HARRISON, N.J. — One goal separated the United States women’s soccer team and Spain on Sunday. The distance between the American players and the United States Soccer Federation, however, apparently remains incalculable.

On the field, of course, neither the team nor the federation that employs it would dispute that their goals continue to align nicely. Sunday’s victory against Spain — on a header by midfielder Julie Ertz in the 87th minute — ran the team’s unbeaten streak to 30 games, and its record under Coach Vlatko Andonovski to a perfect 9-0.

The United States has not lost a game at all in 14 months — a defeat to France in January 2019 that itself ended a 28-game unbeaten run — and as it quickly warms to Andonovski’s methods, tactics and lineup preferences, the team is a heavy favorite to regain its Olympic title in Tokyo this summer. It has scored 28 goals this year. It has yet to allow a single one.

But to midfielder Megan Rapinoe, Sunday’s close win, one in which the team had to pry open a tight defense to produce its winning goal, may prove more valuable than the easy ones that came before it. “This was not a great performance by us; I’m sure we’ll have a lot of film to watch, and things we can work on,” Rapinoe said. “But I think these performances are always better and more telling than if we go out and smash teams.”