WELLINGTON, New Zealand — You don’t want to make Lindsey Horan angry.
The U.S. women’s national team midfielder said it was a bruising tackle from club teammate Danielle van de Donk and their tense exchange that fueled Horan’s equalizer against the Netherlands in the Women’s World Cup on Wednesday.
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“That’s where you get the best football from Lindsey,” Horan said afterward. “I don’t think you ever want to get me mad because I don’t react in a good way. Usually I just go and I want something more — I want to win more, I want to score more, I want to do more for my team.
“So that moment, that little tackle — big tackle — changed a shift in my head because I want to do everything for my team and to win these games.”
In the USWNT’s 1-1 draw with the Netherlands in the second round of the World Cup group stage, Van de Donk — who plays with Horan at club Lyon — delivered a body check in the 60th minute that left Horan crumbled in a heap on the pitch.
Horan was slow to get up, and then on an ensuing corner kick, the two had a tense exchange where Horan gave Van de Donk a two-handed shove as the two were waiting for the restart.
Seconds later, Rose Lavelle delivered a corner kick that Horan ran toward and headed past Dutch goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar.
“Dan is that type of player — when she’s on my team it’s incredible because she’s going to fight to that last second to win a game or go into that last tackle,” Horan said. “That’s what she did and unfortunately I didn’t take it in a good way. I got a little heated and she got to hear it.”
Julie Ertz could be seen trying to calm down Horan before the corner kick. Ertz told reporters she didn’t remember what she said, but Horan, who was already on a yellow card from the Vietnam game, remembered it clearly: “Julie came up to me in the box and she was like, ‘Linds, please, don’t get another yellow card. Just score this goal to shut everyone up.’ And that’s what happened.”
After two yellow cards in the World Cup group stage, a player is suspended for their following game.
Van de Donk and Horan quickly moved on from the incident after the match, hugging on the pitch. In the mixed zone, the two answered questions from reporters side-by-side, joking with each other and smiling.
Asked to explain what happened, Van de Donk joked and laughed: “I think it was just a duel along the sideline that I won.”
“She’s a bit like me — she’s a bit feisty and she came over,” Van de Donk added. “We had a little talk and the referee came in between but it wasn’t really necessary. We just played football again after that.”
Asked what the referee said to them, Horan joked: “I don’t know what she said — it was too long.”
Horan’s second-half equalizer salvaged a valuable point in Group E for the U.S. after going down in the 17th minute on a goal from Dutch midfielder Jill Roord.
With the draw, the USWNT and the Netherlands are level in Group E of the World Cup at four points each. Up next, the USWNT faces Portugal while the Netherlands take on Vietnam to decide who wins the group.
