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USWNT wins 2019 Women's World Cup: Breaking down USA soccer's record-setting run by the numbers

Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
The United States women's national team entered the 2019 World Cup with expectations as large as the target on its back. The Americans delivered. For the second consecutive World Cup, the USWNT ended the tournament as champions, capping the seven-game run with a 2-0 victory over the Netherlands in Sunday's final.

This year's cup will be remembered for, among other things, Megan Rapinoe's excellence, a quarterfinal showdown that lived up to the hype and people arguing about goal celebrations. Now that the trophy has been raised and the confetti has fallen in Lyon, we wanted to take a look at some of the numbers from the United States' record-setting title run in France.

26
The United States scored 26 goals as a team during its seven-game run, a record at the cup. Half of those goals came in the team's first game as the Americans dominated Thailand in a 13-0 rout (we have more on the records that were set in that game here). The pace of the goals slowed significantly after that. The U.S. didn't score more than three goals again in the tournament and averaged 2.2 goals per game in its final six contests. Still, the Americans got just enough to beat the former record of 25, which was also set by the USWNT during the initial tournament in 1991.

146
Rose Lavelle's gorgeous left-footed rocket in the 69th minute of the final against the Dutch was the U.S.'s 26th goal of the tournament and the 146th goal at this year's World Cup, tying the cup record. There were also 146 goals at the 2015 World Cup. Teams will try to keep the 146 streak alive in 2023.

12
Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan combined to score 12 times for the United States, both finding the back of the net on six occasions. Rapinoe ended up getting the tournament's Golden Boot on a tiebreaker (Rapinoe and Morgan both had three assists in addition to their six goals, but Rapinoe played fewer minutes), but no country had a more productive duo.

34
Rapinoe turned 34 two days before the final. She belatedly celebrated with the go-ahead goal against the Netherlands and, in the process, became the oldest player to scorein a Women's World Cup final.

1
Enough about goals, let's talk about some shots that didn't go in the net. USWNT goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher made one penalty kick save on the only shot from the spot she faced. It might've been the most important play for the team in the entire tournament. The Penn State grad denied England's Steph Houghton in the 84th minute in the semifinals to preserve the USWNT's 2-1 lead.

14
With Sunday's win vs. the Netherlands, the USWNT ran its unbeaten streak at the World Cup to 14 games. The team has not lost since the 2011 final vs. Japan. The U.S. is on a 12-game World Cup winning streak and the only game the team hasn't won in the last two World Cups came in a draw against Sweden in 2015 group play.

4
The 2019 World Cup title is the fourth for the United States. The Americans have won the cup in half of its eight installments and have twice as many titles as any other nation (Germany has two). The USWNT also became the second team to win back-to-back championships (Germany won in 2003 and 2007). No women's team has ever won three straight World Cup titles. That might change in four years.



Congrats to the USWNT!
 

12Goblins

Lil’ Gobbie
Terrible last game imo. Should have been like 8-0 but bad plays all around

Even worse was the US performance in the concacaf finals. Bradley is a fucking trash can.
 
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HoodWinked

Member
They played their hand just about as perfectly as they could have. The timing of the lawsuit and turning up the outrage machine and ultimately winning the whole thing really only strengthens their case even though they are already compensated accordingly.
 

odhin

Member
Congrats.
I missed this tournament completely unfortunately. So I just found out Hope Solo is retired, damn, I thought she was younger and still kickin :messenger_expressionless:
 
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Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
Congrats! They were fun to watch. I caught most of the matches and we watched the final yesterday in the big screens in the stadium before the Atlanta United game and had a blast. Soccer is the only sport where I enjoy the women’s game as much as the men. No, they couldn’t compete with men, but the game is just as fun to watch to me as the men’s game. Unlike things like basketball where the game is pretty different with the lack of dunks and les physical play overall. Even that’s changed some though with so much more emphasis in three pointers over post play in men’s basketball.
 

Alebrije

Member
Terrible last game imo. Should have been like 8-0 but bad plays all around

Even worse was the US performance in the concacaf finals. Bradley is a fucking trash can.

Think Bradley will be gone for the men´s wolrd cup qualification. Any reason why U.S. has a strong women´s soccer team but a weak men´s one?
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
USA don't even care about soccer but still kicks ass. Curling, you're next! Watch out, Canadia!

tenor.gif
 
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Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
Think Bradley will be gone for the men´s wolrd cup qualification. Any reason why U.S. has a strong women´s soccer team but a weak men´s one?

The US got a bit of a head start on women’s soccer to some degree. More women’s rights leading to more female athletes, more youth through high school girls’ leagues, college women’s teams etc.

Also, it benefits from the large population and soccer being one of the most popular sports for girls while the best male athletes go to football, basketball and baseball. Thus the big population there doesn’t help vs the smaller countries where soccer is the top male sport.
 
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Any reason why U.S. has a strong women´s soccer team but a weak men´s one?
Short answer: Title IX

Slightly longer answer: Developmental soccer in the US is largely pay-to-play. Which means, as a kid, to get better, your parents have pay. That's true of a lot of youth sports, but especially true for soccer. At the college level, however, that flips. Colleges need women sports programs to balance out the male-only football program to comply with Title IX, so they have women's soccer, field hockey, volleyball, rowing, and a few others that balance against the football program. The end result is that the US women do much better than expected in those sports on an international level than the US men do in those same sports.

TL;DR: Soccer is expensive, but colleges' demand for women athletes creates a greater than expected supply of great athletes.
 

Mohonky

Member
Congrats.
I missed this tournament completely unfortunately. So I just found out Hope Solo is retired, damn, I thought she was younger and still kickin :messenger_expressionless:
She wouldn't have been in anyway probably, too she's been caught up in too many off the field antics.

Watching the USNWT they are a clear cut above everyone else, I love watching the womens games, especially the WC. Teams like Japan are tactically and technically amazing, there are some very strong Euro countries andeven our Australian Matildas team on their day are capable of beating anyone (of course politics had to screw us before the tournament even began) but yeh the USNWT are routinely amazing and dangerous at all times.

Their showboating is the only thing I can say is a bit over the top.
 
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Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
Americans do care. Soccer is huge where I live. Really wish foreigners would stop acting like they know what is going on here.

Same. Attendance at the Atlanta United game I went to yesterday was over 68,000. It’s not going to top Football, basketball or baseball in national appeal/tv ratings anytime soon, but it’s popular in a lot of metro areas.
 

RedVIper

Banned
Americans do care. Soccer is huge where I live. Really wish foreigners would stop acting like they know what is going on here.

Soccer is a minor sport in the US.

You guys have baseball, basketball and football, those are the main sports in the country.

Brits care about soccer, so do Germans, and Spaniards, and Brazil, and Argentina.
 
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