Carli Lloyd’s second half goal was enough for the United States against China.
By Ivan Yeo
It was Flashback Friday for the United States and China.
The U.S. and China were meeting in the World Cup for the first time since Brandi Chastain’s penalty won the U.S. the 1999 World Cup in front of 90,000 plus at the Rose Bowl. The settings were a little different this time around. This meeting between the two teams was in Ottawa, and it was the quarterfinals instead of the final.
Nevertheless, the end result was the same, which was good news for the United States. While the U.S. didn’t need penalties to overcome the upstart Chinese, they still did more than enough to ensure themselves a spot int he semifinals with a 1-0 win on Friday evening.
The win maintains the United States’ dominant defense, which stretched its shutout streaks to four matches and 423 minutes. Those streaks will be put to perhaps its most stern test of the World Cup, as the second-ranked Americans face No.1 ranked Germany in the semifinals in Montreal on Tuesday.
After 50 mintues where they were the clear aggressors, but were unable to put one through, the United States finally found the back net in the 51st minute. Centerback Julie Johnston sent a long ball into the penalty area and Carli jumped and headed a ball that beat Chinese keeper Wang Fei at the far post to finally get the United States on the board.
After weeks where its defense dominated, yet the U.S. attack left plenty to be desired. Despite playing without midfielders Megan Rapinoe and Lauren Holliday, both of whom were serving suspensions on card accumulation, the U.S. were all over China right from the start. The U.S. got its first scoring chance just minutes into the match, as Lloyd split the Chinese defense with a through ball that Amy Rodriguez ran down just right into the penalty area. Rodriguez however shanked the shot at the far post.
Johnston had the U.S., next best scoring chances. The first came when Ali Krieger crossed into the penalty area, Fei beat Alex Morgan to the cross by punching it away from Morgan, but Johnston was there and headed a ball towards the net, but China cleared the ball before it could even sniff the goal line. Johnston’s other scoring chance came when Tobin Heath sent a corner kick into the penalty area, Johnston swooped in and headed the ball on target, but hit the top netting instead.
