Women's World Cup 2015: Recapping USA's Group D Performance

The United States women's national soccer team burned through Group D of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, winning the tournament's most difficult group. But although the U.S. triumphed in its Group of Death, there are still question marks for the team heading into the knockout stages. 

In three games in the group round, the U.S. racked up 3-1 and 1-0 victories over Australia and Nigeria, respectively, which bookended a 0-0 tie with Sweden. 

For the Americans, the most consistent performer was undoubtedly goalkeeper Hope Solo. Solo allowed one goal in the opener against Australia and earned clean sheets in each of the final two contests.

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In the opening match, Solo covered up a subpar effort from the U.S. back line, which struggled to contain the skilled Australian forwards (the U.S. seemed to be outplayed, despite the win). Miscommunication in the USA defense left Solo exposed, but she consistently answered the bell and came up with clutch saves like this one:

Outside of the opener, the back line for the U.S. stiffened up, turning into a stone wall in the final two matches. 

The US didn't allow many scoring chances to Sweden or Nigeria. On one of the rare occasions that a chance was given up, Meghan Klingenberg made the play of the tournament so far for the United States:

Although the back line seemed to shore up their initial issues, the American midfield has continued to struggle. Outside of Megan Rapinoe, who was brilliant, the midfield had a tough time providing support for the defense and seemed to be hampered by a lack of speed. 

BostInno's Hayden Bird highlighted what might have been the biggest problem for the U.S. midfield. 

On the attacking front, there wasn't much firepower from the Americans either, primarily in the final two matches.

The match versus Sweden was a gridlock, with scoring chances for each team coming few and far between. 

Against Nigeria, the U.S. came out with a flurry of early attacks, mostly off set pieces. However, the Americans weren't able to capitalize on any those chances until Abby Wambach scored this goal in the 45th minute:

The U.S. may have won the group but also showed some flaws that future competition will look to attack. 

The best part for the Americans: They likely won't face a team capable of doing so for a few games. 

Despite the issues with scoring and the midfield, the group win will give the U.S. an easier draw in the round of 16 facing either Columbia or England, according to ESPN's Grant Wahl:

In some ways, the dominant U.S. team some expected to see never showed up in the group stage.  But the fact that the USA made it through Group D without a loss despite not playing its best soccer should be a message to the rest of the world heading into the knockout rounds.