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Sunday, July 7, 2019
Issue 12.2.7 "4-Time Champions!"
2019 Women's World Cup Champion

United States  USA 4 Star
USA Home Jersey USA Away Jersey USA 4-Star Jersey
1991 Women's World Cup Logo 1999 Women's World Cup Logo 2015 Women's World Cup Logo 2019 Women's World Cup Logo
USA Champions
United States
USA - United States
(The Stars & Stripes)

U.S. Soccer Federation
(USSF)

[Concacaf]
#1 | F1 | F Winner | 7-0-0
4th Championship ('91, '99, '15)
F1: Beat Thailand 13-0
F3: Beat Chile 3-0
F5: Beat Sweden 2-0
R16: Beat Spain 2-1
QF: Beat France 2-1
SF: Beat England 2-1
F: Beat Netherlands 2-0

USA WINS 4TH TITLE SHUTTING OUT NEWBIE NETHERLANDS
From the Pubs! wins the pool as Futbol Fabone Dix takes 3rd for second time

USA ChampionsSANTA CLARA, CA (smt) [MATCHDAY 25] -- 1E-Netherlands had a successful first half, not allowing 1F-USA to score (much less in the first 12 minutes as in their previous six matches) and had a couple of promising counters.  But the USA came out roaring in the second half but couldn't capitalize (thanks to NED GK Sari van Veenendaal who had 8 saves) until a reckless high kick to Alex Morgan was reviewed by VAR and a PK was awarded.  Megan Rapinoe put away the PK for her 6th goal and then 8 minutes later Rose Lavelle scored her 3rd goal of the tourney as USA cruised to a 2-0 win in front of a sellout crowd of 57,900 in Lyon.  Rapinoe's goal actually gave her the Golden Boot as she played less minutes than Morgan (6 goals and 3 assists each).  USA wins back-to-back titles (matching GER's '03/'07) and their 4th title (two more than GER) as well as their 4th straight major tournament win ('14 Concacaf Women's Championship/'15 WWC/'18 CWC). 

Coach Jill Ellis is the first to win two WWC titles and she actually did a good job, making adjustments when necessary and managing a star-studded roster.  Her defensive play after scoring against FRA was a good move IMHO, dealing with the heat and humidity and pro-FRA crowd, not a cowardly one.  In every match, the USA was the strongest and fittest in that last 5-10 minutes of a match sealing three one-goal wins.  I still don't think we know how good GK Alyssa Naeher is yet but that's for another day.  USA relied on the vets so much that before Lavelle's goal, the previous 7 were by "old-timers" Rapinoe (5), Morgan, and Press.  Ignoring the 13-0 opening win, 10 of the last 12 were by veterans (Lavelle and Lindsey Horan the lone exceptions) plus one own goal that was created by another 3-time vet, Tobin Heath.  As the mantle is handed down to the new class who will have more pressure on getting the three-peat, I will savor the dominance the USA women had in this tournament.

Of course, with blown open chances and tiring in the end, the USMNT failed to make this day a double for USA as they failed to defend their title and fell to Mexico in the Gold Cup final, 1-0.  Our own (LA Galaxy) Jonathan dos Santos struck the death blow in the 73'.  In the Copa America final played three hours after USA women won, host Brazil beat Peru 3-1

From the Pubs! wins the 2nd HWCI Women's World Cup pool with 137 points with UncleChimps 2nd, Futbol Fabone Dix 3rd, and Pazzo Americno 4th.  28 picked USA while THE GAMBLER 1 (13th-T, 123) missed NED which would have netted him 1st place (Orange Country (40th, 96) was the only other to pick NED).  From the Pubs! was one of just two to get both finalists and the winner (The Guess Who (13th-T) also did but getting a low of 4 R16 matches correct was too much to overcome, falling 6 points outside 4th place).  Scott T nets his own double in finishing 3rd in back-to-back WWC pools.  Soccerhorn finished last with 73 points.  The total goals tiebreaker was 5 (3 in ENGvSWE, 2 in USAvNED) which was guessed exactly by 4 entries with Hereforthecommentary (43rd, 89) off by 5.5 goals in her guess (10.5).  36 of 44 entries reached 100 points.

