March 7 – It was a night of high drama in the second semi-final of the W Gold Cup at the Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego.
The US overcame Canada 4-1 on penalties after the Canadians had equalised in the minute of added time at the end of extra time. The US hero was goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher who saved three of Canada’s spot kicks and scored her own penalty to send her country into the final on Sunday against Brazil.
It was a remarkable night of Gold Cup football.
What began as a farce, was at times a comedy as the players delivered slapstick performances, and turned into high drama as Canada chased the win that ultimately could only end in tragedy for one of the teams in a penalty shoot-out.
The match began in conditions that were barely playable.
Torrential rain had preceded the hour before kick off and was still falling when the match started, leaving the pitch with standing water in the central areas, making it virtually impossible to play through them and certainly not possible to dribble the ball at back lines.
US coach Twila Kilgore stuck with the same starting 11 that opened the 3-0 win over Colombia.
Bev Preistman made two Canadian changes from the 1-0 win over Costa Rica, bringing in Deanne Rose in attack in the search to improve Canada’s shots-to-goals ratio and Simi Awujo in midfield.
Within a minute of the start, Trinity Rodman swallow dived in the Canadian half, earning a good 8 points for style but dropping marks for excessive splash. It set the tone for a half that was unpredictable and at times verging on farcical.
With the ball barely rolling, the players were too often left thrashing in puddles.
The US’s Alex Morgan was twice through on balls over the top only for the ball to stick in the water as she travelled past.
At the US end, Deanne Rose similarly overran a ball that refused to roll through the swamp.
On 20’ the lottery luck fell USA’s way. A pass back from Vanessa Gilles stuck in the surface water when it would normally…
Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/03/06/naehers-penalty-heroics-end-canadas-dreams-send-us-w-gold-cup-final/
Author : Paul Nicholson
Publish date : 2024-03-06 13:54:16
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