The United States is going to the World Cup final after beating Germany 2-0 on Tuesday. The No. 2 ranked Americans played their best game of the entire tournament and—despite being saved by a critical non-call in the second half—dominated the world’s top-ranked team. The U.S. will head to its record fourth World Cup final, while the Germans will have to settle for the third-place consolation match and remain stuck on three Women’s World Cup final appearances. The U.S. will also be going for a record third Women’s World Cup trophy.
The Americans dominated much of the game, but looked like they were going to concede first after Julie Johnston pulled down injured German midfielder Alexandra Popp in the box in what many thought could have been a red card. Fortunately for the Americans, Johnston—who has been one of the best players for the U.S. at this tournament—was only given a yellow and Germany’s star striker Celia Sasic sent the ensuing penalty kick wide left. The U.S. had even more luck when Alex Morgan was taken down by German defender Annike Krahn just outside the penalty area, and the ref again pointed to the spot. Carli Lloyd buried the penalty for her third goal in as many games to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead and they never looked back.
Lloyd helped put the icing on the cake in the 84th minute, beating a defender in the box and delivering a perfect cross to the streaking Kelley O’Hara, who scored to put the game out of reach.
The U.S. will play the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between England and Japan in the World Cup final on Sunday, which you might recall is the day after Independence Day. Here’s hoping that England wins, so we can beat them again.
