U.S. forward Abby Wambach and her teammates train for Friday’s game against China in the Women’s World Cup. Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
The World Cup continues tonight for the U.S. women’s soccer team. And it’s a rematch 16 years in the making.
The United States is set to go up against China in a quarterfinals match in Ottawa, Canada. The last time these two met in the World Cup was in the 1999 finals. More than 90,000 people packed into the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., and watched the Americans win 5-4 in a dramatic penalty kick shootout.
This tournament, the U.S. has not looked as dominant as it did in 1999 — though the world’s second-ranked team hasn’t lost a game or even given up a goal since its opener against Australia. Still, that hasn’t stopped the grumbling.
Earlier this week, The New York Times highlighted some of the friction. It quoted midfielder Carli Lloyd as saying, “We know that it’s not our best; we know that we’re capable of so much more. So just trying to find that and fine-tune it is what we’re doing.“
The headlines from this World Cup have not been pretty. Many are like this one from USA Today, which looks back fondly on the 1999 team.
The U.S. women’s World Cup team is a shell of its former self http://t.co/G9kokRuFSh pic.twitter.com/u6cOPsK4FC
— For The Win (@ForTheWin) June 23, 2015
Some of the criticism has focused on head coach Jill Ellis, who has tinkered with the starting lineup in each of the four U.S. games this tournament. The U.S. team’s offense has not looked as potent, cohesive or innovative as it has in the past.
U.S. head coach Jill Ellis has been fending off complaints that the current team isn’t as good as the 1999 lineup. Bebeto Matthews/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Bebeto Matthews/AP
After Monday night’s 2-0 victory over Colombia, Ellis was defensive. As quoted in the Times:
“This is the World Cup,” Ellis said. “I’m really satisfied with advancing. Most goals in World Cup tournaments, a majority of them, come on set pieces; we’ve been brilliant. It’s about finding a way. I thought we stroked the ball around pretty well at times. So, yeah, I’m pleased with where we are.”
Ellis will have a new lineup again tonight as two of her starting midfielders have to sit out the game. Star Megan Rapinoe (who scored twice against Australia) and Lauren Holiday (who has played every minute this tournament) each received their second yellow cards of the tournament against Colombia. It’s a significant loss for the U.S. and won’t help its shaky offense.
Sixteenth-ranked China dropped the tournament opener to host Canada, 1-0. China then beat the Netherlands, tied New Zealand and defeated Cameroon to advance to the quarterfinals.
It’s a game the U.S. is expected to win. But it might not be pretty.
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be televised by Fox and NBC Universo.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
