In the most-anticipated quarterfinal match in Women’s World Cup history, the United States struck first.
Megan Rapinoe whipped a wide free kick low toward goal, a cross/shot that somehow eluded everyone and fooled France goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi, giving the U.S. a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute.
As much of a cliché as this sounds, England is very much a team that is greater than the sum of its parts.
This isn’t to say England has bad players — Fran Kirby and Lucy Bronze are among the best in the world at their respective positions. Yet it would be hard to say the Three Lionesses are the best in the world in any one particular area. There are better passing teams, better possession teams, better defending teams and quicker and stronger teams.
But when England puts it together, there might not be a better team.
Twitter, like Reddit before it, was once a largely satirical, clandestine take on whataboutery — a safe place against the echo chambers of fallacy that invaded popular media sources with the power to turn Mahatma Gandhi into a cynic. In their absurdism, Twitter and Reddit remained far from the trappings of modern media. That’s no longer the case.
Our takes are now dictated by the reactionary, reward-seeking behavior that's seeped into all social platforms, contributing directly to the cacophony of noise that leads to the short-sighted negligence we all, supposedly, abhor.
Legendary referee Pierluigi Collina, who now serves as the chairman of FIFA’s Referees’ Committee, took center stage at a FIFA media briefing today about officiating and VAR at the 2019 Women’s World Cup, much like he did last summer in Moscow for the men’s tournament.
After watching Jessica McDonald’s story from the USWNT 23 stories, we learned what motivates her to pursue her dream of playing professionally. Her mother had her and her brother right out of high school and struggled to give them the life they deserved, so she ended up being raised by her grandmother.
If you’re an American viewer that can’t get enough of watching soccer on TV, you’ve probably quickly realized this summer that you actually can get enough of it.
Friday. On Friday, you don’t work. On Friday, you watch perhaps the most anticipated match in the history of the Women’s World Cup. The USA vs France World Cup 2019 predictions, previews and general hype train is building to a crescendo, like a Marta message to the children.
We’ve all seen him by now, the USWNT assistant coach.
With a broad, reassuring face and hair pulled back tight, he shadows U.S. head coach Jill Ellis on the sidelines, almost brother-like in appearance.
So who is this guy anyway? And what’s with the man-bun?
On Friday night, goalkeeper Eloy Room stood on his head to earn the Curaçao national team its first-ever Gold Cup victory, 1-0 over favored Honduras.
Juriën Gaari did one better on Tuesday night.
The Telegraph has reported that Qin Liang, the England vs Cameroon referee, twice ignored VAR advice in order to prevent the Cameroonian team from walking out during the game.
The first instance was Fran Kirby’s penalty appeal, in which Kirby was taken down with a high challenge in the box by a Cameroonian defender.