Tuesday, June 30, 2015

U.S. Women In World Cup Final

From ESPN:
The United States defeated Germany 2-0 in the Women's World Cup semifinal on Tuesday night in Montreal.
Second-half goals from Carli Lloyd and Kelley O'Hara were enough see the U.S. through to the final, where they will meet the winner of Wednesday's clash between England and defending champions Japan.
Neither team were able to break the deadlock in the first half, with Julie Johnston and Alex Morgan going close for the United States.
Just short of the half-hour mark, play was stopped after the U.S.'s Morgan Brian clashed heads with Germany's Alexandra Popp in the American penalty area. Play resumed, but only after Popp's head was washed clean of blood. http://www.espnfc.com/womens-world-cup/match/422265/united-states-germany/report
I watched the entire game and the U.S. pretty much the better team this day.  The U.S. got lucky with the penalty kicks.  Germany missed a penalty kick even though U.S. goalie, Hope Solo was completely fooled but the German kicker completely missed the net.
The U.S. penalty kick was close to being outside of the penalty area and could have been just a direct free kick.  The U.S. 2nd goal was 100% legitimate.
Now, I have ripped on soccer for years and I still think it is a boring game, but there was a collision between a German and U.S. player as they both tried to head the ball.  Both players were down for several minutes and both were in a lot of pain, with the German player covered in blood from a large cut to the head.
But both players showed they are extremely tough as both returned to the game within about 10 minutes of the collision.  Many college and pro football players wouldn't be able to come back after that kind of hit, and they play with helmets.
Highlights from the game:

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