25' 2-1 Horan passes to Dunn unmarked at 8m wide left. Dunn crosses toward Press spotting up under it at 12m right post -- but it drifts over her head, and Sonnett alertly calls her off. Sonnett stops ball at 14m mid-right, dinks a soft pass to 8m center. Morgan jumps in front of Miyake not jumping, twist-heads across mouth past Yamashita, ball bounces into back left edge. Wow, stick that frog in a blender on a carousel and watch your head spin (Edit: no frogs were harmed in the typing of this post)
31' 2-1 Rapinoe bends a cross from 24m wide left toward 13m 6-right. Press races Yamashita to it -- Yamashita wins, knocks ball down to box top and balances on the line without going over. 34' 2-1 Brian threads a short pass from circle left into Rapinoe's stride toward 35m center. Morgan is caught too tight to Japan's back line stepping up, must walk parallel instead of cutting past them. Rapinoe holds and dribbles into a pocket of 4, Morgan comes back, receives a pass. Morgan turns and looks for Brian(?) making a cut through box top mid-left, quick through-ball try intercepted. That's good and bad -- we're looking for those lanes, but Japan's swarming congestion is tough to beat with obvious ideas. 35' 2-1 Ertz(?) chips from 27m box right to 17m center. Morgan chests ball down, instantly swings waist-high right roundhouse on the bounce, just wide left.
37' 2-1 Press cuts inside through 10m box right, 2nd cut endline-ward turns 2, but ball also rolls away from her. 40' 2-1 Press cuts inside through 12m box right, shoots left instep to center low, Yamashita catches. Decent aggression from Press ... but I get the feeling that she puts her head down and it'll be a shot or nothing. 41' 2-1 Davidson chips from midfield mid-left to arc tangent left. Morgan jumps facing way, flick-heads down mid-left. Horan throws a good (moving screen at 12m mid-right, shielding off two defenders. Ertz runs on from midfield, wide-open through box top mid-left to 9m. Hop-shot goes directly into Yamashita's legs or body, reflects back to Ertz, and she reflex-clangs it rightward. Wow, Ertz could have carried a canoe sideways on her shoulders and still not troubled anybody. HT 2-1. USSoccer can tweetcap FS1, it just takes them ... 20 minutes?
That 26' goal: Apply directly to the forehead.@emilysonnett serves it on platter for @alexmorgan13's second strike. pic.twitter.com/vVUGHEKTra— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) July 27, 2018 46' 2-1 USA subs in (1 of 6?) #5 McCall Zerboni for #6 Morgan Brian. Scripted? 54' 2-1 USA subs in (2 of 6?) #17 Tobin Heath for #23 Christen Press.
56' 3-1 Heath pokes hard down right touch, races Sakaguchi to 4m right touch, collects ball. Heath croodles inward to 5m wide right, jukes endline past Sakaguchi not expecting that to be the entry route -- Heath tightropes down endline to box right foot. Cross to 4m right post, Miyake turns away and calf/heel-blocks ball out to 7m right post. Morgan collects on her left foot, half-volleys steeply upward, over Yamashita, off crossbar 1/5 right, bounces down and in. That just unfair Heath doing two Heath things -- 1022643674268676096 is not a valid tweet id 59' 3-1 Japan subs in: - (1 of 6) #9 Nahomi Kawasumi for RF #7 Emi Nakajima - (2 of 6) #20 Kumi Yokoyama for #11 Mina Tanaka - (3 of 6) #19 Rika Masuya for LF #8 Mana Iwabuchi.
Well the US really likes to score hat tricks against Japan. Of course this is not quite as important as the last one against Japan but it is still quite good. You don't suppose Morgan could get four or five, could she??
Watching Heath take defenders to school is always enjoyable but when it leads to a goal it's absolutely fantastic. Morgan is having a heck of a night but I hope the team doesn't become over-reliant on her as a finisher.
63' 3-1 Yokoyama does a Heath thing to 2m mid-left but doesn't go with ball, Davidson comes across and clears into near touch. 64' 3-1 USA subs in (3 of _) #16 Rose Lavelle for #2 Julie Ertz. 65' 3-1 Lavelle applies close pressure vs. Hasegawa! Japan backpass, reset, chip from circle center too far to Naeher.
66' 4-1 Rapinoe surges forward from circle top box left to 25m mid-left, passes to Lavelle-as-pivot at 22m center. Lavelle one-touch blocks ball back to arc top left, not the perfect spot -- but it wrong-foots Miyake, she stabs ball but only deflects it into Rapinoe's stride. Rapinoe continues her run, ball reappears at her foot , she goes alone to 13m 1/3 left, shoots right instep into 1/4 left back 1/2 high hard. Dancin' Pinoe is our favorite Pinoe.💃 @mPinoe 💃 pic.twitter.com/oXTlT07rOM— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) July 27, 2018
4-1 thanks to some vintage Rapinoe magic The U.S. leads the tournament over Australia on goal differential as things stand, but Japan seems determined to change that.
69' 4-1 Japan short-pass through scattered clouds to 9m 6-right. Backheel toward spot sets up a wide-open shot to right post, Naeher blocks wide right. Japan regather, Kawasumi chips from ~3m mid-right to 8m left post, Yokoyama volleys rightt roundhouse over bar. 71' 4-1 Japan subs in (4 of 6) #13 Yuika Sugasawa for #14 Yui Hasegawa. 73' 4-1 USA subs in: - (4 of 6) #10 Carli Lloyd for #13(c) Alex Morgan - (5 of 6) #3 Samantha Mewis for #9 Lindsey Horan - (6 of 6) #14 Casey Short for #15 Megan Rapinoe.