U.S. runs out of chances, falls to the Netherlands
The U.S. tried to pepper the Netherlands with stoppage time shots, but the Dutch defense was formidable and the Americans struggled to get solid looks at goal.
Time ultimately expired on the U.S. World Cup run, with the Netherlands earning a 3-1 win that eliminated the Americans.
Jordan Morris replaces Antonee Robinson
The U.S. replaces a defender with a forward as it pushes for a goal.
Jordan Morris subbed on for Antonee Robinson in the 91st minute.
Six minutes for a rally
The officials announce six minutes of stoppage time.
U.S. needs two goals during that stretch to say alive in the World Cup.
Dutch respond with back-breaking goal
With the Americans pushing for an equalizer, they were vulnerable on the other end.
After turning away an initial build up, Daley Blind had lots of time to set up on the left side of the box. Denzel Dumfries called for the ball on the back post. Antonee Robinson didn’t mark Dumfries and the ball landed wide open in front of him. Dumfries easily finished in the 81st minute to crush the U.S. rally.
Netherlands 3, U.S. 1.
U.S. scores in flurry after corner kick
Christian Pulisic took a corner that appeared to be turned away, but the Americans gathered the rebound and reset. Pulisic found space on the right side of goal and pushed a shot into the box. Haji Wright touched it with his back heel and it spun from the right side of the box into the back left corner of the net.
Netherlands 2, U.S. 1 in the 76th minute.
Matt Turner delivers his fourth save
Matt Turner has been nimble protecting the U.S. goal.
In the 71st minute, the Netherlands fired one strong shot from the top of the box Turner deflected and then he pounced on the rebound to shut down the scoring opportunity. He turned away one more shot until the Americans finally cleared the ball.
Turner now has four saves.
The Netherlands still leads 2-0.
Antonee Robinson injured, U.S. replaces two more players
A U.S. free kick was turned away and set up a bit of a nightmare sequence for the Americans.
After Netherlands moved quickly in transition, Memphis Depay took a right-footed shot from outside the box and it had to be punched away by Matt Turner.
As the teams continued to jockey for possession, Antonee Robinson was hurt during a collision and was treated on the pitch during a long break in the 63rd minute. He ultimately stayed in the match.
As the U.S. continues to look for energy and goals, Haji Wright and Brenden Aaronson replaced Tim Weah and Weston McKennie in the 67th minute.
Netherlands still leads 2-0.
U.S. peppers Netherlands with shots
In the 50th minute, a promising Christian Pulisic corner kick was headed down by Weston McKennie, and Tim Ream got a touch on the ball, but he couldn’t push it home.
The Netherlands quickly built up a run in the other direction, but a shot in the box was cleared by Sergino Dest.
The U.S. continued to push the tempo and take chances. Pulisic’s shot from the top left of the box had pace but was easily stopped.
The Americans knocked on the door again, with Gio Reyna pushing the ball up the left sideline. He fed McKennie across the middle. McKennie was under pressure and took a tough shot on goal from near the top of the box, but it sailed high.
Still 2-0 Netherlands in the 54th minute.
Gio Reyna subs on at halftime
Many U.S. soccer fans got the halftime substitution they wanted.
Gio Reyna replaced Jesus Ferreira.
Reyna has been long been considered a strong goal-scoring threat for an American side that has struggled to score this World Cup, but he battled hamstring injury issues ahead of the World Cup and coach Gregg Berhalter had not chosen to lean on him despite Reyna being cleared to play.
Dutch take 2-0 lead in stoppage time
After turning away a surge of chances from the Americans, the Netherlands capitalized on a throw-near its right corner during first-half stoppage time.
The U.S. couldn’t clear a few Dutch short passes before the ball was crossed into the box, where Daley Blind ran forward and pushed it into the back of the net in one motion.
The Netherlands celebrated as first-half time expired.
Now the U.S. must somehow regroup and consider substitute options, including dynamic players like Gio Reyna, at the break.
U.S. solves midfield traffic jam
The Americans haven’t scored, but during the past 10 minutes, they have tightened up passing through the midfield and have figured out how to push the ball action to the front of the Netherlands’ goal.
In the 41st minute, the U.S. pushed the ball across the face of goal, but Sergiño Dest couldn’t put a strong enough touch on a shot from the left endline and it was easily saved. In the 43rd minute, Tim Weah delivered the best shot of match from the top right corner of the box, but Andries Noppert came up with the stop.
