Megan Rapinoe on Monday scored two penalties as defending champions the US beat Spain to set up a mouthwatering quarter-final against hosts France at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, with Sweden joining them in the last eight.
On another day in the limelight for video-assisted review (VAR), Sweden goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl made a brilliant second-half penalty save as her country edged out Canada 1-0 in Paris to advance to a similarly enticing tie against Germany.
The showdown between the holders and the hosts had seemed inevitable from the moment the draw was made back in December, but after France on Sunday labored to beat Brazil in extra time, the US did not find the going easy against Spain in Reims.
Photo: AFP
Rapinoe’s first penalty gave Jill Ellis’ team an early lead after Tobin Heath was brought down in the box by Maria Leon.
However, Jennifer Hermoso pounced to equalize moments later after Becky Sauerbrunn was caught in possession, and Spain held their own after that against the World Cup favorites.
However, they were undone by another penalty awarded for what looked a very slight touch on Rose Lavelle from Virginia Torrecilla.
The penalty was confirmed after a VAR check and Rapinoe smashed the ball into the same corner with 15 minutes left to give the US the tightest of wins and line up the French.
“I hope it’s wild and crazy and the fans are crazy and that there’s tons of media around it and it’s just a big spectacle,” Rapinoe said of Friday’s match. “I think it’s going to be incredible for the women’s game. You have two heavy hitters meeting and this is everything you want.”
It is not what Spain wanted, and the penalty that decided the game left a bitter taste in their mouths.
“I didn’t touch her... They blew for that penalty because it was the US,” Torrecilla said.
In Paris, more than 38,000 fans saw Sweden edge out fifth-ranked Canada 1-0 at the Parc des Princes thanks to a solitary second-half goal scored by Stina Blackstenius, set up by Kosovare Asllani.
Sweden then held on for the victory thanks to Lindahl, who dove to her right to keep out Janine Beckie’s 69th-minute penalty awarded after a VAR showing that Asllani had stopped a Desiree Scott shot with her arm.
“I was so happy, just pure joy, and my teammates felt the same way,” Lindahl said.
That was the 22nd penalty awarded at this World Cup, equaling the total tally from the 2015 tournament and underlining the influence of VAR.
Sweden faces Germany on Saturday in a repeat of the gold medal match at the 2016 Olympics, which Germany won 2-1.
The last two quarter-final places were to be decided yesterday as Italy took on China in Montpellier and European champions the Netherlands met 2011 World Cup winners Japan in Rennes.
FIFA said that “cooling breaks” might be needed during games to protect players from the effects of the heat wave gripping France.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier