USA 1-1 Netherlands: Lindsey Horan rescues the United States from defeat at Women’s World Cup

Both sets of fans applauded their teams off the pitch at full-time after an entertaining affair in front of 27,312 fans.

Wellington was awash with colour hours before the lunchtime kick-off as fans took to the streets of New Zealand’s capital city early.

There was a carnival atmosphere inside the fan park with some supporters dressed top to toe in stars and stripes. Others from the Netherlands arrived at the ground in national costume.

One supporter inside the ground held up a sign saying: “They’re not just women, they’re legends”.

Helicopters buzzed above the city from early morning adding to the sense of occasion, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was on official business in the city, broke off from talks to cheer on the defending champions.

Billed as the biggest fixture of the 48 group games taking place in Australia and New Zealand, it did not disappoint.

The United States, who also defeated the Netherlands at the Olympics in 2021, are strongly tipped to win a fifth World Cup despite 14 of their players appearing at their first World Cup.

But Andries Jonker’s side produced a thoroughly impressive performance and looked set to send out a powerful message until Horan’s equaliser.

The Netherlands had required a 93rd-minute winner in their final qualifying game against Iceland just to make this World Cup.

Yet despite being denied the services of influential forward Vivianne Miedema because of injury, the 2019 runners-up once again look as though they could go deep in this tournament.