Team USA has knack for drama

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This article was published 02/07/2019 (2602 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What can possibly follow a match that had everything?

The Netherlands and Sweden will provide an answer today (2 p.m., TSN), although both sides could be excused for offering a reply along the lines of, “Hopefully something rather less dramatic.” Soccer fans could use the breather.

Tuesday’s first semifinal of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, in which the United States prevailed 2-1 over England, packed a tournament’s worth of compelling content into a single encounter. It wasn’t even game time and the talking points were coming faster than a Lucy Bronze run down the right-hand side. It wasn’t even Tuesday!

While England were training on Monday morning, American soccer personnel were caught scouting the private areas of the Lionesses’ five-star Fourviere Hotel in Lyon. United States head coach Jill Ellis conceded her staff was “planning ahead” in the event of a semifinal victory, as they hoped to check in to the former convent ahead of a prospective World Cup final. Phil Neville, her England counterpart, accused the three-time champions of lacking “etiquette.”

But “Hotelgate” didn’t last long as a topic ahead of kickoff.

Just over an hour before the match started at Parc Olympique Lyonnais, home of the current powerhouse of women’s club soccer, the USA team-sheet revealed that Megan Rapinoe would begin the semifinal on the bench. Was she injured? Was she being dropped so her replacement, Christen Press, could line up against Bronze, the electrifying England right-back? Was she being punished for saying she wouldn’t “go to the f*cking White House” if she and her teammates won the World Cup?

Having captured hearts with her joyful play and celebratory poses and inspiring fans around the world with her political demonstrations and opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump, Rapinoe’s Tuesday omission was the sort of development that caught everyone off guard and further emphasized the anxiety of the occasion. In the end it was learned that she was battling a hamstring injury, but by then Press’s exceptional performance had become a talking point in and of itself.

The United States are a team that completely swarms the opposition goal-mouth in the first 15 or 20 minutes of matches, and it was in just the 10th that Press, making her first start of the competition, opened the scoring. Tobin Heath’s smart dummy had allowed Kelley O’Hara to run onto the ball, and her exquisite cross from the right found Press across the face of the goal for a well-delivered header.

England trailed for only nine minutes before Ellen White adjusted her right foot to connect with Beth Mead’s cross from the left, raising it into the roof of the net.

White, the World Cup’s joint-top scorer, looked to have pulled her side level a second time in the 67th minute, only to have her composed finish chalked off by a video assistant referee review. VAR was front and centre once again in the 81st minute when it awarded England a penalty for Becky Sauerbrunn’s foul on White, although Steph Houghton’s resulting attempt was saved by Alyssa Naeher.

By then England had trailed since the half-hour mark, when Alex Morgan headed Lindsey Horan’s arcing, back-spinning ball past goalkeeper Carly Telford, who was starting ahead of injured No. 1 Karen Bardsley. Morgan marked the goal by pretending to drink a cup of tea — a celebration that trolled not only her opponents but also Piers Morgan, the pompous, Brexiteering English broadcaster who had targeted her in a Twitter post.

England unravelled in the end. Millie Bright, who had a match to forget in the centre of defence, was sent off in the 86th minute, and Nikita Parris was booked for fouling Morgan in the 90th. Inexplicably, forward Toni Duggan didn’t feature at all in the match, and Bronze, who had been so effective through her previous five matches, struggled to both contain Press and contribute to the attack.

Ellis, despite the criticism she has often faced for her in-game decisions, managed to properly out-coach Neville, whose use of Rachel Daly down the right served to limit both Bronze and Parris. And after a day of build-up and 90 minutes plus stoppages of riveting soccer that featured the Rapinoe news, well-taken goals, comic celebrations, VAR controversy and a sending off, the United States deservedly progressed to a third successive World Cup final.

One of the Netherlands and Sweden will face them on Sunday in Lyon, following a second semifinal that will likely be considerably less eventful than the first.

As European champions, the Netherlands will go into the match as the favourites and more technically capable outfit of the two. Vivianne Miedema, who scored 31 goals for Arsenal last season, might be the best striker in the world at the moment, and Lieke Martens enjoyed a much-needed break-out performance against Japan in the round of 16. Sweden, meanwhile, shocked Germany in the quarter-finals and will rely on the speed and athleticism of Sofia Jakobsson and Stina Blackstenius, as well as the playmaking ability of Kosovare Asllani, to hit the Netherlands on the break.

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The United States won’t much care who wins today. In Spain, France and England they’ve already seen off three of Europe’s best teams in the knockout stages. They also survived the drama and nerves of Monday’s match — a game that had it all.

While the Netherlands and Sweden are battling for a place in Sunday’s final, Team USA will be relaxing at the Fourviere Hotel. Enjoying the spoils of victory — literally.

jerradpeters@gmail.com

Twitter @JerradPeters