USWNT embraces pressure at World Cup; It 'has been fuel for this team,' players say

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — It doesn't matter whether the U.S. women are in sweats, training gear or those sharp-looking Nike x Martine Rose suits they're rocking at this World Cup.

They always wear a target on their backs.

They're well aware of this. And they embrace it.

“This is not team that does any sort of resting on its laurels," Megan Rapinoe said last month. "That's what has been the fuel for this team always: To strive to be the very best. To try to win every single game, whether it’s in practice or actually on the field.  

“For us, it’s just about continuing to put our best foot forward and continuing to try to be dominant and be the best team in the world.”

WORLD CUP CENTRAL: 2023 Women's World Cup Live Scores, Schedules, Standings, Bracket and More

The Americans face the Netherlands on Thursday afternoon (9 p.m. ET Wednesday), and the rematch of the 2019 World Cup final will likely determine the winner of Group E. In addition to bragging rights, whoever finishes atop the group likely gets to avoid England, Germany, France and Canada until the Aug. 20 final.

It’s a big game, no question. But it always is for teams playing the USWNT. No matter if it’s a friendly or a knockout-round game in the World Cup, the Americans go into every game knowing their opponent is going to be up for this game like no other.

That means there can be no coasting. Ever.

“We go through a lot,” Crystal Dunn said. “We have an endless amount of pressure on us at all times to meet the expectations of ourselves, but also of the world looking in on us. For us to be consistent, for us to continue pushing the standards, not just on the field, but off the field, I think speaks to who we are.”

There are undoubtedly some who think the USWNT just rolls up and rolls over everyone. But it takes an incredible amount of mental fortitude to survive in the pressure-cooked environment where the USWNT lives, let alone thrive as the team has.

The USWNT has won the last two World Cup titles, and four overall. Since the World Cup began in 1991 and the Olympic tournament five years later, the USWNT has failed to reach the semifinals of those major tournaments just once.

The Americans have been the world’s No. 1 team for more than six years now, and have spent all but 10 months atop the FIFA rankings since March 2008 – back when Alyssa Thompson was 3½.

You don’t put up those kind of numbers, and get the accompanying hardware, without knowing you’re going to get everybody else’s best. And being OK with it.

“Belief … is a word that has defined this team from not just right now but years and years past. It’s something we’ve held strong to, and I think has allowed us to be as successful as we have been,” said Kelley O’Hara, who is playing in her fourth World Cup.

“It’s gotten us through those moments when a lot of people would have backed down or started to doubt or question things,” O’Hara said.

What makes this all the more impressive – besides … everything – is the USWNT does this despite a constant roster churn. Even if the USWNT has the world’s best players, they’re all newcomers at one point. They don’t come in hardened. That mental strength has to be developed.

Yet, somehow, it always is.

“The veterans have been so incredible at telling us what we’re getting into,” said Andi Sullivan, one of the 12 women on the World Cup team playing in her first major international tournament.

“I think you hear stories of through the years and you experience camps for the first time and you’re like, 'Well, how can anything get crazier than this environment right here?' And it just continues to do so,” Sullivan said. “The veterans on this team have given examples of craziness in the past or been like, 'It’s going to get crazier.' And just acknowledging that and reiterating to lean on them if there’s something we’re struggling with.”

The chatter at this World Cup, and seemingly every other major tournament the last five years or so, is that the rest of the world is catching up to the USWNT. That investment by other countries is leveling the playing field and will make it tougher for the USWNT to stay on top.

As if that’s anything new.

From the moment the USWNT won that first World Cup in 1991, it’s been a challenge to maintain their supremacy. As the world has gotten better, the Americans have had to as well.

“This is what is supposed to happen,” U.S. captain Lindsey Horan said. “We want these teams to give us their best, give us a competitive game. … That’s what everyone wants to watch. It’s like the men's World Cup. Anyone can go out there and win.

“It's exciting for women's football," she added, "and this is what we all want."

It isn't easy to be every other team's measuring stick. But the USWNT wouldn't have it any other way.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.