.Conscious of not only their own professional ambitions but various commercial agreements, the majority of the players acquiesced. Guijarro and León were among the handful who refused. “Some things have to change, and if they don’t, then it won’t go away,” León told the Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo earlier this year. “Missing the World Cup will bother me a lot, but I have values and beliefs.” Her Barcelona teammate, Guijarro, cited “consistency” as her explanation.Patri Guijarro, left, and Mapi León, second left, during a Barcelona match in March. They are missing the World Cup.Albert Gea/ReutersWhen Vilda named his World Cup squad, though, only three of the players to have signed the original email — Bonmati, Batlle and Caldentey — were included. The others had all been omitted. The coach had decided, instead, to prioritize those players who had helped Spain prepare for the tournament.Still, the situation was febrile. The 23 players under Vilda’s aegis might all have “wanted to be here,” as Paredes put it, but that unity of purpose veiled deep schisms. His squad now contained both mutineers and their replacements.He had done what he could to ease the tensions, not only visiting a Barcelona training session in the spring but, according to those players who had remained in the national team squad throughout, relaxing his approach. “It has been a tough, special season,” Vilda said on the eve of the World Cup. “But it has given us chance to learn. The federation has always been open to dialogue, and to solve things.”The decision to listen to the players’ requests to move their base midway through the tournament, then, is perhaps the most dramatic illustration of that détente, but it is not the only one. Spain now boasts a vastly expanded coaching staff, including for the first time both a nutritionist and a podiatrist in the traveling party. The standard of accommodation and transport has improved, too.The players were encouraged to expand that further, too, by inviting family and friends along at the federation’s expense: Each member of the World Cup squad was granted an allowance of $16,000 to pay for the travel and lodging.A training session in Wellington. Spain moved its team to a new training base after players complained of being bored. Amanda Perobelli/ReutersThe newspaper El País has reported that dozens of parents, siblings and children are in New Zealand, sitting behind the dugouts at Spain’s games, arranging their activities on a WhatsApp group titled “Free Tours.”The players have been allowed to spend considerable amounts of down time with them. Even after the game with Japan ended in a deflating 4-0 loss, they were given a morning off to see their loved ones. The atmosphere, according to those on the squad, is much more relaxed and “flexible” than it has been at previous tournaments.There has been a concerted attempt among the players, too, to defuse any lingering tensions. They have veered toward the traditional: long sessions playing two card games, Virus and Brandy, and a renewed focus on forfeits — singing or dancing in front of their peers — for those players who lose games in training.“Things are not forgotten,” Paredes said in an interview with El País. “But we must put them aside knowing that we have a common goal and that we are going for it.”The sense of purpose is such that Bonmati, one of the signatories of the original email, even cast the defeat to Japan as a bonding experience. “This is going to unite us more than ever,” she said.Whether that is how it plays out, of course, remains to be seen. Should Spain lose to Switzerland on Saturday in round of 16, it is not difficult to imagine the uneasy truce breaking.Spain’s preparation for this World Cup, one it genuinely believed it could win, has been fraught and tense and, at times, toxic. It has had enough drama.What it needs, from this point on, is for everything to be as boring as possible. More

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    The Knockout-Stage Showdown Between Sweden and the U.S. Is On

    Sweden did what the United States could not: It got the goals it needed, secured the win it wanted, and marched toward the game everyone expected.Propelled by a second-half header by Rebecka Blomqvist and a late penalty kick by Elin Rubensson, Sweden earned a 2-0 victory in Hamilton, New Zealand, that sent Argentina out of the World Cup and the Swedes into a highly anticipated round of 16 game against the Americans on Sunday in Melbourne.It will be joined in the round of 16 by South Africa, which stunned Italy, 3-2, with a goal by Thembi Kgatlana two minutes into second-half injury time.The goal sent South Africa to the knockouts for the first time. It will face the Netherlands on Sunday in Sydney.The bigger showcase that day, though, will be the United States-Sweden matchup that had loomed as a possibility for weeks. It really should come as no surprise: The teams will meet for the sixth straight World Cup, and for the seventh time overall in the tournament.The Americans have won four of the previous five meetings, including a 2-0 victory in the group stage four years ago. But Sweden ran circles around the United States two years later at the Tokyo Olympics.Its main advantage over the United States this time, though, may be momentum. Sweden has looked fearsome so far at this World Cup, winning all three of its first-round games and outscoring its opponents by 10-1. More

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    For American Soccer Fans, a Late Night Was a Tense One

