Back to Back Brace (6/28)

The gameplan for the U.S.:  Score earlier.  For the 5th time, the 1F-USA scored in the first 12 minutes.  They will play D1-England, who has scored in the first 15 minutes 4 times.  Megan Rapinoe scored two goals for the second straight match in helping USA beat host 1A-France, 2-1, in front of 45,595 fans with a nice contingent of Americans.  Rapinoe's first goal in the 5' was a free kick hit hard towards goal that went through everyone, including between FRA defender Amandine Henry's legs into the net.  The second was a great sequence in the 65' started by the banged up Alex Morgan to Tobin Heath who crossed the ball behind most players except for the charging in Rapinoe who had a clinical finish.  FRA did manage to pull one back off a free kick to the tall Wendie Renard in the 81' but the U.S. did a great job controlling the ball after that, especially in the 5 minutes of stoppage time.  FRA continues to fall short, losing in the quarterfinals for the 5th straight major tournament ('13 EURO, '15 WWC, '16 Olympics, '17 EURO).  While the men's '98 team won the WC and the '16 team reached the final as hosts, the FRA women hoped to duplicate that result at home.