Team USA Faces Tough Challenge Against Italy in World Cup

Team USA rattled China to open its World Cup title defense. Italy is making them sweat.

Two days after a 94-61 demolition of China in Berlin, the Americans walked into their second group game on Sunday as overwhelming favorites again, unbeaten in World Cup play since 2006 and chasing a fifth straight global crown. On paper, Italy was another step on the march to gold. On the floor, it looked nothing like a formality.

A grind in Berlin, not a coronation

USA jumped out early, 18-8 after the first quarter, nine different players on the scoresheet and the “young and turnt” group flashing its depth. Paige Bueckers led the opening burst with four points, Chelsea Gray hit the first jumper of the afternoon, and the U.S. defense went to work. Italy shot just 21% in the opening 10 minutes and coughed up eight turnovers. Angel Reese needed less than three minutes to record a steal and two blocks. It felt like the familiar script: suffocating American defense, waves of talent, opponent overwhelmed.

Italy refused to follow it.

Andrea Capobianco’s team tightened its defense, packed the paint and turned the game into a halfcourt fistfight. Passing lanes vanished. Drives met bodies. The Americans, who had rained in 12 threes against China, suddenly couldn’t buy one. They trudged toward halftime without a single made three-pointer, stuck in a 0-for-9 funk from beyond the arc and just 33% from the field.

The pressure finally told on the scoreboard. After trailing by as many as 10, Italy pieced together a 14-3 run in the second quarter, slicing a 19-8 U.S. lead down to 26-20 by the 4:15 mark. Cecilia Zandalasini, the focal point of every American scouting report and a familiar face to assistant coach Natalie Nakase from their time together with the Golden State Valkyries, started to feel the game bend her way. She rose into jumpers, attacked gaps, and dragged Italy back into contention.

By halftime, Zandalasini led all scorers with nine points, the Italians had outscored the U.S. 16-12 in the second quarter, and a double-digit cushion had shrunk to a nervy six. USA 30, Italy 24 — and all the swagger from Friday’s rout suddenly looked distant.

Angel Reese again sat at the heart of the U.S. resistance. She went into the break with six points, two blocks, a steal and the kind of edge that fits knockout basketball, even if this was only group play. Three other Americans chipped in four points each, but nothing came easy. The U.S. shot 32% from the floor, Italy 31%. This was a defensive street fight, not a showcase.

Italy swings, USA staggers

Any expectation that the United States would reset and run away after halftime vanished almost immediately.

Napheesa Collier, one of Kara Lawson’s defensive anchors and a former Defensive Player of the Year, picked up her third foul at the 7:31 mark of the third quarter. Rhyne Howard checked in for her as Lawson tried to manage minutes and foul counts in a game that suddenly demanded careful navigation. With FIBA’s five-foul limit, Collier’s situation became a subplot to watch.

The real story, though, was unfolding on the perimeter and in the paint — or, more accurately, the lack of access to it. Italy choked off drives, cut off angles and turned every American possession into a puzzle. The U.S. missed seven straight field goals. The ball stuck, the rhythm vanished, and those clean looks that fell so freely against China simply weren’t there.

At 5:32 of the third quarter, the scoreboard delivered the shock: Italy 33, USA 32.

Italy, which had led for only 42 seconds all afternoon, now had the advantage and all the momentum. The Americans, owners of the longest World Cup winning streak in the sport and heavy favorites to win the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup according to BetMGM, suddenly found themselves in a genuine scrap just two games into group play.

On the sideline, Lawson didn’t hide her frustration, or her respect.

“I think we’re playing physically; we’re just making too many errors. We’re making too many mistakes,” she said at halftime. “Italy’s playing with great force. We knew they would. It’s forced us into a lot of unforced errors.”

Her words echoed the stat sheet. Turnovers, missed open looks, breakdowns against pressure — all the little cracks that rarely appear in this program’s World Cup armor showed up at once.

Zandalasini and the foul line tightrope

Italy’s comeback had a clear centerpiece. Zandalasini, who dropped 19 points in Italy’s 63-54 group-stage opening win over Czechia and leads the national team in scoring, again carried the offensive load. She reached nine points by the middle of the second quarter and kept probing, even as the Americans tried to trap and crowd her.

