Missing from today’s starting lineup was
Megan Rapinoe. Nobody was certain why
she was MIA until after the match, but it was reported that she didn’t
participate in team warmups prior to game time.
Given England coach Phil Neville’s knack for starting different players
each game to confuse the opposition, my first thought was US coach Jill Smith might
be doing a little of the same with Rapinoe, or that she might be saving Rapinoe
for the second half. But sometimes a
cigar is just a cigar, and it turned out Rapinoe tweaked her hamstring. Christen Press started in her place.
Lindsey Horan also started for the US
today. She was used as a sub the last
two games. She was one of five US
players sitting on a yellow card. My
guess is US coach Jill Smith didn’t want to risk her getting a second yellow before
the semi-final. If she had gotten that
second yellow, she would have missed today’s game. But all yellow cards for all players were
wiped off the board after the quarter-final, so Horan had a clean slate and was
able to start.
One question coming into this game was
whether the US would have their heads in the game, given the tough win against
France. The US wasted little time in
grabbing the opening lead. In the 10th
minute, defender Kelley O’Hara drove deep into the English left side when she
made a cross into the English penalty area.
O’Hara found her target, and Christen Press [Rapinoe’s sub] headed home
the goal. England’s defenders were
caught “ball watching” again. No
Rapinoe? No problem. But the US lead would be short-lived. England’s Ellen White evened the score at 1-1
in the 19th minute when she spilt to US defenders, took a cross from
Beth Mead on the left, and slotted home the equalizer. This put her in the lead for the Golden Boot
award [ahead of Morgan and Rapinoe].
Things got a bit more intense down at the
US end. Lucy Bronze took a long pass
from England’s defensive side, cut right briefly, then cut toward midfield. She found an open Beth Mead in the penalty
area. Mead slipped, and a British
scoring opportunity quickly vanished. If
she hadn’t slipped, she stood a good chance of putting England in the lead. Kiera Walsh took the following throw-in and
made a pass toward midfielder Jill Smith who was streaking toward the goal,
trying to repeat what Ellen White had done eight minutes prior. US defender Becky Sauerbrunn got a foot on it
and nearly got an “own goal”. But the US
weathered this brief storm.
There was a tense moment in the English penalty
area right after the 24-minute mark. Alex
Morgan was set up for a header in the box, but she bashed heads Lucy Bronze. Play continued while Morgan appeared down for
the count. While Morgan lay sprawled on
the field, Rose Lavelle hit a thunderous shot on goal, only to be saved by
substitute goalie Carly Telford [Karen Bardsley had a hamstring injury of her
own]. Luckily for the US, Morgan was
down for only a minute.
In the 31st minute, Alex Morgan
finally got her sixth goal of the tournament.
US defender Abby Dahlkemper bypassed England’s midfield with a pinpoint
cross-field long ball to Christen Press. Press subsequently found Lindsey Horan,
who made a beautiful pass to Morgan who was sprinting through the English
penalty area. Without a break in stride,
Morgan headed home the go-ahead goal. The
US led 2-1. Happy Birthday Alex! She’s back in the lead for the Golden Boot
because she also has three assists.
Moments later, England’s Kiera Walsh tested US goalie Alyssa Naeher with
a slicing shot from outside the box. The
shot was fading away to the far post. Had Naeher not gone airborne to make a
terrific save it would have been 2-2. In the 40th minute, England’s Millie
Bright backhanded Alex Morgan’s face.
Phil Neville didn’t seem to think the foul was that egregious, but the
referee saw it a different way and booked Bright. It was an action-packed first half. England controlled possession 54 percent of
the time, but were still down one goal.
After play resumed, Crystal Dunn committed
a hard foul on Nikita Parris, after which England was awarded a free kick. Beth Mead took the free kick, which bounced
around the front of the goal like a pinball until goalie Alyssa Naeher cradled
it just in front of the net. Whew! Rose Lavelle, who had a great game as a
playmaker, got injured making a defensive play.
You could read her lips when she said “it’s my hamstring”. Julie Mewis came on in her place. Jill Smith didn’t want to make any “fatigue
substitutions”, so one wonders if Lavelle will be fit to play again.
In the 67th minute, the English had
possession in the US final third. Ellen White took a flick from Jill Scott,
split two US defenders and tied the score at 2-2. But wait…let’s go to VAR. White was barely offside. But “barely offside” is still offside, so
White’s goal was waved off. I thought
she had timed her run just right, but the video said otherwise. After White’s near-miss, the US began to play
the 5-4-1 they played in the last quarter of the match against France.
Two things happened three minutes apart
that sealed England’s fate. First,
American Becky Sauerbrunn committed a bad foul at the 83rd
minute. What VAR took away from Ellen
White, VAR gave back. Upon further
review, England was awarded a penalty kick.
Steph Houghton took the penalty [Nikita Parris had missed England’s
previous two PKs], but Alyssa Naeher guessed right and made an incredible
save. To quote Alex Morgan, “she saved
our ass”. Three minutes later, England’s
Millie Bright was shown her second yellow card.
It was a hard foul on Alex Morgan, studs up. That earned her a red card
and she was sent off. It’s pretty hard
to make a comeback when you’re one player down, and your team has a reputation
for not finishing games. Although there
were seven minutes of stoppage time added to the end of regulation, it wasn’t
enough for England. Time ran out for
them, and the US advanced to Sunday’s final.
You can win by 13, or you can win by one, but the “W” counts the same.
Who was my player of the game? US Goalie Alyssa
Naeher. Alex Morgan may have scored the
winning goal, but Naeher made one incredible save in the first half and two critical saves in the second half [including the penalty]. That save
was the first non-shootout save for any US women’s goalie in World Cup history
[take THAT, Hope Solo!]. More props to
Kelley O’Hara and Crystal Dunn. They had
another solid game in defense. The
English wingers couldn’t get past them.
The US await the winners of the
Netherlands/Sweden game.
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