Alex Morgan and the USWNT will look to take one more step toward a potential 3rd World Cup title for the United States. - Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
It's the battle of the No.1 (Germany) and No.2 (USA) teams in the world for the right to play for the Women's World Cup in the final against the winner of Japan/England.
Match Highlights:
Alex Morgan with a good first half chance. She also drew the penalty that lead into the first goal of the match (scored by Carli Lloyd).
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United States of America vs. Germany in 2015 Women's World Cup semifinal
Match date/time: Tuesday, 4:30 p.m. PT
Venue: Olympic Stadium, Montreal, Quebec
TV: FOX (U.S. - English), NBC Universo (U.S. - Spanish)
Online: FOX Soccer 2 Go (U.S. - English), NBC Deportes en vivo extra (U.S. - Spanish)
Regardless of the results, the USWNT has guaranteed themselves of two more games (yes, 3rd place match is a thing). But instead of playing on July 4th, the goal of both USA and Germany would be to advance to the 2015 Women's World Cup final on July 5th in Vancouver.
For the first time in quite some time, the USWNT will be a slight underdog in a match with the German squad having the better rank. Nevertheless, both squads have had some rather shaky path to the semifinal. Germany needed a late goal against France in the quarterfinal to force extra time and to win eventually via the penalty shootouts.
The US team on the other hand has finally starts to look like a good offensive squad, with Cal alum Alex Morgan's reassertion back into the starting lineup, after missing months of training due to a knee injury, being the key.
In case you missed, Alex Morgan scored the winning goal against Colombia in the round of 16. She was again the focal point of the attack, with the aging Abby Wambach being saved as a sub, for the 1-0 US win against China in the quarterfinals, even though midfielder Carli Lloyd scored the lone goal.
The China match was merely Alex Morgan's 3rd World Cup start of her already splendid career (she was a super effective sub for the US in the last World Cup, when the US fell to Japan in the final after a great semi win over Brazil).
Both the USA and Germany have played great defense so far. It will be interesting to see if Alex Morgan and her athleticism will be able to break down the Germany D.
It will also be interesting to see the US lineup after both Lauren Holiday and Megan Rapinoe had to sit out the last match due to the accumulation of yellow cards. The US offense played well (despite just the one goal) but how will it function with the lineup back to full strength?
GO BEARS!
GO USA!
