By Amy Tennery
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Midfielder Rose Lavelle has fond memories of beating the Netherlands in the Women’s World Cup final four years ago but is bringing a brand-new mindset to the United States’ rematch in Wellington on Thursday.
Her goal in the 2019 final, a stellar individual effort that built on team mate Megan Rapinoe’s earlier penalty, catapulted the Lavelle into a new level of stardom in American soccer.
But with a new coach and 14 World Cup newcomers on her team comes a new mindset against the Netherlands, said Lavelle, in what will almost surely be the biggest hurdle of the Americans’ group stage.
“I don’t think we ever look back and feel we’re defending something,” Lavelle told reporters.
“We have the mindset that we’re attacking something and that’s how we feel … (2019 is) a fun memory, but I think we just have to take it one game at a time and kind of be present – don’t look too far in the past, don’t look too far forward.”
The OL Reign mainstay had been sidelined with a knee injury in the run-up to the tournament but got on as a second-half substitute – to the relief of fans – in the United States’ 3-0 win over Vietnam in their Saturday World Cup opener.
Lavelle said she is fit and ready to play, as the team hope to improve on that effort after they squandered several chances to score against the tournament debutants.
“When maybe you’re not hitting the back of the net, you feel like you have to like capitalise on every single moment,” Lavelle said. “The more patient we can be, the more probing we can be, it’s going to stretch them a little more.”
The ninth-ranked Netherlands, who kicked off their Group E campaign with a win over newcomers Portugal, are without their all-time top scorer Vivianne Miedema after she injured her ACL last year.
But Lavelle and her team mates expect the stout Dutch squad to be no less lethal, with plenty of bad blood after the Americans beat them on penalties in the Tokyo Olympic quarter-finals.
“Every time we play them, it’s a very physical, intense match,” she said. “They’re technical, good on set pieces. So I think it’s going to be a tough game, but I think we’re really excited for it.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Wellington; Editing by Jamie Freed)
