Coming into the game the U.S. had lost just once in its past 42 games and that was to France in a match played back in January.BENOIT TESSIER/Reuters
Hyped as the blockbuster match of this Women’s World Cup – an insult to other teams, really – the quarter-final clash between France and the United States had an aura all its own.
First, the U.S. is the odds-on favourite to win the World Cup and France is considered its strongest possible opposition. That, however, was part of the fanciful hyperbole. Yes, coming into the game the U.S. had lost just once in its past 42 games and that was to France in a match played back in January. But that was a meaningless friendly. Then on the other hand, the U.S. has scored 20 goals in this tournament and allowed precisely one goal by the opposition. But most of that scoring was against weak opposition.
It was no blockbuster this 2-1 win by the U.S. (the TV play-by-play chap we hear in Canada actually called it a “gargantuan” match before kick-off.) It was one-sided and a normal day at work for the Americans. It was still playing against weak opposition. And it’s getting boring, this American dominance.
The problem with gauging teams in women’s soccer is that top international teams don’t play often enough competitively to be accurately assessed in quality. FIFA’s world rankings are unreliable. Teams emerge from nowhere to soar, as Italy has done at this World Cup and as Japan did eight years ago. Apart from the fact that the Americans are formidable, a lot that’s written or said about women’s soccer amounts to blather.
What really matters is the day, the game and the dynamics of the 90 minutes. On this day, a hot one in Paris, the U.S. showed up and France didn’t. The 2-1 scoreline flatters France. This was all aimless effort and the host country never really menaced the U.S. It wasn’t a rout, but it was a shockingly lame display by France.
The defending champions are through and will meet England in a semi-final on Tuesday and that promises to be the match that this one was hyped to be. The U.S. won this with ruthless efficiency. It’s not a great team but it’s a good team and one that knows how to terrorise the opposition with speed, fierce physicality and powerful shots hit from any and all angles. Its players are cynical, too, sometime exaggerating injury and sometimes arguing pointlessly with the referee, but it gets the job done.
Four minutes in, it was clear France was not mentally prepared for this encounter.
Defender Griedge Mbock Bathy pulled down Alex Morgan and it was all too obviously a foul. From the resulting free kick, Megan Rapinoe’s low but powerful ball went through a tangle of legs and past the stunned and blindsided French goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi.
It was terrible defending to give away the free kick and worse still to let a wayward ball reach the net. The U.S. then settled in to defend the lead, often playing five defenders at the back to break up French attacks and simply frustrate them. It takes incredible discipline to play for long periods with this tactic but the U.S. can do it with aplomb. It requires inspired attacking to overcome this strategy, but there was nothing inspiring about France. At half-time, the U.S. keeper Alyssa Naeher hadn’t been tested once. A shockingly lame display from a team billed as the only real rival to the U.S.
France started the second half with more purpose, enjoyed 59-per-cent possession on the hour and accrued 11 shots, but none were on target. Then the vulnerability of France became obvious. Struggling to string passes together and find a direct route towards goal, it lost possession. Alex Morgan, who had been largely ineffective, put a lovely ball through to Tobin Heath, who found an unmarked Rapinoe, who in turn scored her fifth goal of the tournament. And it was an easy one.
Only when France was losing 2-0 did the team come to life. Pushed on by loud, roaring home support in the stadium, the team poured forward. But its most dangerous players, Kadidiatou Diani and Amandine Henry, were easily curbed by decisive defending. The French goal when it came was a beauty, a glancing header by Wendie Renard from a free kick and it gave the home support belief, but it didn’t make the U.S. any less capable at smothering France in open play.
Adding to the special aura around this match was the significant shift in perception about the American team. There was near-universal eye-rolling about the giddy celebration of every goal when the U.S. defeated Thailand 13-0. There was a trait of the swaggering bully about this team. Then U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to admonish Megan Rapinoe for declaring she would not visit the White House if the team won the World Cup. The perception changed. Trump was bullying Rapinoe and by extension, the team. Suddenly the U.S. became a team that neutrals took into their hearts.
The players are still not lovable, though. Admirably composed, the team is more businesslike than brilliant. And still untested. When the test comes, perhaps presented by England, that will be a blockbuster. This one wasn’t.