46' 0-1 France ping around, but backpass. #10 Abily is up ... 47' 0-1 France awful turn-over puts #11 Ohno vs backpedaling #2 Renard toward box top left. Don't let Ohno do a juke-shot!! Ohno dances around 3, passes to #17 Ogimi sneaking into 16m 6-right. Ogimi centers poorly, hooks a shot high. 48' 0-1 France fouls at 7 mowed stripes ~ 37m arc right. 49' 0-2 #8(c) Miyama(?) sends it to 11m left 1/3 left. #6 Mizuho Sakaguchi (LCM) stoops between 2 lines of traffic, heads diagonally across the mouth, beats flat-footed #18 Bouhaddi and drops into the right side netting.
Well, the other players aren't bringing much right now... Sure Abily skies some over the bar. So does Lloyd, but every once and a while she makes one. Mainly, though, I think bringing Abily in will help with possession and ball-winning in the midfield.
50' 0-2 France right corner, drops to #7 Franco (RB) at 9m center. She tries a high roundhouse volley, blasts it just high.
Yes, that direct ball is what France has to do more of now. They can't ping their way to a comeback. Unleash the speed of Delie, Thomis, and Thiney. And if you have a Kraken, now's about as good a time to unleash that as any.
53' 0-2 France fire a long through-ball from center circle back, hit #11 Delie in full stride. She gets past the 1-v-1, but clangs it through box top right to 6m mid-right. Shoots hard with no angle, Fukumoto blocks it into touch. #12 Thomis was crashing the centerline through box top, #14 Necib was open toward box top left. Antsy.
Goal of the tournament so far – a precise pass in, a beautiful deceptive run (completely hidden from the goalkeeper) to get a head on it, and a perfectly placed shot in the end. Nice, nice, nice. Lovely sorcery indeed!
There was some pushing b/f the corner & she said "are those some of the illegal tactics?" and then giggled.
56' 0-2 France subs in (1 of 3) #10 Camille Abily for #6(c=>) Sandrine Soubeyrand (c=>17). 58' 0-2 France subs in (2 of 3) #9 Eugénie Le Sommer for #17(<=c) Gaëtane Thiney.
If you need to foul, it is preferable to foul that far out. That really shouldn't be a position from which Japan would pose a great danger. And Renard looked like she was in perfect position to clear that ball if Bouhaddi hadn't called her own number.