    Fans of the Women’s World Cup in the United States on Tuesday had a critical decision to make based on a distinctive 3 a.m. kickoff: Stay up late or wake up early?At Banter Bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, patrons groggily stumbled through their next important decision — caffeine or alcohol, or both? They stifled yawns as they powered through the wee hours or stirred themselves from unsatisfying naps, in hopes of watching the U.S. women’s national soccer team rally in its showdown with Portugal for a spot in the single-elimination portion of the World Cup.Cups of coffee and pints of beer were the most popular drinks, but there were also plenty of Bloody Marys, gin and tonics, Red Bull vodkas and even tequila shots — a choose-your-own-adventure style Monday night or Tuesday morning, depending on your perspective.“We were going to open for this no matter what,” the bar owner Chris Keller said. “We’ve been packed for every U.S.A. game.”Under a new ordinance, Franklin Hall in Washington, D.C., was able to host a watch party and serve alcohol on tap until 4 a.m.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesBanter Bar in the wee hours of Tuesday.Jackie Molloy for The New York TimesAnd packed it was, despite the hour. Across the United States, bars opened early or stayed open late to host soccer fans looking for a shared experience or even just a cable connection. In New York and Washington, D.C., as well as Columbus, Ohio, and Portland, Ore., and points in between, fans disrupted their regular sleeping routines to cheer on a national team that very nearly let them down before sunrise on the East Coast.In Columbus, the Pub at Lower.com Field, where the Columbus Crew of M.L.S. play, had a near-capacity crowd for the scoreless draw. Franklin Hall in Washington took advantage of a new local ordinance that allowed it to host a watch party with alcohol on tap until 4 a.m., followed by coffee on tap for most of the second half. The Sports Bra, a bar in Portland focused on women’s sports, showed the game on Fox in English and on Telemundo in Spanish because the Fox feed kept cutting out.At Banter Bar, most groups were split in terms of those who stayed up and those who crashed for a few hours before the game.“You can’t trust an alarm,” said Elena Studier, who was tucked into a booth with her partner, Marti Martinson. Studier had napped, Martinson had not. “You have to have somebody on the other side,” Studier said.The U.S. fan Han Cronig let out a yawn during the match at Franklin Hall.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesThe TV broadcast of the game highlighted other watch parties, including one in Long Beach, Calif.Jackie Molloy for The New York TimesStudier and Martinson moved to New York City from North Carolina just two days before the decisive game. They said they were soccer fans and followed the North Carolina Courage in the N.W.S.L.“A week ago, we tried to watch the game, and there’s not much enthusiasm for women’s soccer at a Buffalo Wild Wings,” Martinson said.Studier, 27, added, “We were very excited to come watch with people who actually wanted to get up at 3 in the morning and watch women’s soccer.”Ruby Cirby was impressed with the turnout at Banter Bar. An avid soccer fan and longtime Banter patron, she said that during the Women’s World Cup in 2019, there were only about 10 people who showed up for a 7 a.m. game.“It’s a different vibe if you’re watching it at home,” Cirby said. “I feel like this is a perk of living in the city, is having bars that are open for these kinds of games.”There were only a few to choose from. Mathew Lee and Hector Conde drove to Banter Bar from Staten Island to watch the game. It happened to be Lee’s birthday — he turned 24 right after midnight. For most of the game, however, as the United States struggled to keep a scoreless draw with Portugal to advance to the round of 16, it was unclear whether Lee and Conde would be celebrating.“If they score one, we’re out,” Conde said. “That’s what makes it so nerve-racking.”Fans at Banter Bar expressed the emotions of American soccer fans everywhere.Jackie Molloy for The New York TimesThe question at Franklin Hall was: Beer or breakfast? The answer: Both.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesThat tension was palpable for much of the game. A small TV in one corner of the bar was showing the Netherlands’ matchup with Vietnam, in which the Dutch racked up seven goals over an opponent the United States had outscored by three. By halftime, it was clear who would win the group — and it wasn’t the Americans.“I’ve been to the last two parades, and I’m hoping for a third one,” said Philip Crandall, who lives around the corner from Banter Bar. “But if they don’t sort something out, a third one doesn’t look to be in the cards.”In the second half, Banter patrons were itching for substitutions. Priscilla Osorio, who is also a follower of the N.W.S.L. club Gotham F.C., said she wanted to see “a Megan Rapinoe moment.” Osorio got her wish in the 60th minute — the bar erupted when Rapinoe checked in for Sophia Smith.“Did Vlatko wake up?” Osorio said loudly, referring to the U.S. coach.Vlatko Andonovski ultimately used all five substitutions, but nothing was enough to lift the United States past Portugal.At Banter Bar, Patrick O’Shea left no doubt about his rooting interest.Jackie Molloy for The New York TimesAbby Lore wore a U.S.-themed bow at Franklin Hall.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesThe United States will now most likely face Sweden in the round of 16 on Sunday at 5 a.m. Eastern time — a concession for American fans who had hoped to see their team begin seven hours earlier, in a slot at 10 p.m. Eastern that looked like it had been designed with a U.S. audience in mind.Either way, Steve Gaddis was embracing the time difference with New Zealand and Australia, noting that it’s not every year that an overnight game is even possible. Gaddis attended the 2019 World Cup in France, and his sister was at Tuesday’s game in New Zealand.“How many chances do you have to get up and go to a bar?” Gaddis said. “If the next time is in 20 years, we’re going to be 50, and we’re not going to do that.”Gaddis’s friend Jessie Hunter, an architect, had her eye on her start time for work — 9 a.m. The group was planning to hit a diner after the final whistle and decompress before the workday began, the stress of the draw behind them with a new matchup and kickoff time to consider.Franklin Hall before its World Cup watch party.Pete Kiehart for The New York Times More

