Getting on the train was equally fun (it didn't help that I mentally flipped seat 12 with seat 21...), but people were just much ruder, in much more of a hurry, and in general just a lot less pleasant than most of the folks on other trains. C'est la vie. Fortunately, it's only a two hour trip to Le Havre.
The Americans were running rampant all ver Le Havre with the occasional, much more dignified, Swedish fan. At least until I started wandering towards the train station and ran into about 300 Swedish supporters marching, parading, singing, chanting, etc. It was great fun.
By the time I got to the train station (which is still about 2.25 miles away from the stadium, there was a huge gathering of American fans in the bar across the street where they were showing Canada versus Netherlands. Canada and the Netherlands were also tied at 2-0, so this game determined who won the group (and will face Japan) and who finishes second and faces the loser of the USA Sweden game! The good news is that Christine Sinclair scored (just after I arrived at the bar); the bad news is that Canada lost 2-1. I have tickets now to see Japan play Netherlands; should be a good game, but not what I was planning.
Anyway, there were shuttles that took players from the train station to the game, so I stayed until the bitter end of the Canada game and then jumped on a shuttle, so I could get to the stadium by about 8:15 (for a 9:00 game). It was a relatively long walk around the space-ship looking stadium and we were subject to the usual bag searching and patting down, but I got eo my seats in plenty of time to see the USA warm up. And who was right in front of me?
The first minute or two of the game looked kind of awful to me. Neither team was able to assemble any kind of rhythm, and the ball get going back and forth between the two teams. And then there was a Megan Rapinoe corner, a ball whizzing across the mouth of the goal, and a Lindsay Horan pushing it into the goal. Just like that, it was 1-0.
This settled everyone down and the US started to look like the US, with Rose Lavalle putting on a particularly awe-inspiring performance in the center of the field. Her ability to dribble out of trouble change direction leap in the air to intercept headers, and basically own the field was breathtaking. I used to love watching Rose play for the breakers and she's so much more of a complete player now. I could have watched nothing but her the entire evening and been quite happy.
Contrary to what some reported, I thought Sweden looked threatening. Their strikers were incredibly speedy, and if they got the ball, things suddenly started looking worrisome for the US. I thought Crystal Dunn did an incredible job shutting them down, but it was scary at times.
The 1-0 lead held for the remaining 41 minutes of the half. The second half started off looking much like the first, albeit with Carli Lloyd in for a maybe-injured Alex Morgan. And then, almost mirroring the first half, in rougly the 50th minute, commotion in front of the Swedish goal, put the ball at the feet of Tobin Heath (always a bad idea). From a ridiculous angle, she took a shot that got deflected off of Lindahl and went into the goal. Initially credited to Heath, it was later changed to an own goal. Nonetheless, it was sharp play by Heath, who was later named player of the match.
The remaining half went much the way of the first. The US maintained possession, but Sweden capitalized on every mistake or sloppy pass. The US sometimes seemed it's own worst enemy passing the ball around the backfield, just a tad too close to their own goal. A couple of these turned into threats from Sweden that Naeher ably handled.
While Heath was great and played the whole game, Lavalle was the star of the first half. And to be honest, sometimes I think the defenders don't get the credit they deserve -- both Crystal Dunn and Kelly O'Hara did outstanding jobs, grabbing balls away from Sweden, flicking tricky headers to their teammates, and in Dunn's case, making precisely the right slide tackle to push the ball away from speedy forwards. This back line (Sauerbraun, Dahlkemper, O'Hara, and Dunn) has not yet been tested through an entire world cup, but they appear to be coming together like the 2015 back line, and it's that kind of defense that is going to be required to win this cup.
Go USA!
I was alone at the game and forgot to take a selfie, so here's a picture of the statue of Le geant et l'enfant, situated just past the Cap de la Heve.
Oh heck, and I might as well show you what the area looks like ...
And in other games:
Monday
- China 0, Spain 0
- Germany 4, South Africa 0
- France 1, Nigeria 0
- Norway 2, South Korea 1
- Brazil 1, Italy 0
- Australia 4, Jamaica 1
- England 2, Japan 0
- Scotland 3, Argentina 3
- Cameroon 2, New Zealand 1
- Canada 1, Netherlands 2
- Chile 2, Thailand 0
Sounds like fun, and beautiful area. Good luck on Monday! And too bad about the MISsed :) opportunity to see Canada...
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