USA clearly better than Spain in the first half, but… a terrible defensive giveaway leads to a (very well taken) Spanish goal. And almost the same thing again a few minutes later.
Alex Morgan has been basically invisible, unfortunately.
Because that would fundamentally change the nature of the game. You can see this most clearly by watching American youth soccer games that allow unlimited subs (like U-19 games and high school games). In such games, the contest becomes a game of nothing but speedy attacks on goal, since the players can be subbed out to recover from their repeated sprints. A lot of the subtlety of the game is lost. I was much more tired as a linesman (assistant referee) for high school and U-19 games than I was for professional games for this reason.
And, again, let’s simply make the point that trying to “Americanize” soccer so that it more closely resembles sports you are already familiar with is what drives most of the rest of the world insane about Americans. We should simply accept the game works as it is (it’s quite popular, and it’s not like everyone else in the world is rushing to adopt American football, is it?). In acceptance of the fact that playing extra time alone is an issue if all your substitutions are made, the IFAB has allowed for an additional substitution during extra time (that way you don’t have to try and “save” a substitution during regular time). And thirty years ago, they allowed the number of subs to go from two a game to three a game. God help us if they turn it into just another American sport. <sigh>
Two comments:
- The American goalie is legitimately terrible at handling the ball. Hopefully, she’s great at stopping PKs in case this goes that far.
- The yellow card for Rapinoe was ridiculous.
Well done Spain! (thus far)
MLS tried a version of something like this when it started. You had a single attacker and the goal keeper. The attacker started 35 yards out; the 'keeper on the line. Once the attacker started moving the ball forward, the 'keeper could move off the line as far as he wanted. This was a modified version of a system used by the old NASL. It was used in the regular season after 90 min. (shootout wins, similar to the NHL, gained you a point, but losing a shootout was a loss, with no points). So shootouts were common.
After four seasons of using this procedure, MLS abandoned it for standard kicks from the penalty mark in games where tied results were not acceptable. In regular season games, tied results were allowed, awarding one point to each team, just as the rest of the world did.
So, as you see, even in America, the attempt to change the game was rejected eventually. 
Starting to think that the town fathers of Redding, California are going to erect a bronze statue of Megan Rapinoe in the middle of town…
She’s got some BDE if I’ve ever seen it
There seems to be absolutely no reason for VAR to take so long. A 30 second review is all that is required. If it cannot be clearly be decided after a 30 second review then it is not obvious enough to overturn the ref’s original decision.
I’m a fan of VAR in theory. The whole point for me is to take the “howler” out of the equation. Those decisions so obvious that they end up damaging the integrity of the game and multiple angles over several minute are not required for that. If you allow in-depth, multi-angle scrutiny of every potential incident and the build-up to them you will naturally find problems pretty much wherever you look and you will not remove the areas of contention, you merely move the margins of contention to finer or finer degrees.
I’d prefer a system where each side gets 2 appeals per game. They can chose when to challenge a decision (penalty, goal, sending off) and if it isn’t upheld then they lose it.
Good match in USA-Spain. It’s a bit disappointing for the winning goal to be on that penalty, but it happens. Hopefully Canada can get past Sweden this afternoon!
Go France. The sport’s best hope.
Well, Spain committed 18 fouls to the U.S.A.'s 4. That’s usually a sign of a team that’s overmatched. I’d say they earned that loss.
Unless the USA is a LOT better than they looked against Spain, and/or France is a LOT better than they looked against Brazil, this tournament will be won by Germany in a stroll.
Germany was out shot and out possessed by Spain and won by one goal. The US was significantly more dominant against Spain than Germany was.
Nope! Pretty even game. Sweden took their chance, and Canada couldn’t convert their penalty, so that’s that.
Best move by the USA in this game: pulling Morgan off the free kick and giving it to Rapinoe. Spain had way too many fouls, but they managed to keep the ball in the USA end of the field for much of the game. Some sloppy defense work by the USA and some good aggression by Spain.
Could be the second straight major tournament in which Sweden pulls an upset then goes on to lose to Germany. Although, given how close all the top teams seem to be these days, they certainly have a reasonable shot in that game.
USA vs France should be epic, at least as far as atmosphere and national pride is concerned. Hopefully it will actually be a good game.
Are they a big fan turnovers in Redding? Do they love players that lose the ball on the dribble?
Her flaws aside, if she keeps playing like she has, and if the USWNT wins this tournament, she will undoubtedly win the MVP (or the World Cup equivalent). She’ll also go down as one of the greatest women’s soccer players of her generation. And then there’s her LGBTQ advocacy…
So yeah, she deserves recognition. A bronze statue may be a big much, but perhaps a key to the city or something.
Whenever I hear the Dutch national anthem, I always hear “On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me… a partridge in a pear tree”, with the word “Christmas” chopped out.
The US and seven teams from Europe moving on. The haves and have nots are certainly distributed by continent this time around…