U.S. Women Advance to FIFA Women’s World Cup Final With 3—1 Win Over French

The U.S. women’s soccer team will advance to the finals of the FIA Women’s World Cup after defeating France 3–1 Wednesday.

Though outplayed by France for part of the first and much of the second half, the U.S. squad scored first, then fought back after France tied the game in the second half.

“This is our journey this is our dream, Abby Wambach told ESPN.

“France is a great team. I think that there were moments when they were outplaying us. Rainy day, the ball’s slippery—at this point it’s about who wants it more, who’s willing to leave it all out on the field.”

“Cheney comes in, scores a big goal, gets a little bit of momentum for us. How about Alex Morgan basically sealed the deal for us there at the end?

“I am so proud of this team.”

U.S. Scores First and Last

Heather O’Reilly set up Lauren Cheney for the first U.S. goal nine minutes into the match; O’Reilly advanced down the left side then laid a pass right at Cheney’s feet ten feet in front of the net and past French keeper Berangere Sapowicz.

France dominated play for the rest of the half, but was unable to beat Hope Solo in the U.S. net, though the U.S. keeper needed help from the crossbar to blunt a French drive in the 33rd minute.

France owned the pitch for the first 30 minutes of the second half, keeping the Americans on defense and scrambling. Luckily, the U.S. defense had tightened up since America’s loss to Sweden; no longer were attackers able to get behind the U.S. defenders for easy shots.

France evened the match at 54:22 when Sonia Bompastor launched an ambiguous ball from the left side; Solo couldn’t decide if it was a shot or a pass or exactly how to play it. French forward Gaetane Thiney didn’t bother with distinctions; she made a great run and tipped the ball, which distracted Solo who let the ball bounce past to strike the far post and roll in.

The second-half substitutions of Alex Morgan for Amy Rodriguez and Megan Rapinoe for Carli Lloyd turned the match around for the U.S. Rapinoe in particular sparked an offensive renaissance from the left wing, setting up the second U.S. goal with a great feed to Abby Wambach on the right side of the box.

Wambach got dumped by a French defender but the U.S. earned a corner kick, which Lauren Cheney placed perfectly on the far post. Sapowicz leapt to intercept but missed, and Wambach, who had eluded her defender, headed it in neatly.

Alex Morgan scored her first goal in many games as Rapinoe sent the 22-year-old in alone to chip the ball over Sapowicz in the 81st minute. The goal gave a huge boost to the confidence of the young striker, and just in time for the final.

Abby Wambach told ESPN the secret of the American squad’s success:

“I know that we’re going to pull through I just have a belief in this team, and everybody feels it.

”They [France] are a great team. We had to play nearly perfect. They got a goal on us, but in the end we’re in the finals, and that’s all that matters.”

USA will play Japan in the final match on Sunday. The U.S. squad has beaten Japan twice this season, but the Japanese were not at 100 percent for those matches. The Japanese squad has been playing excellent football in the World Cup, and will force the U.S. eleven to dig deep.