Is this it — the moment we all live to regret? Yesterday, a U.S. team administrator and her boss were apprehended whilst dozily meandering around the private rooms of England’s Fourvière hotel, which the rogue Americans could potentially use as a base of operations should they secure passage to the final at the expense of the Lionesses.
The USMNT advanced to the semifinals of the 2019 Gold Cup with a 1-0 victory over Curaçao, and it really was that close. A wonderful combination between Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie in the 25th minute proved to be the match-winner, and the U.S. had to rely on five saves from Zack Steffen to weather the storm from the tiny Dutch Caribbean island.
The opening 25 minutes of play had very little to due with what transpired over the final 65 — that opening period was really the only time the U.S. seemed to be in control.
In a rematch of the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Final, Spain got revenge on Germany to capture its fifth title, moving the nation level with Italy as the most successful in the history of the Euro U-21 competition.
Spain last achieved U-21 glory when winning back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2013. That extremely skilled cohort included the likes of Juan Mata, David de Gea, Cesar Azpilicueta, Javi Martinez, Isco, Koke and Dani Carvajal, and the 2019 group is sure to achieve just as much international success, if not more than that highly skilled generation.
Mexico’s quest for its eighth Gold Cup — and first since 2015 — almost came to an abrupt end in Houston last night in front of over 70,000 at NRG Stadium. Raúl Jiménez had given El Tri a first half lead, only for Costa Rica to respond in the second half via a converted Bryan Ruiz penalty.
That would be the only scoring on the night, so the match would be decided on penalties. The shootout started as a nightmare for Mexico after Jiménez had his shot saved while Celso Borges converted for Costa Rica.
Down 2-0 with only 40 minutes remaining in last night’s CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal, Haiti produced a barnstorming comeback to knockout Canada 3-2 while clinching a spot in the semifinals for the first time ever.
The progress that Canada had evidently made under John Herdman had been one of the talking points of the group stage, and there were whispers of the Canucks upsetting the odds to claim their first continental title since 2000.
To say Germany had Sweden’s number in major international tournaments would be an insult to number-having everywhere. In nine knockout-round matches between the two all time, the Germans had won all of them.
Well, all but one after Saturday.
Sweden overcame an early goal to rally past the second-ranked team in the world 2-1, providing perhaps the biggest upset of the Women’s World Cup to advance to the semifinals.
Sweden joined the U.S., England and the Netherlands in the final four and will play the Dutch on Wednesday.
Anyone who has been to the Netherlands can attest: the Dutch are tall. Based on national statistics, the European nation is among the very tallest in the world with an average height of 5-6 for the women, and these Oranje national team players are even taller.
The Oranje certainly exemplify this with perhaps the most dominant aerial abilities of any team left in France. Stefanie van der Gragt is 5-10, Vivianne Miedema is 5-9, Jill Roord is 5-8 and Anouk Dekker is 6-0.
Mohamed Salah has been criticized for supporting, defending and fighting for Amr Warda, a teammate on the Egyptian national team.
Warda was kicked off the Pharaohs for the Africa Cup of Nations after accusations of sending lewd messages to women, but the Egyptian federation decided to reinstate Warda after Salah and his teammates asked for Warda to be pardoned, the Associated Press reported.
The United States is into the semifinals of the 2019 Women’s World Cup, continuing its incredible streak of reaching the final four in all eight editions.
The USWNT did it by seeing off host France, seen by many as the biggest challenger to the No. 1 team repeating as world champion. The 2-1 win on Friday night in Paris was coach Jill Ellis’ 100th win in charge of the Americans, including 11 wins and one draw with no losses in World Cup play.
Hope Solo may disagree, but maybe we should give the Englishwoman a bit of respect for what she’s accomplished with Team USA.
Megan Rapinoe may just win the Golden Boot — and help the USWNT win a fourth Women’s World Cup in the process.
The USWNT winger scored in the fifth and 65th minutes to lead the U.S. to a 2-1 win over France in the 2019 Women’s World Cup quarterfinals on Friday in Paris. The anticipated showdown came down to the wire but the U.S. held on for an impressive victory over the host nation.