France vs USA (spoilers)

[btfc]

France played really tough in the second half.

[mattkime]

USA made their chances count.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

USA runs down the clock to win!

Uninformed opinion since I didn't watch France play any other games, I think France needed to figure out how to get the ball to their stars more often. A couple of their backs seemed like they would have done better as forwards.

Edit: great job by USA playing in high temps. Record high temperatures in some areas.

[davester]

Very exciting game! That was a battle all the way to the end. It's too bad that this match up is so early. I think France could easily have been the second or third (after England perhaps) place team, though perhaps I'll take that back after the games of the next couple of days.

[Zoidberg]

[Ca Bob]

May turn out in retrospect to be one of the great games of all time. France is an excellent team and was one of the co-favorites coming in. The fact that the US put the ball into the back of the net 3 times, with the third goal getting called back narrowly because one US player was a foot offside, says something about the capabilities of this team. And they've been doing it without a lot of help from Alex Margan and Carly Lloyd. Rapinoe has been amazing, in spite of the fact that the president doesn't like her.

Of course it is possible that the US will turn out to be a pretty good team that gets knocked off by the Netherlands or Germany, so we'll see. Each of these knockout round games, I ask whether this is a team of destiny or just a pretty good team, and each game so far fails to answer the question.

It is of note that in 5 games so far, the US has shut out its opponents 3 times and given up a goal only twice. Until well into today's second half, the US had not given up a legitimate goal yet, with only the mental error goal in a previous game being on their record.

And if I understand correctly, all the yellow cards on the US are now erased. Perhaps somebody can help me on this question

[SteveG]

Played in 86°F (maybe hotter down on the field). Tough athletes under pressure cooking.

[Ombligo]

Having worked sidelines in many games, I can guarantee it was likely at least 20 degrees hotter on the field. The stands cut off any breeze and the heat just concentrates. It's even worse on artificial turf, I once got 2nd degree burns on my knees having to kneel at Florida Field when it was artificial.

With knockout games, anyone can take it - it all depends on who shows up to play that day. The better team does not always win.

[wave rider]

Now they can go to the White House! Oh, wait… ecret:

[$tevie]

I loved that game! I love an exciting game that ends with my team winning. And I think my husband is coming around re: soccer because he watched most of the game and got quite caught up in it. Not one comment about how the scores are so low. Thank god.