  Name Nickname Pts Prize Wins
  Greg P (2)
From the Pubs!
137
1st Place $220
  Kevin L (1)
UncleChimps
132
2nd Place $110
  Scott T (1)
Futbol Fabone Dix
131
3rd Place $ 70
  Warner L (1)
Pazzo Americano
129
4th Place $ 40

   Ins 'n Outs -  

 1 1F USA 7 7-0-0 21 ( 23 26) [ -7]
 2 1E NED 7 6-1-0 18 (  6 11) [ -6]
 3 2F SWE 7 5-2-0 15 (  6 12) [ -7]
 4 1D ENG 7 5-2-0 15 (  8 13) [ -8]
 5 1B GER 5 4-1-0 12 (  8 10) [ -5] 
 6 1A FRA 5 4-1-0 12 (  5  9) [ -5]
 7 1C ITA 5 3-2-0  9 (  5  9) [ -8]
 8 2A NOR 5 2-2-1  7 (  0  7) [ -5]
 9 2C AUS 4 2-1-1  7 (  3  9) [ -6]
10 3C BRA 4 2-2-0  6 (  2  7) [-11] 
11 2E CAN 4 2-2-0  6 (  1  4) [ -3]
12 2B ESP 4 1-2-1  4 (  0  4) [ -2]
13 2D JPN 4 1-2-1  4 ( -1  3) [ -5]
14 3B CHN 4 1-2-1  4 ( -1  1) [ -5]
15 3E CMR 4 1-3-0  3 ( -5  3) [ -8]
16 3A NGA 4 1-3-0  3 ( -5  2) [-11]
17 3F CHI 3 1-2-0  3 ( -3  2) [ -5]
18 3D ARG 3 0-1-2  2 ( -1  3) [ -3]
19 4D SCO 3 0-2-1  1 ( -2  5) [ -6]
20 4E NZL 3 0-3-0  0 ( -4  1) [ -1]
21 4A KOR 3 0-3-0  0 ( -7  1) [ -7]
22 4B RSA 3 0-3-0  0 ( -7  1) [ -9]
23 4C JAM 3 0-3-0  0 (-11  1) [ -4]
24 4F THA 3 0-3-0  0 (-19  1) [ -5]

   Bits 'n Bobs -  SWE won their 3rd Bronze (ties USA)... ENG finishes 4th after winning Bronze in '15... 8 of 9 SWE shots were on goal... ENG's Ellen White had a goal taken away due to VAR review that ball bounced and hit her arm, the 2nd straight match White has had a goal disallowed by VAR, she ends with 6 goals... ENG scored at least once in all 7 matches... SWE's win was UEFA's 30th of the tourney... USA has not lost when scoring first in WWC history (37-0-4)... USA has won a record 12 straight WWC matches and 17 straight without a loss... USA has scored in 45 straight matches... USA finished with 132 shots, 59 shots on goal, and record 26 goals... NED's 12 straight tourney matches (EURO '17, WWC '19) was snapped... USA's PK was the first successful one in the WWC finals (BRA missed in '07)... like 2015, there was just one PSO... Boot winners: Gold (Rapinoe), Silver (Morgan), Bronze (ENG Ellen White)... Ball winners: Gold (Rapinoe), Silver (ENG Lucy Bronze), Bronze (Lavelle)... Golden Glove: Van Veenendaal... Young Player: GER 20-year-old Giulia Gwinn... Fair Play: FRA... ESPN signed a contract with the NWSL for 14 matches, NWSL was without TV after Lifetime dropped it a year early before this season; all 23 USWMT WWC players play in the NWSL... ten countries (including a joint North and South Korea bid) have shown in interest in hosting the 2023 WWC but with the possible expansion to 32 teams, some may drop out or combine bids - announcement of host expected March 2020... Group F got two teams in top 3 and Group C got 3 teams in top 10... of 52 matches, there were only two 0-0 matches and just four ties overall (3 in group, 1 in knockout)... TV ratings were excellent around the world... USA ticker tape parade will be in Manhattan at the Canyon of Heroes on Wednesday, July 10... if you picked all favorites (by FIFA ranking), you would have finished with 122 points and in 16th place (5.5 goals average last year)...

Wife already spent my winnings :-)  My other pick Restore the Spire finished 42nd...
Scott


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