france 1 usa 3
for a game billed by many as 'david against goliath', all i saw was david running circles around goliath and goliath chasing shadows. aside from the 10 minutes after usa secured a shock lead, france was playing all the football.
so much so that from the worry on the usa coach pia sundhage's face, from the body language of the us girls, you know they know they were being outplayed.
france were having all the ball and controlling the midfield. the inevitable came, albeit with a stroke of luck. bompastor's cross went all the way into the far corner; gaetane thiney didn't touch the ball at all. gaetane thiney had 2 other golden chances in the game, put through superbly by necib, but she did not put them away. in light of this, perhaps it wasn't surprising that thiney didnt quite get to the ball.
but in 5 minutes of madness, the question from when france would seal the win became a ticket to the final handed to the americans on a silver platter. a poor clearance from sapowicz, the weakest link in the french defence all evening, fell straight to rapinoe and the french managed to clear it for a corner. sapowicz flapped at the corner and wambach scored.
then a rapinoe ball wasn't met cleanly by georges and alex morgan broke through. i seriously wondered why sapowicz was so far off her line. she was neither here nor there, and while morgan's chip was excellent, you felt that sapowicz should have stayed on the line, because the other centreback was moving to pressure morgan.
by then, it was too late.
the usa got out of jail again.
for me, the french lost because of their keeper. and you know i have complained about the second choice deville. now, i can only conclude that they don't have a good keeper. and they lost because georges made her only two mistakes in the whole tournament and was roundly punished today.
abby wambach was named the player of the match, but let's be honest. aside from that second goal and another header late in the first half, i didnt see her at all. neither did i see any american girls. but if u have to give it to an american, i would give it to megan rapinoe, because once again, she came on and gave an impetus, made things happen in attack.
the way necib picked out her teammates was a joy to watch. france were a joy to watch, though i felt they were a little too trigger-happy with their long shots. but hey, they really can shoot from anywhere, abily, thiney, necib, soubeyrand, bussaglia and bompastor. just that sometimes you feel they could still have passed instead of shootng straight away.
the litmus test is always if you want the game to end. for france, you can watch them forever.
i think they know it: they are better than usa and have thrown it away themselves.
so much so that from the worry on the usa coach pia sundhage's face, from the body language of the us girls, you know they know they were being outplayed.
france were having all the ball and controlling the midfield. the inevitable came, albeit with a stroke of luck. bompastor's cross went all the way into the far corner; gaetane thiney didn't touch the ball at all. gaetane thiney had 2 other golden chances in the game, put through superbly by necib, but she did not put them away. in light of this, perhaps it wasn't surprising that thiney didnt quite get to the ball.
but in 5 minutes of madness, the question from when france would seal the win became a ticket to the final handed to the americans on a silver platter. a poor clearance from sapowicz, the weakest link in the french defence all evening, fell straight to rapinoe and the french managed to clear it for a corner. sapowicz flapped at the corner and wambach scored.
then a rapinoe ball wasn't met cleanly by georges and alex morgan broke through. i seriously wondered why sapowicz was so far off her line. she was neither here nor there, and while morgan's chip was excellent, you felt that sapowicz should have stayed on the line, because the other centreback was moving to pressure morgan.
by then, it was too late.
the usa got out of jail again.
for me, the french lost because of their keeper. and you know i have complained about the second choice deville. now, i can only conclude that they don't have a good keeper. and they lost because georges made her only two mistakes in the whole tournament and was roundly punished today.
abby wambach was named the player of the match, but let's be honest. aside from that second goal and another header late in the first half, i didnt see her at all. neither did i see any american girls. but if u have to give it to an american, i would give it to megan rapinoe, because once again, she came on and gave an impetus, made things happen in attack.
the way necib picked out her teammates was a joy to watch. france were a joy to watch, though i felt they were a little too trigger-happy with their long shots. but hey, they really can shoot from anywhere, abily, thiney, necib, soubeyrand, bussaglia and bompastor. just that sometimes you feel they could still have passed instead of shootng straight away.
the litmus test is always if you want the game to end. for france, you can watch them forever.
i think they know it: they are better than usa and have thrown it away themselves.
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