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    U.S. Tries to Focus on What Comes After Portugal Tie

    A close call against Portugal at the Women’s World Cup gave the United States a chance to consider what might have been, and then move past it.From where she stood, the ball looked to be headed straight into the goal, and Megan Rapinoe cursed loudly in her head.“My whole international career is over,” she said she thought as a shot by Portugal whistled toward the United States’ net in the final minutes on Tuesday, threatening to end Rapinoe’s final Women’s World Cup.Neither team had scored yet. The tie that loomed would mean the United States would advance to the next round. A loss would send the Americans packing their bags in what would have been the biggest upset in Women’s World Cup history.And so Rapinoe swore as the shot delivered by Portugal forward Ana Capeta headed toward the goal, watching wide-eyed with players on both sides as it veered just a smidgen too far to the right. The ball hit the right post and then, to the relief of Rapinoe and her team, caromed off it and away from the goal.“Girl,” Rapinoe said with a nervous laugh, “that was stressful.”Megan Rapinoe’s World Cup is not over yet. But for a moment, she thought it might be.Buda Mendes/Getty ImagesA few minutes later the game ended, still stuck in a 0-0 tie that meant the United States had finished second to the Netherlands in Group E. Now it’s off to the round of 16 in Melbourne, Australia, where on Sunday the U.S. team most likely will play Sweden. It is trying to forget just how close it came to the exit. It is ready to move on.Forget this long, frustrating night, Rapinoe and her teammates said. Forget that the United States has had trouble scoring at this tournament, they said, and that it just cannot figure out how to convert its passes and its possession into goals.That was the message delivered by Kelley O’Hara, a defender at her fourth World Cup, to the team as it huddled together near midfield after Tuesday’s great escape. O’Hara leaned in and looked around at the faces of her teammates — some sad, some blank, some determined. It doesn’t matter what happened here, she told them.“I just told them, ‘Listen, guys, we did what we had to do,’” O’Hara said. “‘This game’s done.’”Defender Crystal Dunn got the message. “We know we can be better,” she said. “It’s not like everyone’s sitting there like, ‘Wow, that was the most amazing performance we put together.’ 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. Right now we are very fortunate to have another opportunity to put on a great performance.”U.S. Coach Vlatko Andonovski changed his lineup but his team’s mistakes were worryingly familiar.Andrew Cornaga/Associated PressLater, the team’s coach, Vlatko Andonovski, took time to reflect on the result against Portugal, a team that was expected to be a challenge, but perhaps not quite that much of one.He said that he has seen bright spots in the way the U.S. team has played over its three group stage games, although Tuesday was a low point.“It’s not like we played well, by any means,” he said. “We all know it’s not good enough.”The United States, he knows, has work to do. But none of that is anything to panic about, striker Alex Morgan said. She had finished second in the group at past World Cups. Now the team has all the pieces it needs “to make it all the way” to the final. It just needs to put them together.It’s Andonovski’s job to do that. Against Portugal, he finally made some changes to his lineup. Now he will need to make a few more.On Tuesday, Rose Lavelle, the star midfielder restored to the starting lineup, used her creativity and energy to drive her teammates forward, to create chances for them to score. But after knocking down a Portuguese player, she received her second yellow card in two games, meaning she will be suspended from the round of 16 game.A second yellow card in two games means Rose Lavelle will be suspended in the round of 16.Buda Mendes/Getty ImagesO’Hara said it was disappointing that Lavelle wouldn’t be able to play on Sunday, especially after she came back from an injury and was building back her minutes. She had been restored to the lineup to maximize her “energy, her fight and her aggressiveness and just her flair,” O’Hara said, though she had no details about how the team would regain its confidence now that Lavelle will be out. She frowned when asked how the team will regroup mentally.“We’re just going to do a couple of Kumbayas, and we’ll be good,” she said before quickly turning and walking off.Rapinoe was not sure, either, of how, exactly, the team would rebuild its confidence. But, she said, it can easily be done. Earlier this week, she recalled a moment in the quarterfinal game versus Brazil at the 2011 World Cup, when the U.S. team was in extra time and was just seconds from elimination before she fired in a cross to Abby Wambach that was headed in for a tying goal.“I thought about that in the moment,” she said, a sensation she repeated on Tuesday. Facing an early exit back then, she added, left her talking to herself. “Actually, I’m like: ‘We’re going to be the worst team ever in the history of the national team. It’s going to be terrible.’“And then, obviously, you know, that play happens.”With one brilliant pass, Rapinoe had altered her team’s fate.Those kinds of small miracles, she knows, can happen again. More