Eight months and three days ago Down Under, Alyssa Neher stared at the Earth, saddened and stunned. She and the U.S. women's national team suffered the cruelest fate of the World Cup. They succumbed to Sweden in a seventh-round penalty shootout, but that's not all, the players pointed out in the concrete bowels of the winter stadium.
That night, Neher said, “It's tough to be one millimeter away from the World Cup.''
incredible images is still burned into the minds of the USWNT. ball. This line. An invisible green band between them. How many millimeters is its width? Or some? Or is it part of 1? Only FIFA knows that — the U.S. is headed for an early World Cup exit. And that may have easily stuck with the woman, who nearly scratched the ball before it fully crossed the goal line.
But Neher is a stone-cold goalkeeper with nerves of steel, not one to dwell on misfortune.
As Alex Morgan said last month, “Alyssa is insane.”
It seems that she is set up to glare at the Canadian and stand up at a moment's notice. win Penalty shootout – with her hands and right foot.
Neher performed that Tuesday night in Columbus, Ohio, for the second time in just over a month.
Similar to the World Gold Cup semifinals in March, the USWNT and Canada tied 2-2 and went to a penalty shootout for a spot in the She Believes Cup.
And there, with the odds stacked against her, Neher jumped to her right again and again to deny the Canadian's take.
Between the two saves, she grabbed the ball and charged towards the penalty spot, take Her own penalty. And just like last month, she filled it.
“I mean, it’s unbelievable,” interim coach Twyla Kilgore said after the game. “Isn't that amazing? You have nerves of steel.”
“No, I wasn't nervous,” Kilgore added. On the contrary, she alternated between grinning and her big smile during the gunfight.
“I had a pretty good feeling that she was going to give birth,” Kilgore said of Neher.
Because, as Lindsay Horan explained last month, teammates and coaches “see this every day in training.”
They raved about Neher after last month's shootout. They praised her strength and humility. They raved about how she barely celebrated her saves. “I think the first thing she said to me after the shootout was, 'You should have saved the guy that came in,'” Horan said.
This time, she had to save the United States from an early gunfight. Trinity Rodman's first attempt for the USWNT was a weak save. However, Neher fought back in the third and fourth rounds. The shootout ended in sudden death as Emily Sonnett missed her chance to win. no problem, Neher said.
She saved Canada's shot in the seventh round at the exact same stage she missed by a millimeter in Melbourne in August.
Emily Fox followed with the decisive conversion, and the United States once again celebrated the SheBelieves Cup title.
Like the Gold Cup, the pain of the World Cup doesn't go away. “It's a very painful memory,” Kilgore said last month. “That's probably going to stay with all of us for a really long time.”
But all they could do was respond. Neher reacted in a very bold way. She has always been a solid goalie. She became a penalty shootout monster. It's a frightening sight for anyone walking into the field, and a weapon that could come in handy at this summer's Paris Olympics.
“It's just incredible to see it live and to come here and see how ready she is,” Kilgore said, smiling again. “That means she's ready for any penalties she might face.”