Live from Reims: USA-Spain

And it was back to Reims! The good news is that I booked a 2-day stay; the bad news is that had I stayed one more night in Le Havre, I could have seen France vs Brazil in person. That was poor planning on my part (right along with not realizing that I should have scheduled a day in Reims to visit champagne houses and that I should have gotten a rental car in Le Havre, so I could have visited the D-Day beaches).

Anyway, after one last walk to Le Geant and the L'enfant, a two hour lay over in Gare de L'est (because I'm paranoid abobut missing trains), I found myself in Reims, the evening before the USA/Spain match and right on time to view France versus Brazil in our (air conditioned) hotel lounge. Did I mention that Europe decided to have a heatwave this week? It was a rather hot trip to Reims and even hotter for the next few days.

So there I found myself in the Novotel lounge with three Bay Area families traveling together (they all had daughters who play on the same club soccer team). They were a wonderful bunch of people who adopted me, fed me, offered me drinks and McFlurries, and shared in the France/Brazil game. I had not planned on the late night that a tie game would produce, but there you have it. It was a hard fought game and the final outcome was really unclear. France looked a bit less scary as our potential quarter final opponent (more on this later), and Brazil was heart broken. Final result: France 2, Brazil 1.

Earlier in the day, England earned themselves a quarterfinal berth with a 3-0 win over Cameroon, in what appears to have been a pretty ugly and contentious game. I was on trains and missed that.

So, with most of a day to kill in Reims, I set out for the Cathedral. I'm a sucker for cathedrals, and I've seen many of them, including several visits to Notre Dame de Paris. A paper on Chartres in college left me wanting to become an architect (as in real buildings, not computer systems), until I realized that there probably wasn't too much demand for gothic cathedrals these days. But, none of this prepared me for the breathtaking first glimpse of Notre Dame De Reims as I entered the plaza in front of it.

For most of the trip, I've avoided taking too many pictures of things for which there are many superior pictures one can find online, bubt I couldn't contain myself: the overall majesty of the place, the stained glass, the gargoyles, the incredible porticos and statuary all left me helpless. Amazingly, while roaming around inside the cathedral, the daily service was taking place, and I was relieved that the (predominantly) American tourists were properly quiet and respectful. (As in other cities in which the US played, it looked like the Americans had invaded.)
There were so many that I have made them available via SmugMug with the password 'cathedral' (it seems that since I have a password on the site, I have to have one on the gallery).

I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon wandering the city, following the recommended tourist trail, stocking up on bandaids and batteries, and then finally, grabbing lunch in my air-conditioned room and hydrating before the game in the 92/33 degree temperature, where water is forbidden at the entrance and expensive in the stadium.
I headed out around 4:30 and soon found myself amongst the literal parade of Americans headed to the stadium.

This game, I was joined by Win Treese the first half (with whom I remembered the gratuitous selfie) and Marie the second half (with whom I forgot the gratuitous selfie).

It would be an understatement to say that this was not our best game. We looked, well, just bad. Our passes were all just too long, we weren't moving the ball around effectively. And Spain looked good -- not quite like France in the opening match, but they were moving well, hitting their own players on long balls (which we could not do to save our lives), and beating us to the ball more frequently than I've ever seen.

And then, in the 7th minute, a Spain foul in the box paved the way for a 1-0 USA lead as Megan Rapinoe calmly put a penalty away. The USA lead was short-lived. A mere two minutes later, with the USA backfield, once again passing around just a bit too close to our box for my taste at which point Naeher sent a weak pass to Sauerbraun, who, in a rare event, misplayed a ball to the feet of an oncoming Spanish forward, who blasted one right past Naeher. It was a frustrating goal -- the USA had already had several close encounters with precisely the same play, because they kept insisting on bouncing passes off of onrushing forwards, which in my humble opinion, is a bad^TM thing.
And then we settled into a long slog. The USA did keep Spain away from the goal a lot of the time (and the stats revealed a slight advantage in possession time for the USA), but we could not mount a credible attack. Mewis was effective in midfield, until she hit the attacking third, at which time, she could not seem to keep the ball on frame and/or without overshooting her target (which was a common theme among the team). Lavalle looked good, personally, but did not get the ball enough and seemed frustrated about not having any targets. Julie Ertz was consistent in the air and looked pretty much like her normal self. But, in my mind, as with the Sweden game, Crystal Dunn was the hero. She outran her forward, took way too many headers for someone her height (how does she do that?), and seemed to be involved in every scary play that the USA managed to stop.

