The USA advances on penalties. With Wy making one of the best saves I've ever seen in a youth tournament.
North Korean team looks really good, in order to beat them USA will probably need to use strategy right from Cochrane's The Autobiography of a Seaman: ...to quote admiral Nelson: 'Never mind manoeuvres, always go at them," Japan vs. Netehrlands will most likely be a duel of tired legs. It's either 1-0 death from thousand Nadeshiko cuts... ekhm shots.. or 0-1 death from one precise Dutch set piece.
I am very happy that I was denied about Japan. Germany on the other hand... has anything of the kind happened recently (or "ever")? Wasting a 2-0 advantage in additional time and missing almost all of the PKs to boot? Seriously, does anyone remember anything similar?
No. Not scoring 2 goals in the dying minutes of added time. Not that I believe in fate, but, for the memes, it almost felt like 'it was fate, that USA would win', after tying up the match in the last 2 minutes of added time. I mean, winning that match was nothing short of miraculous. Now I only hope that USA doesn't flop against N. Korea.
I hadn't seen USA play yet at this World Cup, so I wasn't aware that their GK's surname is Wy. I have to say that, when hearing the comment in English, this sometimes leads to moments reminding of "Who's on first base, what's on second, I don't know is on third".
And, judging by her footwork and reaction speed she may be the best GK in this tournament. She is one of the very rare few playing GK that seem to not fail to recover when pulled out of position. She is also strong enough that she wins most all pushing contests on free kicks. I have not seen enough of her to be sure but she looks better right now than Hope did at the same age and she does not seem to have the flighty mentality that finally did Hope in. In other words I am very impressed. Few people realize just how hard it is for a keeper to play an entire match plus added time and then calm down enough to handle the PKs at the end. Of course she was greatly aided by the German incompetence at the PKs they took. Even the one that did not miss but was saved was not taken well. The German kicker completely gave away where she was going before taking the kick so Wy was not guessing when she moved to her left. What she did not expect was how hard and accurate that PK would be but the fact she started in the right direction made the following really great save possible. BTW: The reason the ref delayed certifying the save was that Wy was so quick that it almost looked like both feet left the ground before the shot was actually takes and the fact that Wy uses the drop rather than the bounce to be light at the time of contact makes reading if she is on the line or not harder for referees. I think the USA has found at least one future WNT goalkeeper if she plays regularly for her club and stays healthy. She already seems ready for Full national team duties, she is already as good as or better than all the top USA keepers. The only thing she lacks is experience. As I have said before, every goalkeeper must make every mistake possible at least once and she still has several to make before she is truly seasoned. That is one primary reason she needs club time and, hopefully, a good keeper coach. Of course she is young and sometimes even the greatest players at that age choose another direction for their lives that does not include soccer and for that I cannot blame her if she makes that choice.
I finally went back and saw the 2 yellow cards given by the ref in the DPR vs Austria match. Absolutely horrible refereeing, even at this level. The first may have been justified, although, I think it was a bad call. The second was just spiteful. This ref should never see another match in a FIFA uniform. Poor and disgraceful.
Since we have no way of knowing exactly what was said to trigger the second yellow we cannot really judge if it was the correct call or not however the foul that was the cause for the dissent was not really correct. I agree that the ref was horrible and WAY over her head but that is the pattern for this tournament. I understand that many/most the referees are still in training but it is no excuse for this kind of crap. I am frankly surprised that someone has not blown their top and gotten a straight red for cold cocking the ref. These wonderful athletes deserve something above the bargain basement refereeing they are getting. I have seen much better refereeing in the lowest rec leagues around. <Ranting hat on> BTW: The replacement for VAR is worse than just letting the players call their own matches (well not quite that bad) I think all forms of video review should be dropped as they do not enhance the game. "Getting it right" is not important enough to offset the terrible interruptions that video review shoves up our collective butts. Let humans call the match and accept that there will be mistakes from time to time and I wish they would drop the delayed offside. There are few, if any, dumber rules in any sport. <Ranting hat off>
I don't know, I just felt sick after seeing the Austrian player get those 2 cards. Felt waaaay too heavy handed for the offense.
Referee assignments Ivana Martinčić (Croatia) for USA / Bad Korea Karen Hernández (Mexico) for Japan / Netherlands cross-posted in USA forum The match officials for the #U20WWC semi-finals have been appointed:— FIFA (@FIFAcom) September 17, 2024
Quarter-finals USA 2 - 2 (pso. 3-1) GERMANY (highlights) Dudley 90'+8, Sentnor 90'+9 --- Zicai 61'(p.), Bender 90'+2 BRAZIL 0 - 1 KOREA DPR (highlights) U.Y Chae 49' JAPAN 1 - 0 (aet.) SPAIN (highlights) Yoneda 102' NETHERLANDS 2 - 2 (pso. 3-0) COLOMBIA (highlights) Stoit 37', Weiman 85' --- Torres 16' 43' Top Scorers 5 Vendito (BRA) 5 Maya Hijikata (JPN)* 4 Naomi Eto (CMR) 4 Annabelle Chukwu (CAN) 4 Liana Joseph (FRA) 4 Donna Scannapieco (FRA) 4 Loreen Bender (GER) 4 Il Son Choe (DPK)* 4 Pietra Tordin (USA)* 3 Kishi Nunez (ARG) 3 Priscilla (BRA) 3 Sophie Nachtigall (GER) 3 Cora Zicai (GER) 3 Chinari Sasai (JPN)* 3 Mi-ryong Pak (DPK)* 3 Hyang Sin (DPK)* 3 Jone Amezaga (ESP) 3 Ally Sentnor (USA)* *(players from teams still in play)
My favs for individual awards so far: Golden. Silver, Bronze Ball: Shinomi Koyama (JPN), Chae Un Yong (DPK), Ally Sentnor (USA), Femke Liefting (NED), Dudinha (BRA), Aicha Camara (ESP) Golden Glove: Femke Liefting (NED), Teagan Wy (USA), Fatima El Jebraoui (MAR), Mariela El Sheriff (AUT), Akane Okuma (JPN)
Announcer mentioned that DPR coach has his players for 3 months at a time. I'm sure you can build some good team chemistry in that time. Poor defending by USA leads to a DPR goal 1-0 in the 21st min. Dudley with the first yellow card.
In the japan match Japan is controlling play but they have not really produced anything to speak of. They are currently totally outplaying the Dutch between the boxes and the are outshooting the Dutch by something like 12-4. Also there is a base drum that keeps producing "boom boom boom boom" followed by a period of silence. I keep expecting Arnold to pop up.
The first half ends but Japan is close to totally dominate. They are having some trouble with shots and the size mismatch. 0-0 at the half but i "think" Japan will win this, eventually. .