Women's Soccer

We have been talking on the phone with Rachel Van Hollebeke for a good twenty minutes when she states the unspoken truth. The kind of truth that is only obvious after it has been said aloud.

“I’ve learned the idea of controlling the controllable,” she says.

Clearly, I remember thinking. We are in Boulder, Colorado. Rachel Van Hollebeke, née Rachel Marie Buehler, veteran of the U.S. Women’s National Team, is a thousand miles away in California.

This is what leadership is. 

England manager Mark Sampson gave a touching interview about Laura Bassett's own-goal and England's heartbreaking exit from the Women's World Cup. 

Sampson called Bassett a hero for her play throughout the World Cup and said she doesn't deserve the World Cup ending that she got.

England will be wondering what could have been after losing a heartbreaker to Japan in the Women's World Cup semifinals. 

Laura Bassett scored an own goal during injury time to send the defending champions into the final against the United States.

Japan opened the scoring on a 33rd minute penalty from Amy Miyama. England equalized on a Fara Williams penalty seven minutes later.

The score remained 1-1 until Bassett's own-goal in the 92nd minute. 

Japan will play the U.S. on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.

Highlights (or lowlights, if you're an England fan) below:

Following the U.S. Women’s National Team’s 2-0 win over Germany on Tuesday night, we at The18 examined the top 5 storylines emerging from this semifinal victory:

If the USWNT wanted more publicity before their match last Friday against China, they got it in spades from defender Ali Krieger, who will be featured in ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue next month.

Krieger, who received her 70th cap during the US's 2-0 victory over Colombia, will be featured in the issue, which comes out the day after the World Cup final, July 6th.

In the issue, Krieger explained why she decided to pose.

If you are a soccer fan, this is the match we've all wanted and waited for: No. 1 vs No. 2 in women's soccer.

Germany will face the U.S. in the semis of the Women's World Cup this coming Tuesday in Montreal after both surviving their quarterfinal matches.

It took penalty kicks, but the Germans outlasted France Friday night to earn their spot in the semis. Meanwhile, the US once again put on another great defensive performance to defeat China, 1-0 on Carli Lloyd's goal.

Germany and France were tied at 1-1 after 120 minutes of play and tied 4-4 after eight made penalties. Then Celia Sasic made her second penalty of the day, and Nadine Angerer saved Claire Lavogez’s effort and Germany were through to the semifinals. 

The game was an especially lively one, with both sides showing the class that made them ranked first (Germany) and third (France) in the world.

France made a grab for the lead in the first minute, but Louisa Necib’s shot went wide.

OK, so here's what happened: Sports Illustrated editor Mark Mravic tweeted about England's badass goal to send them to the knockout stage of the World Cup. He mentioned one of SI's football contributors, Andy Benoit, who apparently thinks women's sports are about as exciting as we all think hanging out with Andy Benoit would be. 

Although the win wasn’t pretty, the USWNT is through to the quarterfinals in this year’s World Cup, defeating Colombia, ranked 28th in the world.

The second-ranked U.S. came into the match after “struggling” with seven points during group play, while Colombia seemed to be hot after their upset over France.

It actually shows a lot of growth in women’s soccer that analysts are disappointed with the USWNT supposed difficulties and the high expectations that follow the team.

As the USWNT continue their preparations for their quarterfinal match against China, they do so knowing they’ll be without two of their best players: Megan Rapinoe and Lauren Holiday.

Both got a yellow card in the match against Colombia Monday night, The pair already received yellow cards in a previous match, which means neither can play against the Chinese.

The U.S. will miss both, but especially Rapinoe, who has made a huge impact for the U.S. in the World Cup.