CNN —The US Women’s National Team was a post width away from exiting the Women’s World Cup at the group stage, but survived a late scare to earn a goalless draw against Portugal and reach the last 16.
Defeat for the USWNT – a team aiming for a third consecutive world title – would have ended its participation in the tournament.
The gap between the top-ranked teams and others has closed significantly in the four years since the last Women’s World Cup.
“What this World Cup shows now is that the women’s game is growing a lot and because of that you have these kinds of results that before the World Cup nobody believed would happen,” Portugal coach Francisco Neto told reporters.
“We had our World Cup on the line,” veteran Megan Rapinoe, who came on as a second-half substitute, admitted afterwards.
Persons:
Ana Capeta, Alyssa Naeher, Robin Alam, Alex Morgan, “, didn’t, ” Morgan, Francisco Neto, Brad Smith, Jessica Silva, –, Morgan, Lynn Williams, Williams, Saeed Khan, Megan Rapinoe, “ We’re, ”
Organizations:
CNN, US Women’s National, Portugal, USSF, Getty, FIFA, ”, Saints
Locations:
Netherlands, Vietnam, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, ” Portugal, Auckland , New Zealand, Eden, America, AFP