Not only did we go into halftime with that uneasy tie, but we returned from halftime with the lineup unchanged, and continued in that uneasy tie until 76th minute at which point ... no we did not score a beautiful goal. But, Spain fell prey to another foul in the box, and after a length VAR review, in a repeat of the 7th minute, Rapinoe put it away.

Most baffling, Ellis made no substitutions until the 85th minute when a fresh Lloyd replaced a less than wonderfully effective Morgan. Later, at the 89th minute, in what can only be viewed as an attempt to waste time, Boran came in for Lavalle, and then in the, I kid you not, 97th minute, Press came in to replace an exhausted Rapinoe, who played well, but after 95 minutes in the stifling heat, with sprints that outran her mark over and over again, needed a break.

So, it was a victory, but it was an ugly one. The USA did not score during the run of play; Spain got aggressive and physical toward the end, and the US did not hold up well. We will have to do better against France or things will not be happy for the US fans who blew their summer vacation budgets to come to France.

In other news, the plan was to head back to the (air conditioned) hotel and watch Canada versus Sweden. However, as I was ambling back to the hotel (and ambling was the right word; it was still hot at 8:30 PM), I was annoyed at someone who'd blocked off part of the sidewalk, until I walked by and noticed Julie Foudy sitting on a ledge.
I had stumbled upon the US hotel! Never one to let that opportunity go by, I picked a ledge and waited. Eventually a small crew gathered (not large, maybe 20 people). We saw the family and friends bus arrive, including Zach Ertz (Julie's husband and Philadelphia Eagle) and Abby Wambach. Then we saw the coach's van come back...and then some other people, and finally, just about the same time the first half of the Canada game was ending, the team arrived. There were no autographs, just an interview with team co-captain Rapinoe (Lloyd is the other captain). Nonetheless, it was fun to be part of the experience. (The video of the players getting off the bus was too large to upload here, but you can see it on youtube or on the smugmug site.)

I then did make it back to the hotel where Canada was genuinely dominating Sweden, but in a familiar story, could not put the ball into the net. It was painful to see the PK that Sweden managed to stop, and even more painful to realize that Sinclair was not going to beat Abby's record this tournament, because Canada was headed home with a 1-0 loss to Sweden.

Very sad.

And in other games: Saturday, June 22

• Germany 3, Nigeria 0
• Norway 1, Australia 1 (NOR advances on PKs, 4-1)

Sunday, June 23

• England 3, Cameroon 0
• France 2, Brazil 1

Tuesday, June 25

• Italy 2, China 0
• Netherlands 2, Japan 1

Live from Montreal

If today is Saturday (well, technically now it's Sunday), this must be Montreal. Uneventful travel between Winnipeg and Montreal (yeay -- no customs or immigration -- my first intra-Canadian flight) and two great games last night!

Brazil versus Spain

One might have thought that since this was Spain's first World Cup that it would be a walk in the park or a dance down the field for the flashy Brazilians, but no - it was a terrific match! Brazil was not yet Brazil. Let me explain what I mean by that. Brazil does not support its women's team between the summer Olympics and the World Cup (read this for more details), so they come together just in time to get ready for World Cup. This means that while other teams have been playing together for years, the Brazilian team has been playing together for weeks or a few months at best. As a result, I frequently find that they get surprisingly better and better as the touranment progresses. The Brazil team that everyone knows from exciting elimination round games is not the same one that plays in the group stage -- that's not to say they aren't still pretty darned good.

