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- USWNT scraped through the group stage
- Drew criticism from former players
- O'Reilly just one to give opinion
WHAT HAPPENED? The current world champions faced a humiliating exit square in the face as Portugal forward Ada Capeta struck the post in stoppage time. Had that effort been an inch or two to the left, the USWNT would have been knocked out at the group stage of a Women's World Cup for the first time ever. Another lacklustre performance against a side in their maiden finals appearance ensured even more questions arose as to whether Vlatko Andonovski's side can retain their crown. However, the former midfielder O'Reilly took another view of the USWNT's apparent struggles.
WHAT THEY SAID: Speaking on FOX after the game, the 38-year-old said: "As we said before the tournament, this thing gets broken into two events; the group stage and then the knockouts, right? In that way, the US has done its job, it's done what it set out to do. It got through the group, it wasn't pretty at times, but that's something to almost celebrate.
"You just played like sh*t for the entire group and you're through and you have this second life. That's what the US is so good at, you take your chances and you make them count and and I want to look forward, I don't want to look back. I want to look forward to what they have coming ahead of them, it's probably Sweden."
THE BIGGER PICTURE: O'Reilly knows exactly what it takes to win the Women's World Cup after being a part of the USWNT's squad that won the tournament back in 2015 - despite not making an appearance. She did play a big role in securing the 2002 U-19 Women's World Cup, the first time the US ever won the tournament at that level, scoring four and assisting seven.
IN THREE PHOTOS:
WHAT NEXT FOR USWNT? Despite their struggles, they did enough to qualify for the round of 16 and will be facing Sweden in the knockout stage on August 6 barring any miraculous turnaround in Group G.