Rematch time: USA and Netherlands to meet at the Women’s World Cup
AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Now that the United States women have won equal pay with their male counterparts, there’s no need for their supporters to again chant for fairness when the Americans play the Netherlands on Thursday in their rematch of the 2019 Women’s World Cup final.
The Americans defeated the Netherlands 2-0 in France for their second straight World Cup trophy, and fourth overall. They were in the midst of a lawsuit and a contract battle at the time over pay with U.S. Soccer, and the players were feted with shouts of “Equal Pay!” from the fans.
The team’s pursuit for equal pay was finally resolved last year, when a deal was struck that paid the women the same as the U.S. men’s team and, importantly, evenly split the tournament prize money earned by both teams.
“Everything where we were in 2019 to where we are now is almost the same but couldn’t be more different,” Alex Morgan said. “We were fighting a legal battle off the field and trying to also win over the world on the field.”
So the crowd at Wellington on Thursday doesn’t need to fight for the Americans to receive equal treatment. They can instead focus on the rematch and cheer for another win over the Dutch.
The game is the second Group E match for both teams, and both the U.S. and the Netherlands opened the tournament with wins.
The trophy isn’t on the line for this match as it was in 2019, and both teams are already in good position to advance to the knockout round. But the game remains important for the final group standings: the winner has an easier path to advance in the next stage.
The Netherlands has won just one of its 10 matches against the United States, although only one of those matches was in a World Cup — that 2019 final. The only Dutch victory in the series came in the first meeting in 1991.
The two teams also met in the quarterfinals at the Tokyo Olympics, with the Americans advancing on penalties after a 2-2 draw.
