SYDNEY -- After Bill and Heather Drake took their two daughters to see the U.S. women's national team compete in the group stage games of the 2019 Women's World Cup, the American team went on to win the whole thing in a captivating run through the knockout stage. So, when the 2023 tournament rolled around, this time the Drakes wanted to see the U.S. in the later rounds.
They booked flights from Detroit, Michigan to Auckland, New Zealand -- a travel day of around 24 hours -- where they planned to see the USWNT compete in the quarterfinals and semifinals, both set to take place in Auckland. Two days before their flight, however, they woke up at 5 a.m. and watched on TV as Sweden knocked the Americans out in the round of 16.
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"It was heartbreaking," Heather said. "I was happy -- I felt like they were playing well. Up until that game, I didn't think they were playing like the U.S. team that we expected. So I was excited -- I was like, 'OK, maybe this can happen.'"
But then it didn't happen. The U.S. previously had never failed to reach the semifinals of a Women's World Cup, but after a 0-0 deadlock, the round-of-16 match turned to penalty kicks, where Sweden gave the Americans a shocking early exit.
And with that, countless travel itineraries went up in smoke for USWNT fans.
The Drakes and their daughters, Claire and Claudia, made the most of their trip, chatting with ESPN on a ferry bringing them back to Auckland's downtown from picturesque Waiheke Island. But when first confronted with the notion of flying around the world to see a team that was no longer even in the World Cup, it was hard not to feel let down.
"It was a little disappointing," Bill said. "The more the thought sunk in, the more disappointing it got."
Fans based in the United States bought nearly 100,000 tickets for the Women's World Cup, according to FIFA -- the most of any nation outside host countries Australia and New Zealand. That's a lot of disappointed fans, some of whom might have never had a chance to watch their team play as they banked on the U.S. making it deeper into the tournament.
On Saturday at the Auckland airport, a familiar scene played out at an Air New Zealand gate where passengers waited to fly to Sydney, the host city of a semifinal game and the final. Two sets of strangers, a family of four -- a mom, dad, daughter and son -- and a couple of women (one wearing a Portland Thorns T-shirt) shared updates on the ongoing Australia-France game and recognized each other as Americans and got to chatting.
"You're here for the World Cup too?" "Yep. We're from L.A. Where are you from?" "The Bay Area." "Ah." They had rearranged their plans when the USWNT got knocked out, and the talk quickly turned to the team and questioning coach Vlatko Andonovski's choice of lineups and substitutions.
Upstairs at the Auckland airport that night, Tehya Mondala was playing cards with her dad, Bryan, and her mom, Helen. They were waiting for their flight to head back to San Diego after watching the USWNT in only one of the three games they had planned to see. They attended the group stage game against Portugal, but when the USWNT failed to win the group and took an unexpected path, the family couldn't see the team in the round of 16 -- and then, well, the Americans weren't even in the quarterfinals.
"We knew that was a risk -- although it's the first time in history it happened," Bryan Hageman said. "We weren't going to change our hotel and our airfare and everything else."
The team's poor form early in the tournament had braced the family for the possibility beforehand, Bryan added: "Before we came here, we knew in that Portugal game they had to score four goals and they didn't look like they were going to score one goal, even before the game."