USA

It's Sunday morning in the United States and every nation at the Women's World Cup has completed at least two matches. Group A, the Group of Life, went ahead and finished their third and final games in the early hours so that makes our Power Rankings a little clearer, but this is how things stand in our eyes with the knockout stages taking shape.

2023 Women's World Cup Power Rankings (Pt. II)

#32. Zambia (Change: 0)

AUCKLAND - The United States are built to handle the pressure of their do-or-die final group stage match, veteran Megan Rapinoe said, with everything on the line against Portugal on Tuesday at the Women's World Cup.

The four-times champions have never exited in the group stage but may suffer that fate without a win or a draw against the World Cup debutantes, after beating Vietnam in the opener and settling for a 1-1 draw to the Netherlands.

It is hardly the position fans imagined the team would be in as they pursue an unprecedented third consecutive title.

AC Milan are strong candidates for having the best transfer window of the summer. The latest edition to the team is star United States men’s national team midfielder Yunus Musah.

Milan had Musah on their transfer radar earlier this summer, however it appeared the negotiations had fallen through. Musah has played with Valencia for the past three years and the LaLiga club originally wanted a higher price for the American. Fulham looked like a likely candidate rather than Milan, but ultimately the American will go to Italy.

The USWNT vs. Netherlands World Cup group stage match on Wednesday night was a fascinating midfield battle that epitomized the old cliché of it being "a game of two halves."

In the opening 45, the Dutch diced the Americans apart with a precision so masterful that it resembled ease. In reality, it's very difficult to turn the USWNT's finely tuned press against themselves, but the Netherlands were a Clockwork Oranje with clever movement, one-touch play and numerical superiority.