Dutch push for second goal
During a three-minute stretch starting in the 27th minute, the U.S. struggled to slow the Netherlands’ buildup and had sloppy touches in the middle of the field.
The Dutch earned two corners, but ultimately could not put a shot on frame.
The Netherlands still leads 1-0 as the Americans search for the energy to generate an equalizer.
The Netherlands takes early lead over U.S.
The U.S. has fallen behind in a game for the first time in the Qatar World Cup.
After 10 minutes of dominating play by the Americans, the Netherlands countered as Memphis Depay beat goalkeeper Matt Turner with a shot from the top of the box to the lower left corner of the net.
U.S. on the attack early against the Netherlands
The Americans put their first shot on goal less than 90 seconds into the game.
After the Netherlands tried to clear the ball in front of their goal, Weston McKennie volleyed the ball toward the penalty box, with Christian Pulisic collecting the pass and firing a low shot on goal, which was kicked away by keeper Andreis Noppert.
A guide to the eight stadiums hosting games at the 2022 World Cup
One stadium looks like a boat, another like a giant Bedouin tent. One was built with 974 shipping containers.
Qatar’s World Cup venues are as spectacular as the tournament they will host. And though the combined price tag for building or refurbishing all eight stadiums was less than what Stan Kroenke paid for SoFi Stadium alone, the cost of construction was enormously high in human terms.
A detailed analysis by the Guardian found the deaths of 37 workers were directly linked to stadium construction, part of a grim toll of more than 6,500 migrant laborers who died between 2011 and 2020, many while helping build World Cup infrastructure. The low cost of stadium construction reflects the even lower cost of labor in Qatar.
Netherlands players hit by flu symptoms spreading among teams in Qatar
DOHA, Qatar — Players and coaches on several teams have been hampered by flu symptoms in this World Cup with the Netherlands, which plays the U.S. in a round-of-16 knockout game Saturday, the latest to be hit.
Dutch coach Louis van Gaal confirmed Friday that several players were ill but declined to say how many. The team skipped its normal training session Friday although Van Gaal told Dutch media he expects all 26 players on his roster to be available “in principle” for the U.S. game. However his reluctance to be more specific led to speculation the situation may be more serious that Van Gaal would acknowledge.
Brazil, Spain and the U.S. have also had members of their delegations become ill, with many blaming the air conditioning in Qatar, which is so omnipresent it’s also used to cool the pitches during games. But going from warm outside temperatures, which have hovered in the high 80s for most of the tournament, into rooms — and even stadiums — chilled to as much as 20 degrees cooler, has led to bouts of coughing, sore throats, heavy chests, a shortage of breath and other ailments.
Christian Pulisic embracing the pressure of spearheading U.S. World Cup ambitions
Landon Donovan was the young leader of a talented U.S. team that hadn’t won a World Cup game in eight years when he made his tournament debut in 2002.
That’s the same situation Christian Pulisic will face Nov. 21 when the U.S., which didn’t qualify for the last World Cup, opens play in this year’s tournament in Qatar.
And speaking from experience, Donovan said even Pulisic may not realize what he’s in for.
“I don’t think people can really understand how difficult the position he is in is,” Donovan said. “He’s depended on to sort of carry this team, meanwhile he’s never played in a World Cup. It’s really, really difficult.”
The pressure, Donovan said, can crush you or it can inspire you. Pulisic is taking the latter approach.
Women officials ready for their transformative moment at the World Cup
DOHA, Qatar — In her old day job as an analytical chemist, Kathryn Nesbitt studied brain chemicals in an effort to learn how that organ worked. Trying to understand the origins of rational thought did her little good in her side job as a soccer official, however, because with FIFA rational thought has long been an oxymoron.
That might be changing.
For more than a century, FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, banned women from refereeing men’s matches, a policy that began to ease after the Bundesliga, the English Premier League, MLS and other domestic leagues allowed females to officiate their games, and they proved more than equal to the task. So two years ago, FIFA showed signs it, too, was becoming more enlightened when it put a woman, Brazilian Edina Alves, in charge of the club World Cup final.
But the World Cup? Surely that was another four years off, Nesbitt thought — right up until she got the call telling her she would be one of six women officials calling games in Qatar this fall.