There was a catch. Zandalasini also picked up her third foul before halftime, pushing Capobianco into the same kind of balancing act Lawson faced with Collier. In FIBA play, five fouls is the end of the road, and both teams were flirting with that edge for their stars.

Italy’s ability to keep its leader on the floor without losing her to foul trouble became as important as any shot she took. Every whistle felt heavy.

A new-look USA gets its first real test

This tournament was always going to be a different kind of challenge for Team USA. The roster arrived in Berlin without A’ja Wilson, the four-time WNBA MVP and 2022 World Cup MVP, and without five-time All-Star Kelsey Plum. Both were ruled out for “health reasons” just four days before the World Cup tipped off.

“We’ll miss being around them ... We wish them both a speedy recovery,” Lawson said on Sept. 1. “But we don’t have time to be worried about who’s not here.”

She meant it. The Americans pivoted quickly, leaning into a new core that mixes established champions with rising stars. Breanna Stewart, a two-time WNBA MVP, anchors the frontcourt. Chelsea Gray, a four-time WNBA champion, runs the show from the point. Collier brings her defensive pedigree and versatility.

Around them, the next generation is already being asked to carry weight. Caitlin Clark, who opened the tournament with a 14-point, 11-assist double-double against China — those 11 assists set a record for an American player in World Cup play — has the ball in her hands and the green light to create. Bueckers and Howard, both with 14 points in the opener, stretch the floor and attack off the dribble. Reese brings physicality and edge on the glass and at the rim. Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen, late additions after Wilson and Plum were ruled out, deepen the rotation and inject even more youth.

This is the group tasked with extending a dynasty that hasn’t lost a World Cup game since 2006, in a field where France, Belgium, Australia and Spain all lurk as genuine threats.

Old dominance, new resistance

Italy knows that dominance well. The two teams met in March at the World Cup qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico, where Team USA rolled to a 93-59 win behind Kahleah Copper’s game-high 15 points. Five Americans reached double figures that day. The gulf in talent and depth was obvious.

Sunday in Berlin told a different story. Same uniforms, same crest, very different tone.

Italy’s defensive intensity disrupted the Americans’ flow from the opening minutes. Even when USA jumped ahead 11-6 midway through the first quarter, both teams were already trading steals and blocks. By the 6:45 mark of the second quarter, Team USA had piled up six steals and four blocks, “having a field day” defensively, but Italy refused to fold. Every time the lead threatened to balloon, the Italians clawed it back.

For all the American length and athleticism, it was Italy’s discipline and aggression in the paint that flipped the game. They walled off drives, forced the U.S. into contested jumpers, and dared a usually reliable shooting team to beat them from deep. On this night, at least through three quarters, that shot simply wasn’t there.

The bigger picture in Group D

Group D always looked like USA’s to control, with Czech Republic, Italy and China rounding out the pool. The format is unforgiving at the top: only the group winner goes straight to the quarterfinals. Second and third place drop into the Playoff Qualification Round, fighting for the last four spots in the final eight.

The Americans started with a statement against China. They ran, they shot, they turned defense into a track meet and put the rest of the tournament on notice. Italy has forced them into something else entirely — a reminder that not every step toward a title comes with a double-digit cushion and a highlight reel.

The stakes will only climb. After Italy, the U.S. faces Czechia on Monday, with the knockout rounds looming and the margin for error shrinking. Lawson and her staff — Natalie Nakase, Nate Tibbetts and Stephanie White — must find answers on the fly: cleaner execution against pressure, more composure when the three isn’t falling, smarter foul management with Collier and the frontcourt.

Sue Bird, now USA Managing Director and no longer the one hitting late threes to bail out a sluggish offense, framed the mission before the ball even went up.

“I think we want to continue to work on ourselves, try to build a chemistry as we go through the tournament, but obviously respect our opponent,” she said. “It’ll be a challenge, and hopefully, we can do a little bit of both.”

Italy has delivered that challenge early. The question now is whether this new-look American team turns a shaky group-stage grind into the kind of scar tissue that carries champions through the pressure of Berlin’s final weekend — or whether it’s the first sign that the rest of the world is closing the gap.