Not great, but good is all we can say about the USWNT’s latest international window. A stalemate against England was followed by a narrow 1-2 win over the Netherlands. Even though these results keep the American women unbeaten under Emma Hayes‘ reign, Sam Mewis has highlighted several ‘scrappy moments’ from the US team that reminded her of their past struggles.

“It was a tough start to the game,” began the former midfielder while giving the post-match reactions on The Women’s Game podcast. “It really didn’t slow down at all,” added Mewis, explaining how the game felt different compared to the Wembley clash. Despite England being a tough opponent, that match felt like it dragged on. But such wasn’t the case against the Dutch

“This one, I looked up and it was the 40th minute, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, so much is happening. It’s flying by.’ There was so much space. The Netherlands were on their front foot. There were multiple scrappy moments in our box where they would get a shot off and we’d block it, with the ball dancing around,” explained Mewis.

Additionally, the former Manchester City star didn’t expect to see such a tough start in Alyssa Naeher’s final game, which many had hoped would be clean and easy. “We rarely get to see this US team under this relentless pressure. It gave me nightmares back to just playing in Spain or Japan and being like ‘Help, I’m not doing good out here,'” added Mewis.  

To be fair, many will actually relate to the ‘Help me’ sentiment. Despite the USWNT’s victory, the game was largely dominated by the home side, who registered an impressive 22 shots, 7 of which were on target, and controlled 58% of possession. In contrast, the away side managed only 5 shots, with 4 on target, and held 42% possession.

This also contrasted sharply with the England clash, where the 4X World Champions recorded 11 shots, 3 on target, while the Lionesses had just 4 shots, 1 of which was on target. Either way, it’s clear that many felt the USWNT was unexpectedly lacking in a few aspects. Thankfully, Emma Hayes knows what lesson the team needs to learn after the win.

Emma Hayes shares her learnings, despite getting ‘bullied and harassed’ in the Netherlands win

In the aftermath of the Netherlands clash, Emma Hayes shared her learnings against a team of similar caliber. She assured that she learned a lot more by playing against top-class opposition like the Netherlands away from home midweek than she would have in a home game in the sun against a team not at the same level. “I knew this would be the tricky game of the two,” admitted the former Chelsea boss.

Emma Hayes voiced her disappointment with her team’s performance at the Bingoal Stadium, particularly in the first half, where she felt they lacked cohesion and didn’t begin the match on the right note. “Of course, I was disappointed with the way we played in the first half because, listen, if we’re not going to be at our best with the ball, we’d better be our best without it and I thought we got bullied and harassed and that frustrated me a little bit,” admitted the 48-year-old manager.

She also suggested that the result might have been different for the Stars and Stripes if they had managed to control the game more effectively. Either way, what do you make of the Netherlands game? Did it bring some nightmares for you as well, just like it did for Sam Mewis?