On the same day that the Supreme Court made gay marriage legal everywhere in America (and thus made members of Team USA happy, though not Texas’ idiot governor and attorney general), USA promptly went out and defeated China in the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Cup. Now it’s the semifinals on Tuesday and a stern test against Germany, perhaps the best team in the entire tournament. Let’s get to the Q&A.
Break down the win for us.
Coach Jill Ellis takes a lot of crap (some of it deserved) for her unimaginative tactics, but against China, she got the game plan spot-on. She knew that China’s defenders were inexperienced and liked to pass the ball among themselves, so she had USA’s offensive players pressure them when they had the ball, and the result was a lot of turnovers by the Chinese. To this end, she replaced the suspended Megan Rapinoe with Kelley O’Hara, a fullback playing in the wing position. Her defensive work and the tireless running of Amy Rodriguez up top helped ensure that the Steel Roses never got into the game. The final score may have been only 1-0, but it was the best game USA has played in this World Cup.
Wasn’t Kelley O’Hara great in The King and I?
No, you’re thinking of Tony Award-winning Broadway actress (and sometime opera singer) Kelli O’Hara. You can see her here, singing a song from the musical adaptation of The Bridges of Madison County:
Did Abby Wambach swear on live TV during her halftime pep talk?
Yes.
What now?
Germany has been the best team in this tournament, but their penalty-shootout victory over France in the quarterfinals showed that they’re not unbeatable. (Anyway, these tournaments are usually won by the team that peaks at the right time rather than the best team.) In particular, the Germans looked vulnerable to France’s speed, as left-back Tabea Kemme was exposed repeatedly by Elodie Thomis. With better finishing, Les Bleues might have won that tilt. USA not only has better finishers but even more speed threats than France. Attacking the Germans with speed will probably mean starting Wambach on the bench again, but that’s the way it goes.
So we should be optimistic?
Very cautiously. As I said before the tournament started, the Germans have the only offense capable of keeping up with the Americans, and that 10-0 victory over Ivory Coast rather proved as much. If USA has a bad game or goes in with the wrong strategy, Die Nationalelf is capable of shredding us. The Germans may be without Dzsenifer Marozsán, who hurt her ankle in the win over the French, but her absence will only take away a bit of their flexibility. They have bench depth to spare. The combination of center forward Celia Šašić and attacking midfielder Anja Mittag has been doing most of the damage for them, though fellow mid Simone Laudehr is capable of hurting any opponent as well, and if left-winger Alexandra Popp finds her game, watch out. If the match goes to penalty kicks again, it will be a standoff between goalkeepers Hope Solo and Nadine Angerer, who is in Solo’s class.
What does “Die Nationalelf” mean? Do they have Lord of the Rings-type crap to use against us?
No. All it means is “national 11.” This nickname used to be applied to Germany’s men’s team as well, but they seem to have settled on Die Mannschaft (“the men’s team”) as their unofficial nickname. Thus, the women have inherited the castoff nickname.
What about the other half of the bracket?
Japan was given a stiffer challenge in Australia than any they’ve faced so far, but they came out of it on the right end of their fifth straight one-goal victory. How long can they keep this up? Meanwhile, England rode two defensive blunders by host Canada to drop them from the tournament.
How big is that?
Hard as this might be to believe, England’s women’s team has had trouble attracting any sort of press coverage in the country that gave us Bend It Like Beckham. This might be because of traditional attitudes — large sections of Old Blighty and other soccer strongholds in Europe consider the game to be a man’s sport that only manly men can play. The good news is that press coverage tends to follow success, and an unprecedented berth in the World Cup semifinals for England (not to mention a thumb-up from Beckham himself) is already drawing more attention. Even more encouraging is that England now faces Japan as the one side that has consistently had success against the Nadeshiko, beating them in both of the last two World Cups. I look forward to the day when the British press is as depressingly negative about the women’s team as they currently are about the men’s team.
What the hell happened with England’s goalkeeper during that last game? Her eye looked bad.
Karen Bardsley seems to have suffered some sort of allergic reaction that was impairing her vision. (Who knows whether it played a role in the cross she spilled just before halftime that led to Christine Sinclair’s goal?) Anyway, her backup, Siobhan Chamberlain, was never really tested in the second half, and Bardsley looks to be back between the sticks on Wednesday.
Isn’t Karen Bardsley from California?
Santa Monica. She’s playing for England because she had no hope of dislodging Solo (har har) on USA. Our men’s team looks for ringers born in other countries, but our women’s team is strong enough that we can turn good players away and have them play for other teams. Colombia’s third-string goalkeeper Stephany Castaño, who saw action against us, is from Florida.
What about the hosts?
England may be the feel-good story of the tournament, but by knocking out Canada this early, they ruined all the storylines that the press was hoping for. Canada playing in the semifinals on Canada Day (which is Wednesday) would have created an insane atmosphere, and a Canada vs. USA matchup in the finals four days later would have been even crazier. It also would have made Fox executives so happy that spontaneous sex orgies would have broken out. All that’s gone now. Still, England deserved its win, and Canada can take comfort in young talents like Kadeisha Buchanan (the black teenage girl with the bright-red dreadlocks, who played magnificently in defense) providing a solid foundation for the future.
Rank the possible final matchups.
I was going to do this, but England has little soccer history against USA in games that matter. Their magical run to the final of Euro 2009 was ended when they got waxed 6-2 by the Germans, so some of their players will undoubtedly remember that. Still, all the history is with Japan. They beat both Germany and USA on their way to winning the 2011 World Cup, so either team will be looking for payback.
