The USA underlined their status as the dominant force in international women’s soccer by winning a fourth World Cup in eight editions on Sunday. In their third consecutive final, the USA was too strong for the Netherlands as they won 2-0 in Lyon to retain their title.
Megan Rapinoe’s penalty and Rose Lavelle’s fine run and finish gave the defending champions victory in the second half, after resilient first-half defending from the Dutch.
Megan Rapinoe’s penalty meant that she become the oldest scorer in a World Cup final at 34 years old. She had a total of six goals and three assists at the World Cup, narrowly winning the Golden Boot award – a prize given to the highest goal scorer.
Team-mate Alex Morgan also had six goals and three assists but Rapinoe had more goals in less minutes throughout the competition.
She was also awarded the Golden Ball, given to the best player of the tournament. England’s Lucy Bronze finished runner-up winning the Silver Ball award.
The Netherlands was the only team to keep the United States off the scoreboard in the first half in France but like all the other teams before them — Thailand, Chile, Sweden, Spain, France and England — they could not hold off the Americans forever.
Although the USA won, the tournament has also highlighted the growing threat to them coming from Europe.
While Germany and the Scandinavian countries remain prominent, and England and France keep aspiring to major tournament success, Spain and Italy have made huge strides, aided by the development of their own leagues.
The USA was the only nation from outside Europe to reach the quarter-finals in France.
The win by the USA means a European nation has not won since Germany in 2007, while the USA’s four World Cups stand alongside their record four Olympic golds.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup has really stepped its game up for 2019. It became the UK’s most viewed women’s soccer tournament ever. England vs USA was the most watched TV programme of the year.
The US set a new goal record at the World Cup, scoring 26 in total. Half of them were scored in a 13-0 win against Thailand.
