2019 FIFA Women's World CupThere is no doubt this 52 match worldwide competition is intense and hard to keep up with as it is crammed into one month. While the media spends time posting pictures of players crying and keeping tabs on how many seats are left empty in the France stadium, I have to wonder WTF the news is trying to do with those types of reports. When people are struggling to stream the games, they are relying on coverage elsewhere. It would be nice if what we could find without cable television would offer something a little bit deeper. These women are tremendous athletes, and that is what we should be seeing. Hopefully other parts of the world are seeing more than what we see here in the United States.

Alas, the United State’s Women’s World Cup soccer team has allowed a team to score a goal. They went three games undefeated (having score 18 goals total) and without having allowed goals from their opposition. And then they went up against Spain (1-1-1). I’m typing this as the game is currently underway.

The US defense is put to the test

In the first seven minutes of their game versus Spain, Megan Rapinoe scored a goal, which was quickly followed up with a goal by Jennifer Hermoso nine minutes in. I suppose being scored against has gotten to the team, because Megan Rapinoe has gotten her first yellow card of the tournament when her hand made contact with the face of Spain’s Marta Corredera. Oddly enough after getting slapped in the face, Corredera approached Rapinoe, and there is some more touching, friendly touching.

 

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The game is currently on break as we sit through a 15-minute halftime. I’m not worried. I know the US team will win, but what will their goal differential be in the end? No longer the lofty 18 points they had going into the game. Spain has never been to the final game in the Women’s World Cup before, and you can tell by their moves that they really want this win.

Megan Rapinoe (42065967564)
Credit: Jamie Smed from Cincinnati, Ohio [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

70 minutes into the game and neither team has scored since the first nine minutes of the match. Although, Rose Lavelle almost had it but almost isn’t enough, and do we really want the US to end this game in a draw? I don’t know about you, but I don’t. I want the win. The winner today takes on France in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Thank the sweet universe! 76 minutes into the game, the US scores their second goal, again by Megan Rapinoe.

Uh-oh, we have a player down and the game is currently stopped. Virginia Torrecilla, one of Spain’s midfielders, is on the ground in what appears to be intense pain. Torrecilla has been replaced by Marta Corredera. With so much on the line and so little time left, Spain’s Irene Paredes gets a yellow card.

In the last five minutes of the game, Alex Morgan is pulled out and her sub will be Carli Lloyd. Second sub of the game had Coach Ellis pulling Rose LaVelle and subbing Lindsey Horan. As the game continues to go into OT, Christen Press runs in replacing Megan Rapinoe.

It looks like the US will be winning their match versus Spain 2-1. I’m looking forward to their match against France on Friday. it’s going to be a nail-biter, I’m sure.

Some highlights

  • The top 10 ranked teams in the world are – US, Germany, England, France, Canada, Australia, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, and Brazil.
  • The team to surprise the world the most this summer would have to be Italy after they knocked Australia out of the tournament in the final minutes of their match. Italy has not been in the final matches since 1991. The most impressive player in this game would have to be Barbara Bonansea; she’s fast and she can play both sides of the field without issue.
  • For the first time ever, two African countries have moved into the knockout rounds. They are Cameroon and Nigeria. Ajara Nchout from Cameroon was their shining star against New Zealand when she scored the winning goal 96 minutes into the match!
  • Canada has been making quite a name for themselves. Some are wondering if they’re on a natural high after the Raptors’ win, but I doubt that has anything to do with it because Canada was undefeated in 2019 prior to last Thursday’s loss to Netherlands. They play Sweden today at 3 p.m. EST. The winner takes on Germany in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 12:30 p.m EST. My gut says Canada will win, and all eyes will be on their star player Christine Sinclair.

A couple shadows

  • Well, in what is definitely far more of a shadow than a highlight, Scotland’s Lee Alexander almost clinched Scotland’s win over Argentina with what looked like an amazing defensive block during the match. Unfortunately, it was reviewed by the “video assist ref” and called back. The “twitterverse” erupted over this one, and even the infamous Hope Solo jumped to support Alexander. The teams ended up in a draw 3-3, and Scotland did not move forward into the last 16.
  • Jamaica’s departure is probably one of the saddest because they had been the first Caribbean team to qualify to play in the Women’s World Cup. Even after their final loss, they received a standing ovation as they left the field.
  • While it was awesome to see two African countries make it to the knockout round, they unfortunately both lost their games this past weekend.

Upcoming Games

June 24: Spain vs. US; Sweden vs. Canada
June 25: Italy vs. China; Netherlands vs. Japan

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