From the place she stood, the ball headed straight into the aim, and Megan Rapinoe cursed loudly in her head.

“My whole international career is over,” she mentioned she thought as a shot by Portugal whistled towards the United States’ web within the remaining minutes on Tuesday, threatening to finish Rapinoe’s remaining Women’s World Cup.

Neither crew had scored but. The tie that loomed would imply the United States would advance to the subsequent spherical. A loss would ship the Americans packing their baggage in what would have been the most important upset in Women’s World Cup historical past.

And so Rapinoe swore because the shot delivered by Portugal ahead Ana Capeta headed towards the aim, watching wide-eyed with gamers on either side because it veered only a smidgen too far to the suitable. The ball hit the suitable publish after which, to the reduction of Rapinoe and her crew, caromed off it and away from the aim.

“Girl,” Rapinoe mentioned with a nervous snort, “that was stressful.”

A couple of minutes later the sport ended, nonetheless caught in a 0-0 tie that meant the United States had completed second to the Netherlands in Group E. Now it’s off to the spherical of 16 in Melbourne, Australia, the place on Sunday the U.S. crew almost certainly will play Sweden. It is attempting to neglect simply how shut it got here to the exit. It is able to transfer on.

Forget this lengthy, irritating night time, Rapinoe and her teammates mentioned. Forget that the United States has had bother scoring at this match, they mentioned, and that it simply can not work out how one can convert its passes and its possession into objectives.

That was the message delivered by Kelley O’Hara, a defender at her fourth World Cup, to the crew because it huddled collectively close to midfield after Tuesday’s nice escape. O’Hara leaned in and seemed round on the faces of her teammates — some unhappy, some clean, some decided. It doesn’t matter what occurred right here, she informed them.

“I just told them, ‘Listen, guys, we did what we had to do,’” O’Hara mentioned. “‘This game’s done.’”

Defender Crystal Dunn acquired the message. “We know we can be better,” she mentioned. “It’s not like everyone’s sitting there like, ‘Wow, that was the most amazing performance we put together.’ But that’s where you have to dig deep.

“That’s what it takes to win a World Cup. It’s not easy to do this. Right now we are very fortunate to have another opportunity to put on a great performance.”

Later, the crew’s coach, Vlatko Andonovski, took time to mirror on the end result in opposition to Portugal, a crew that was anticipated to be a problem, however maybe not fairly that a lot of 1.

He mentioned that he has seen brilliant spots in the best way the U.S. crew has performed over its three group stage video games, though Tuesday was a low level.

“It’s not like we played well, by any means,” he mentioned. “We all know it’s not good enough.”

The United States, he is aware of, has work to do. But none of that’s something to panic about, striker Alex Morgan mentioned. She had completed second within the group at previous World Cups. Now the crew has all of the items it wants “to make it all the way” to the ultimate. It simply must put them collectively.

It’s Andonovski’s job to do this. Against Portugal, he lastly made some modifications to his lineup. Now he might want to make a number of extra.

On Tuesday, Rose Lavelle, the star midfielder restored to the beginning lineup, used her creativity and power to drive her teammates ahead, to create probabilities for them to attain. But after flattening a Portuguese participant, she acquired her second yellow card in two video games, which means she might be suspended from the spherical of 16 sport.

O’Hara mentioned it was disappointing that Lavelle wouldn’t be capable of play on Sunday, particularly after she got here again from an damage and was constructing again her minutes. She had been restored to the lineup to maximise her “energy, her fight and her aggressiveness and just her flair,” O’Hara mentioned, although she had no particulars about how the crew would regain its confidence now that Lavelle might be out. She frowned when requested how the crew will regroup mentally.

“We’re just going to do a couple of Kumbayas, and we’ll be good,” she mentioned earlier than rapidly turning and strolling off.

Rapinoe was unsure, both, of how, precisely, the crew would rebuild its confidence. But, she mentioned, it might probably simply be carried out. Earlier this week, she recalled a second within the quarterfinal sport versus Brazil on the 2011 World Cup, when the U.S. crew was in additional time and was simply seconds from elimination earlier than she fired in a cross to Abby Wambach that was headed in for a tying aim.

“I thought about that in the moment,” she mentioned, a sensation she repeated on Tuesday. Facing an early exit again then, she added, left her speaking to herself. “Actually, I’m like: ‘We’re going to be the worst team ever in the history of the national team. It’s going to be terrible.’

“And then, obviously, you know, that play happens.”

With one sensible move, Rapinoe had altered her crew’s destiny.

Those sorts of small miracles, she is aware of, can occur once more.