Live from Lyon: Netherlands vs Sweden

Wednesday's disappointing contest failed to match up to the entertainment, the quality or the intense atmosphere that was seen in Tuesday's gripping tie between England and three-time champions the USA.

That kind of sums it up!

The good news is that we did not have the annoying fans behind us. The bad news is that's because it would have been impossible -- you see, we were in the very last row -- underneath the big screen, which turned out to be kind of cool, because it was such a distinctive location that the Olsons could spot us from across the stadium! Those teeny tiny  people down there are actually soccer players!

So, maybe it was the late night on Tuesday (we should have just walked from the station, but after getting food and realizing the metro was shut down, we tried an Uber who couldn't find us and then finally stood in line for a taxi -- it was a very late night), or maybe it was the hike we took up to the Basilica which sits atop a somewhat large hill.

In any case, it could have been my low energy, but I thought it was a pretty dull game. And we might just have left during the first over time period when the Netherlands scored its first (and what turned out to be the only) goal of the match.

You see the game was 0-0 at the end of 90 minutes. Now, the USA-China Women's World Cup final was also 0-0 after 90 minutes (and still after 120), but that was an exhilarating match to watch; this one was not. I thought Sweden looked more threatening, although the statistics would show that the Netherlands had more possession, more shots, and better passing accuracy.

We almost left after the end of regulation time, but decided to stay for one of the overtimes, and we were privy to the lovely goal scored by the Netherlands. While on the tram back to the city, we watched the final minutes tick down to the final 1-0 score.

So now we're off to Regusse for some hiking and R&R, before returning to Lyon for the final on Sunday!  (No, we won't be attending the consolation match, but hope to be watching it from the comfort of our lovely AirBnb.)

And, the post wouldn't be complete without the obligatory game selfie.

Back in Edmonton: Japan versus England

It was a beautiful day in Edmonton as Japan and England met in the second semifinal match. Many of the Canadian fans had purchased tickets to this game, hoping it would be a Canadian match on Canada Day (the Canadian Fourth of July Equivalent, celebrated on the first of July). But, England squelched that plan, so it was an interesting crowd - a lot of Canadian jerseys, a lot of American jerseys, and many, many fewer English and Japanese jerseys (I wore my Boston Breakers Sameshima jersey). As the people behind me were overhead to say, "No one really cares who wins; they're just here to watch soccer." I was cheering for Japan, because I would like to see another USA / Japan final, with a different outcome than we saw in 2011.

The crowd was a bit larger than I expected (31,000). We only got 19,000 for the USA round of 16 game in Edmonton.

And our seats were quite nice.

Japan got off to a bit of a rough start -- they weren't connecting cleanly on their passes as we've come to expect from them. England, on the other hand, got a decent chance on their opening possession -- a rocket launched just left of the goal. Japan collected themselves somewhat, but I was shocked to see how different the 2015 Japan team was from 2011. In 2011, Japan connected passes like a pinball machine; amassing some ridiculously high pass completion rate. Today, they were missing passes, sending balls into wastelands of space, and simply not looking like Japan. And England was loving it! England seemed to have the speed advantage on both offense and defense. But they too struggled to put together a significant attack.

Then the game started feeling eerily familiar -- in the 31st minute Japan's Ariyoshi was fouled -- the referee called it in the box, awarding Japan a PK. And like last night's foul on the Americans, instant replay showed that the foul was just outside the box. Oops. Japan's captain, Miyama, struck net. Japan 1-0.

And again, eerily similar to the Germany USA match, less than ten minutes later, England's Houghton also drew a foul; Fara Williams nailed it, and we were back to a tie game (which seemed more apppropriate given the tenor of the game). The teams went into halftime at 1-1.

Only somewhat reminiscent of the previous evening's match, second half play continued with Japan dominating the possession game, but England dominating the attacking game. And still, this was not the Japan of yesteryear. The final ten minutes saw subs coming in, play becoming frantic, and when the clock reached 90, and the 4th official showed three minutes of extra time, most of us were anticipating another thirty minutes of soccer.

But then -- heartbreak for England. Japan raced towards goal and sent a low cross into the box; while trying to clear the ball, England's Laura Bassett knocked the ball into her own goal. Some of the crowd went wild, but most of us groaned, "No!" This was not how this game should have ended. England's losing the game seemed not quite right, but losing in that particular fashion was simply devastating. If ever I wanted a "do-over" this was it.