“I never thought this could happen in 2022,” said Nesbitt, who three years ago quit her job as a professor and researcher at Towson University near Baltimore to devote herself to officiating full time. “This one wasn’t even on my radar. It’s a big deal in the sense that they were ready for this before anyone thought the world would be ready for it.”
Qatar official: ‘Between 400 and 500’ worker deaths tied to World Cup
DOHA, Qatar — A top Qatari official involved in the country’s World Cup organization has put the number of worker deaths for the tournament “between 400 and 500” for the first time, a drastically higher number than any other previously offered by Doha.
The comment by Hassan Thawadi, the secretary-general of Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, appeared to come off the cuff during an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan.
It also threatened to reinvigorate criticism by human rights groups over the toll of hosting the Middle East’s first World Cup for the migrant labor that built over $200 billion worth of stadiums, metro lines and new infrastructure needed for the tournament.
U.S. men’s and women’s teams to split prize money
DOHA, Qatar — U.S. Soccer’s recently ratified an equal-pay agreement, which requires the men’s and women’s national teams to split World Cup prize money evenly, and that means each team will get $5.85 million for the men’s victory over Iran on Tuesday. The win sent the Americans on to the Round of 16 of the tournament and was worth $13 million. After U.S. Soccer takes it 10% cut, the rest will be divided between the two national teams.
The women got just $6 million combined for winning the 2015 and 2019 World Cups. Their earnings from this tournament will grow if the men continue to advance in the knockout rounds.
FIFA is awarding $440 million in prize money to the 32 nations at this year’s World Cup. It awarded $30 million for the 24 teams at the 2019 Women’s World Cup.
The Dutch taught Gregg Berhalter about soccer. Now his U.S. team aims to beat them
DOHA, Qatar — The education of Gregg Berhalter began at an elite boarding school in New Jersey and continued at the University of North Carolina. And while that book learning was fine and all, neither school taught Berhalter the subject he really wanted to study, which was soccer.
So he left college a year short of a degree for a kind of study-aboard program in the Netherlands. He didn’t get a degree there either, but what he learned changed his life and may have altered the direction of U.S. Soccer for the better.
Whether it works out as well for the Dutch will be determined Saturday when Berhalter, now coach of the U.S. national team, applies what he absorbed against the Netherlands in a World Cup knockout game.
Qatar walks tightrope between Arab values and Western norms with World Cup
DOHA, Qatar — The calm before the storm is over. Now comes the deluge.
After years of anticipation and more than $200 billion in infrastructure spending, the 2022 World Cup will kick off in Qatar is underway. More than 1.2 million people will flood the conservative Gulf state, which is smaller than Connecticut and has a population of about 2.9 million, three-fourths that of Los Angeles.
And there’s more than a little concern that flood will overwhelm a country that has had 12 years to prepare and still doesn’t appear ready.
“Qataris themselves are quite apprehensive about what’s coming,” said Michael Quentin Morton, an English author and historian who grew up in Qatar, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. “They [only] have to turn the television on and see what can happen at these big football tournaments to be concerned.”
U.S. star Christian Pulisic cleared to play in World Cup match against Netherlands
DOHA, Qatar — U.S. forward Christian Pulisic, who celebrated the team’s qualification for the World Cup’s Round of 16 in the hospital, has been cleared to play in Saturday’s knockout game with the Netherlands.
Pulisic scored the only goal in the Americans’ 1-0 win over Iran on Tuesday that allowed the team to advance out of group play. But he was injured on the play when he collided with Iran’s goalkeeper and was taken to a hospital at halftime.
U.S. players proud to put their bodies on the line to beat Iran, advance at World Cup
AL THUMAMA, Qatar — When referee Antonio Mateu’s final whistle blew, goalkeeper Matt Turner broke into tears, captain Tyler Adams dropped to his knees and defender Cameron Carter-Vickers threw both hands in the air in celebration and relief.
Christian Pulisic celebrated at the hospital. But we’ll get to that in a minute.
The U.S. needed a victory over Iran to get to the World Cup’s final 16 and it got what it came for Tuesday, but just barely. The 1-0 win didn’t come easily or painlessly, especially for Pulisic, who scored the game’s only goal.
But the Americans, who will face the Netherlands in a knockout game Saturday, wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You’re going to have to suffer a lot during these games,” Adams said. “That’s part of the game.”