USWNT 'learned a few lessons' from clawing back against the Netherlands

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – An hour into Wednesday's 1-1 tie with the Netherlands, the U.S. women's national team looked well on its way to a stunning first-round defeat at the World Cup.

The Americans had chances, sure. But the end-product was nowhere to be found on those tries. Their shots were overwhelmingly off-target. The first touches were often maddeningly too long. On the rare occasions when it looked as though the U.S. might be able to cancel out Jill Roord's first-half goal, a Dutch defender (or three) was there to snuff out the danger.

Finally and thankfully, Lindsey Horan scored the equalizer the USWNT needed to keep alive its hopes of finishing above the Dutch in Group E heading into Tuesday's first-round finale against Portugal (coverage begins at 1 a.m. ET with kickoff at 3 a.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).

[ Lindsey Horan got mad, then she got even ]

But while the near-death experience Wednesday might have left U.S. fans wondering if their team is truly capable of pulling off a historic World Cup three-peat by winning it all at Australia/New Zealand 2023, it could also serve the American players well when the real do-or-die games begin in the knockout stage.

"It's really about your momentum and coming together as a team in those moments of adversity," U.S. defender Julie Ertz, who made a pivotal late block on a goal-bound Netherlands shot, said afterward. "When you face that early on, I think that gives you confidence further along in the tournament."

FIFA's top-ranked squad couldn't be blamed if its famous self-belief was waning as the clock ticked past the hour mark Wednesday at Sky Stadium. To that point, the players knew it wasn't their best night. And had Horan, one of the Americans' two