U.S. women roar into semifinals
Outspoken Rapinoe scores pair as U.S. shows it’s not ready to concede its status
U.S. forward Megan Rapinoe lets out a yell after doing the talking with her feet, netting both goals in her team’s 2-1 victory over France in the Women’s World Cup quarterfinals on Friday.
PARIS — It felt like a final, not a quarterfinal, the two favorites in the Women’s World Cup playing for coronation, not simple advancement.
The stadium was throbbing. Ticket sellers were asking thousands of dollars for a single seat. Pressure and anticipation seemed to bake like the heat that hovered near 90 degrees.
It seemed, too, as if more than a game were at stake when the United States faced France on Friday, perhaps a validation of the ascent of women’s soccer’s from acceptance to mainstream appeal. There was a hint, too, of possible tectonic shifting, of a displacement of the United States, the defending champion, as a dominant power amid a broad European upsurge.
Nobody seemed better prepared for the urgency of the moment than U.S. forward Megan Rapinoe, who scored twice as the United States defeated France 2-1 before a capacity crowd of 45,595 at Parc des Princes. Rapinoe scored on a devilish free kick in the fifth minute, swooped onto a crossing pass for a second goal in the 65th and seemed invigorated — or at least not distracted in the slightest — after her midweek jousting with President Donald Trump, who had criticized her for saying she would not visit the White House if the United States won its fourth World Cup.
“I don’t really get energized by haters or all that,” Rapinoe said. “I feel like there’s so many people that love me, so I’m like: ‘Yay, keep loving me. This is great!’ I’m more energized by that.”
If the Americans — the only non-European team among the eight quarter
finalists — are to be thwarted from winning the trophy again, and dislodged as the No. 1 team in the world, that must wait until at least Tuesday, when they will play a semifinal match against England in Lyon. But England will have to contend with Rapinoe, who has scored five goals in five World Cup matches and has surged through this tournament with a freewheeling personality off the field and a merciless intent on it.
“It’s the knockout rounds,” Rapinoe said. “You don’t get past it without statement performances.”
On Friday night, from the kickoff, Rapinoe, who will be 34 next week, sent the U.S. attack searing down the left wing as if on a sprint relay. In the fifth minute, she hurled the ball upfield on a quick throw-in and France’s stalwart central defender, Griedge Mbock Bathy, had to yank down forward Alex Morgan as she raced in on goal.
Mbock Bathy was given a yellow card but the true punishment came a moment later, when Rapinoe sent a low, wicked free kick from about 22 yards that appeared to dip through the legs of American midfielder Julie Ertz and French captain Amadine Henry before sailing past goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi, who did not have time to lift a hand to stop it. Rapinoe ran to the corner and theatrically spread her arms in celebration.
Playing with confidence
Staked to a lead, the U.S. defense remained compact and organized and cut out repeated French attacks for the first 80 minutes. The Americans were faster and more insistent to the ball, leaving their French opponents often disjointed in their passing and unnerved at times by the physical play of their opponents.
The U.S. left back, Crystal Dunn, masterfully contained speedy French forward Kadidiatou Diani. Ertz, Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelley O’Hara, Samantha Mewis and goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher were indefatigable in their hustle and sturdy in their positioning and anticipation.
Asked beforehand if Rapinoe’s contretemps with Trump would distract the U.S. team, coach Jill Ellis had answered that it would not, saying that her team “lives in pressure,” as if it were a garment.
In the 65th minute, after a turnover at midfield, the United States doubled its lead when it surged ahead again on a break. Forward Tobin Heath sent a crossing pass from the right toward Mewis, who let it roll to a charging and unmarked Rapinoe. She scored her second with unhurried precision and began shouting and pumping her arms.
Defender Ali Krieger, who had tweeted in support of Rapinoe after the president’s criticism, said that for Rapinoe to respond by taking “this team on her back,” showed that she was “one of the best players in the world and also just a great representation of what our country is all about — togetherness and fight and having that mentality of winning.”
But France also proved to be psychologically strong, and it created a frantic finish.
France keeps it close
In the 81st minute, France’s 6-2 defender Wendie Renard slipped free of Rapinoe and substitute midfielder Lindsey Horan to score on a header from 6 yards that Naeher had no chance to save. The U.S. lead was halved to 2-1. The United States got a break in the 85th minute when a shot hit O’Hara’s elbow in the penalty area but no penalty was called.
Rapinoe, who had seemed to use all the fuel in her tank, was replaced moments later. She had to watch the five minutes of added time from the bench, but the score did not change. At the end, the French were devastated, some bent over, others with hands on hips or arms on heads, a few shedding tears of disbelief and disappointment.
They had played to large crowds and record television audiences for three weeks. This was to be the moment of arrival for women’s soccer in France, which had been banned as too masculinizing during World War II and not given approval again by the French soccer federation until 1970.
But France again left a major tournament with nothing to show for its efforts. It has never finished higher than fourth at the World Cup, the Olympics or the European championships.
Losing at home, to the United States, with the whole world watching, will only make the sting sharper. The Americans merely moved on, forming into a circle and dancing as they moved on to the semifinals for the eighth time in eight Women’s World Cups.
“It’s such an honor to be her teammate,” Mewis said of Rapinoe. “A World Cup is about coming up big in big moments, and that’s what she’s doing.”