Even if you aren't watching the Women's World Cup, which would be most people, you probably heard about the fact that the United States was eliminated the earliest that they have ever been eliminated from a World Cup in the history of the tournament's existence. They have won 3 of the grand total of 8 WC's that have existed and won the last two in a row. The idea of a "threepeat" was what they were aiming for this year but to those of us that watched a few of the games this wasn't looking likely even early on.
When they first faced Vietnam in the first game it was expected to be an absolute blowout. When USA managed to only score 3 goals in that game things already seemed a bit off. Then when they failed to win their next two games and actually looked as though they were going to lose both of them but were saved by the crossbar, things looked very grim.
Playing against Sweden USA appeared to have fixed some elements of their game and by all statistics they outplayed the Swedes the entire time. None of those stats matter if you don't put any of the shots in the back of the net though and as is usual with the USA side, many of their shots on goal were wildly off target.
While I am sure the Swedes were very happy to have even made it to that point, when it went to a penalty shootout it was still the USA's game to lose because again, on paper, they had a distinct statistical advantage as far as success at PK's are concerned going into this. Stats don't mean nothin! if you can't make it happen when it matters most though and for the Americans, they failed to make it happen.
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It was tense as penalty shootouts tend to be but one of the most egregious shots that was well off target was done by who is one of the most famous women football of the soccer variety players of all time, Megan Rapinoe. Her shot flew well over the top of the box and there was plenty of controversy surrounding this shot as well as Megan's reaction of laughing after the miss happened.
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Here we can see the Swedish keeper lunging in the correct direction but it didn't matter because the ball flew several feet, perhaps even a meter, over the goal entirely. A lot of rage is directed towards Rapinoe because of this because she was substituted in for another player whose name eludes me and there are people out there that feel she was in the PK lineup merely because of her name, not because she was the best person for the job. I think before people decide to go mental on Megan they need to realize that several other players missed their shots as well. Sophia Smith and Kelly O'Hara both failed on their PK's as well and Smith's shot wasn't on target either as it went off the right post.
I played football of the soccer variety at a very high level in my youth and know that these things simply happen. It happened to me personally and I wasn't even anywhere near the level of pressure that these women were under in this position.
The USA kind of set themselves up to fail with the level of arrogance that they entered the tournament. A commercial was pointed out to me about how USA, at least the people promoting it, were advertising the World Cup as "USA vs. the World!" in a manner that indicated that it was presumed that the championship was already in the bag before the first whistle was even blown.
I never saw this commercial until after they had lost, but it is super-cringe. I don't know if the women were pressured into doing this commercial but the attitude contained in it is one of "we aren't going to lose to anyone." As the world number 1, I suppose they kind of should have that attitude, but it's the wrong mindset to enter the most important tournament in the world with.
So USA is gone and I think the next really exciting game is going to be when Sweden take on Japan where I will be rooting for Japan. I feel as though whoever wins that game will end up facing England in the final.
Speaking of England, they narrowly avoided the same fate as the USA did in their most recent match vs Nigeria.
England was heavily favored in their match vs Nigeria as England is the world number 2 right behind USA. While they controlled possession and limited the amount of chances Nigeria had on goal in the first half, the 2nd half got very scary for them, particularly once they had to play with just 10 players when one of their best players Lauren James got a red card and was sent off in the 87th minute. This isn't that big of a deal to a team that is already winning and only has another 3-8 minutes left to play, but the game went to extra time so that became up to another 40 minutes they had to play with fewer players on the pitch.
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The mood was tense particularly when England missed their first PK, but Nigeria missed their first TWO and from there it was game over. By the time the last shot went in for England, there was no reason to even have Nigeria take their last one.
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Here is what it looks like now with two games remaining before the semifinals. Outsiders Morocco and France as well as Colombia vs Jamaica. The world is presuming that England is going to run over whoever wins in the latter match but if there is anything that this tournament has taught me thus far, it is that the expectations based on previous stats haven't meant a whole lot and anything can happen except apparently when someone is playing Japan.
I'm happy that host nation Australia is still in this because it is always a treat when the home team has a showing in the tournament as well. I also like that they name their country's teams even more crazy things that we do in the states and will be rooting for the "Soccer-roos" when they play against either Morocco or France in their next game.
The Women's World Cup has been much more exciting than I thought it was going to be and I am glad I have watched the games that I did. If you haven't been watching it up to now, I encourage you to do so.