Preview: USA Women vs. Netherlands Women - prediction, team news, lineups
:Headline: Preview: USA Women vs. Netherlands Women - prediction, team news, lineups:
Sports Mole previews Thursday's Women's World Cup clash between USA Women and Netherlands Women, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
A rematch of the 2019 Women's World Cup final will take place on Thursday when reigning champions USA Women face Netherlands Women in Wellington.
The Stars and Stripes begun the Women's World Cup 2023 with a comfortable win over Vietnam, while the Dutch managed to edge out Portugal.
Match preview
The five-time world champions got their campaign up and running with a commanding 3-0 victory against Vietnam in Auckland.
Sophia Smith netted a first-half brace to give her side a two-goal cushion at the break, before Lindsey Horan found the net in the 77th minute to wrap up all three points.
Impressively, the USA have now recorded 10 consecutive victories, racking up 24 goals and only conceding on two occasions.
They have also won 14 and drawn one of their previous 15 World Cup games, since losing on penalties to Japan in the 2011 final.
The USA will be confident of continuing their fine form on Thursday, having lost just one of their 25 group stages matches at the World Cup finals.
The Netherlands got their campaign up and running with a narrow victory over Portugal thanks to Stephanie van der Gragt's 13th-minute effort.
After recording a third consecutive victory, the Netherlands will now prepare for a difficult test against the defending champions.
Since losing 2-0 to the USA in the 2019 World Cup final, the Dutch have faced the Stars and Stripes on two occasions.
They were beaten in a friendly in November 2020, before running the USA close in the quarter-finals at the Tokyo Olympics, but the contest ultimately ended in a penalty-shootout defeat.
Although the Netherlands will be aware of the tough test that awaits them on Thursday, they will at least be confident of troubling the scorers after finding the net in six of their seven group games at the World Cup finals.
After getting off to a winning start, USA boss Vlatko Andonovski is expected to name an unchanged lineup for Matchday Two.
Portland Thorns midfielder Horan picked up a booking in the win over Vietnam, leaving her one yellow card away from a suspension.
Alex Morgan was unable to convert from the penalty spot in the first half of Saturday's encounter, but she will have another chance to open her account when she leads the line on Thursday.
As for their opponents, Netherlands boss Andries Jonker may also opt for consistency and name an unchanged starting XI.
After scoring 11 goals in 21 Serie A appearances for Juventus last term, Lineth Beerensteyn will look to bring her club form onto the international stage when she features in the forward line alongside Lieke Martens.
USA Women possible starting lineup: Naeher; Fox, Ertz, Girma, Dunn; Demelo, Sullivan, Horan; Rodman, Smith, Morgan
Netherlands Women possible starting lineup: Van Domselaar; Spitse, Van der Gragt, Janssen; Pelova, Roord, Groenen, Van de Donk, Brugts; Beerensteyn, Martens
We say: USA Women 2-1 Netherlands Women
We think that the two highest-ranked teams in the group will produce an intriguing encounter, and while the Netherlands have enough quality to trouble the USA, we believe that the world champions will continue their fine run of form to claim a narrow victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:curl
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