In any case, Spain played a terrific game, putting a lot of pressure on the Brazilian midfield, forcing turnovers, and stripping the ball with amazing regularity. They created plenty of opportunities in front of the goal as well. I don't expect teams to look speedy next to the Brazilians, but Spain did. Right before the half, Brazil snuck one in on a complicated set of moves that included one of the most spectacular saves of the tournament (or perhaps that I'd ever seen -- it was certainly up there with Klingenberg's goalline header). Alves (Brazil) had beaten Spain's keeper and laid a ball off toward the goal (from within the box). In an heroic sprint, Jimenez (Spain) slid into the goal and kicked the ball away before it had crossed the line. It was breathtaking, but sadly, she didn't clear it far enough and Alves was still there, and she finished it with confidence. Truly, a heartbreaker.

The second half was more of the same -- end to end ball, Spain pressuring relentlessly, Brazil only sporadically looking like the Brazil I expect we'll see in the elimination round. Spain had a few more close calls, but they simply couldn't buy a goal -- shots wide, shots into the post. It was frustrating -- Spain deserved to tie it up, but alas, final score: Brazil 1, Spain 0.

Next up: Korea versus Costa Rica

Well, Costa Rica is another one of those first-time teams, but they don't act like it. They are perhaps the Cinderella team of the World Cup (in contention with Columbia who pulled a surprise upset over the French!). Korea are reasonable World Cup veterans and they look it. The crowd, which had been heavily pro-Brazil for the first game, was torn in this one. There was a large Korean contingent, well-organized, and vocal in their support, but the Costa Rican women just won the crowd over, and I think by the end, most of those with no prior allegiances were cheering for the tenacious Las Ticas.

It was clear from the beginning that Korea was not going to walk all over the spunky Ticas. The Ticas were quick, quick, quick (no wonder they tied Spain) and they had some ball skills that would have caught the eye of any Brazil fan. So, while Korea was playing a tight controlled passing game, Costa Rica was playing a fast, direct, strip-the-ball and run kind of game. It was exciting! It didn't take long to remember the Costa Rican goalie (the USA played Costa Rica in the Concacaf title match). She is tremendously skilled, but likes to come out of the goal -- a lot -- and it scares the daylights out of the fans (and perhaps her teammates?). I thought she looked young, but she's 27; I still expect to see her become a truly great goalie.

Anyway, the two teams had styles in marked contrast, and it looked like Costa Rica's was more effective, especially in the 17th minute, when Melissa Herrera squirted a ball in the goal that the referee pretty much missed. A Korean player knocked the ball back out of the goal, but thanks to the WWC's first use of goal line technology, the goal was recognized. Korea looked a bit shell shocked and both Costa Rica and the fans went wild.

The jubilation didn't last for long though -- only a few minutes later, a penalty in the box gave Korea an opportunity to tie it up on a PK, which they did. I think this took a bit of wind out of the gleeful Ticas, and only six minutes later, Korea, scored on a picture perfect textbook cross and head by Kang Yumi (cross) and Jeon Gaeul (header). Now the TIcas were down one. What was interesting is that right at the point where Korea went down, they broke form from their tight controlled game and started some long balls. This seems to have changed the tenor of the game just long enough for them to put the second goal in. This somewhat new game continued for the rest of the half, which ended at 2-1 Korea.

The second half was every bit as intense as the first -- full length back and forth, pressure on players all over the field and again, the speed of the Costa Rican team -- it was a great game. It looked like Costa Rica was going to end up with their first World Cup loss until the 89th minute, when Karla Villalobos snuck behind the defensive line and put one in! It was wild! Final score: 2-2.

Next up for Costa Rica, Brazil -- expect a great game. And at the same time, Korea versus Spain -- likely another great game.