The biggest crowd ever for a football match in New Zealand saw the United States go within a goalpost of being knocked out of the FIFA Women’s World Cup at the group stage.
The back-to-back world champions drew 0-0 with Portugal to go into the Round of 16 but they were almost banished from the competition when their lowly-ranked opponents hit the post late in the match.
A crowd of 42,058 packed Auckland’s Eden Park for the match, beating the previous all-time record for a football match (male or female) in New Zealand.
The previous record of 42,137 was set in the tournament opener between New Zealand and Norway.
In the night’s other Group E game, the Netherlands easily beat Vietnam to finish top of the group.
READ MORE: Record books rewritten as crowds get behind FIFA Women’s World Cup >>>>
Results
Games played on August 1, 2023
Group E
Venue: Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
Attendance: 8,215
Vietnam 0
Netherlands 7 (Lieke Martens 8′, Katja Snoeijs 11′, Esmee Brugts 18′, 57′, Jill Roord 23′, 83′, Danièlle van de Donk 45′)
Venue: Eden Park Auckland
Attendance: 42,958
Portugal 0
United States 0
Vietnam 0 Netherlands 7
Portugal 0 United States 0
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