U.S.A is semi-final bound
It was not a typical evening in France on Friday. France, a country accustomed to winning at this point in the Women’s World Cup, broke pattern after a devastating 2–1 defeat to Megan Rapinoe and the U.S at the Parc des Prince in Paris, France.
The highly anticipated matchup lived up to the hype. After what seemed like a shaky round of 16 against Spain, the U.S put on the pressure early in their controlling win against France. Alex Morgan was fouled just outside the side of the box in the fifth minute, leaving a red-hot Megan Rapinoe with a scoring opportunity. Sure enough, Rapinoe blasted the ball towards the middle of the goal that slid past the goalie into the back of the net. Just as they had in their last two matches against Spain and Sweden, the U.S took an early lead in the first ten minutes of the game.
For the remainder of the half, the U.S kept France scoreless and headed into the second half leading 1–0. France was almost able to even the score on a cross from Amel Majri in the 13th minute, but Eugenie Le Sommer was unable to direct her header into the goal as it went wide of the post.
France got a wake up call in the second half. Sam Mewis drove the ball into the bottom corner which French goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi was able to save. Tobin Heath, however, got the rebound and shot the ball near post which, if not for Bouhaddi’s brilliant save, would have given the U.S a 2–0 lead to start the second half.
France was unable to contain the U.S though, as Rapinoe scored her second goal of the game after a low driven cross from Heath to put the U.S up 2–0 in the 65th minute. This was against the run of play since France was dominating the possession game in the second half. France ended up with 61% possession at the end of the game.
The secure two goal U.S lead was tested late in the second half when French captain Wendie Renard scored a header off of Gaetane Thiney’s freekick in the 81st minute to cut the lead 2–1. However, despite their late effort, France still ended up taking the loss on their home field. They will see the U.S move on to play England in the semi-final on Tuesday and they will continue to build up their arsenal for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
