The storylines were pretty basic when the U.S. beat England 2-1 in yesterday’s women’s World Cup semifinal:
*Megan Rapinoe didn’t play. She says she has a hamstring problem, but I hear Trump threatened to yank the team’s funding if she wasn’t benched.
*England got a goal called back for offside. Replay affected the result, but rightly so. It’s a pity that replay wasn’t used when Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal for Argentina beat the English men in the 1986 World Cup.
*England missed a PK (which was awarded via replay). It was an easy save for U.S. ‘keeper Alyssa Naeher. Steph Houghton’s shot was a weak grounder to shortstop. Kevin Newman could have turned a double play.
*Alex Morgan pantomimed sipping tea after scoring, directly taunting the English. If Terrell Owens does that, everybody loses their minds. (At first I thought Morgan pantomimed smoking a joint.)
The U.S. women are historically good. They’re a step faster and think a step ahead.
They all seem to hate Trump. That’s ironic considering they’re insufferable, have a superiority complex and like to embarrass those who oppose.
All their knockout-round wins have been by just 2-1. But winning a second straight World Cup seems a fait accompli. Sweden and the Netherlands play today in the other semifinal, and neither are in the U.S.’s class. Unless Virgil Van Dijk plays for the Netherlands.
Courtesy of Getty Images.