Spain is still ahead of the USWNT, but Mallory Swanson’s big goal started the countdown to the World Cup

The battle lines between the top two teams in women’s soccer have officially been drawn.

But they have not been drawn evenly, and that will remain the case until next year’s World Cup.

The two-game series between the U.S. and Spain left no doubt about which team is on top, and not just because of the results. It would also still be the case if the opener had ended with the same 2-2 score as Tuesday’s finale at Subaru Park — which it would have if not for a close offside call and a failed penalty kick.

That’s the consequence of the Americans falling into 2-0 holes in the first halves of both games, both times because of short-but-clear stretches where Spain seized control. Those stretches form much of the measure of the gap between the teams.

The good news is that the U.S. can see what it takes to get there, and it shouldn’t be surprising. Flawless execution in the biggest games has always been a requirement at major tournaments, going all the way back to 1999.

The bad news is that the gap is the hardest one to overcome, just as the last feet of any peak are the hardest to summit. And this time, for the first time in many years, the Americans won’t top the list of World Cup favorites. Spain will.

» READ MORE: Ashley Sanchez and Mallory Swanson’s goals earn the USWNT a comeback draw against Spain

“They’re the best team in the world — I didn’t learn anything I didn’t already know,” U.S. manager Emma Hayes said. “We’re still in progress. They’re deserving of being world champions. Our job is to hunt that.”

This series also taught a specific lesson to the players in the U.S. pool who haven’t been to a major tournament before. There are a lot of them, too: a team spokesperson pointed out Tuesday night that Hayes has played 46 players across this year’s games, a record high.

Defensive midfielder Claire Hutton is on the way to stardom, but she had never played in games quite like these two. Nor had left back Gisele Thompson, even with all her professional club and youth national team experience.

Thompson started over Avery Patterson, who was nailed on both of Spain’s goals in the opener. Centerback Kennedy Wesley was reasonably good overall in two starts, but took one bad step Tuesday that led to Spain’s first goal.

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Given that, after the game it felt important to get a veteran’s perspective.

“It’s hard,” midfield playmaker Rose Lavelle said. “If it was easy, everybody would do it.”

She knows especially well. The roar that exploded when she blasted the World Cup-sealing goal in 2019 echoed right through her title-winning shot in last year’s NWSL final.

“They’re the standard; they’re number one for a reason,” Lavelle said of Spain. “I think this was a really good week for us to see how we can match up. … We know we have to be more efficient and more clinical with our chances that we’re creating. I think that’s what makes them so excellent.”

» READ MORE: The USWNT’s series-opening loss to Spain brought some extra spice to their rematch in Chester

All that made it mean more when Lavelle singled out the two players who made their senior U.S. debuts in this game as substitutes, forward Pietra Tordin and centerback Kate Del Fava — the latter of whom hit a terrific pass to start the play for the game-tying goal.

“I’m so pumped for Pietra and for Kate getting their first caps,” Lavelle said. “That’s such a tough game to come into, let alone be your debut, and I think they did great.”

Hayes was also happy.

“I don’t think the group coming in the second half did themselves any harm,” she said of her eight substitutes in all. “They were fearless.”

» READ MORE: Spain served the USWNT a wake-up call in Saturday's 2-0 win

It was good to see Ashley Sanchez score the opener, after so long away from the national team and a record 20-goal season in the NWSL. It was also good to see how she scored it: after Spain defender Ona Batlle took a step back, Sanchez saw the space to shoot and didn’t think twice.

That is so much of the international game in a nutshell. There are usually fewer opportunities to score than in club games, so when the chance is there, take it.

But it really meant something to see Mallory Swanson slam home the equalizer. It was her first goal since the one that won the 2024 Olympics, in just her second U.S. game since returning from giving birth at the start of this year.

It was also the kind of goal that sent a message. Just as Spanish men’s star Ferran Torres famously said he hit his World Cup-winning blast in July “with the power of all the Spanish people,” Swanson loaded two years of a superstar’s savvy into one big swing of her right foot.

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“The one thing about this team is you never want to give up,” she said. “That’s just the DNA that this team embodies, from the ‘99ers to now.”

Had the U.S. lost both games, there would have been a lot of alarm bells, even if they weren’t all warranted. It was easy to forget how many big names were missing from both teams as they flew up and down the field, especially in the frenetic final minutes Tuesday night.

The U.S. lacked defenders Naomi Girma and Emily Sonnett, midfielder Sam Coffey, attacking midfielder Olivia Moultrie, and forward Catarina Macario. Spain’s absentees included playmakers Aitana Bonmatí and Mariona Caldentey, forward Esther González, and goalkeeper Cata Coll.

No one should forget that the U.S. didn’t win either game. Nor should we forget that one really big question remains unanswered: what could have happened if the U.S. had scored first? We’ll never know how that could have changed momentum against a Spain team that has conceded first in just six of its 25 games over the last two years.

» READ MORE: The USWNT-Spain series was as big for the players involved as it was for the whole women’s soccer world

What we do know is that the top two teams in women’s soccer delivered a terrific spectacle over these two games.

“Both squads have a very clear vision of what we want to achieve in Brazil: we both aim to win the World Cup,” Putellas said. “Along with many other teams, of course, as everyone is preparing for it. … Playing these types of games, against great players, against the best teams, it always makes us want to compete to the maximum and give our best.”

Now the world will wait to see if a third round arrives next summer.