USA v. France 05/11/08

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USA Hold Off Gallant France To Advance To Last Eight

by Jeremy Ruane

Pre-tournament favourites the USA progressed to the quarter-finals of the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Finals on 5 November, after holding out for a 1-1 draw in a classic encounter with a gallant France team, who needed to win this Group C encounter at North Harbour Stadium to advance at their opponents' expense.

The situation meant an enthralling ninety minutes was in store, and the quality of football witnessed was of the highest order - a superb game technically, tactically and spectacle-wise too.

With a draw suffice for the USA to progress, the French set out their stall early, with Taylor Vancil grabbing Pauline Crammer's fifth minute header comfortably after she got on the end of a teasing Anaig Butel cross.

Midfield dynamo Lea Rubio, fresh from a one-match suspension, thundered a dipping thirty yarder against the crossbar three minutes later, with USA captain Amber Brooks preventing Camille Catala from capitalising on the rebound.

Team USA knew they were in a game by this point, so promptly set about fighting fire with fire. Vicki DiMartino gathered the ball on the left and dashed inside past two challenges before beating French goalkeeper Laetitia Philippe with a fierce acute-angled drive which crashed against the post.

The ball rebounded back to the striker, whose deep cross invited Elizabeth Eddy to execute a tenth minute chip from distance which struck the side-netting.

The USA pressed again soon after, Kristie Mewis unleashing the pace of Courtney Verloo with her pass. The striker played the ball across to DiMartino, who was foiled by a fine Philippe save when the `keeper was her only obstacle to the opening goal. Feisty fullback Caroline La Villa mopped up the danger.

By dribbling the ball around her goal area in the nineteenth minute, Philippe was playing with fire, and made a mental note not to repeat the trick after Verloo closed her down and charged down the `keeper's attempted clearance in the best traditions of the first line of defence.

France responded once more through Rubio, whose rasping thirty yarder forced Vancil into a solid save low to her left. Five minutes later, the midfielder's angled ball in from the right was flicked on by Crammer for Catala, who had ghosted in behind the defence.

Vancil blocked well at the midfielder's feet in this 26th minute raid, and promptly launched a US attack which culminated in Mewis picking out Brooks with her corner to the far post. The defender's effort flew narrowly past the upright.

Back came France, on the half-hour. Marine Augis chased down a Rubio through ball and got in behind Crystal Dunn - one of the rare occasions when the USA's defensive rock was bettered - to unleash an acute-angled shot. Vancil grabbed the ball at her near post.

In the 34th minute, Brooks repeated her headed attempt of seven minutes earlier, this time on receipt of a Julia Roberts corner. A further seven minutes had elapsed when the USA went closer still, all stemming from Dunn denying Augis at the crucial moment of a French raid.

Olivia Klei raced downfield past two opponents before linking with Mewis, who surged on past a further two French players before uncorking a withering thirty yard drive which dipped against the crossbar.

DiMartino arrived to turn home the rebound, only for La Villa to launch herself full-length and courageously head the ball to safety just as the striker was poised to strike - brilliant defending.

A long-range Kelly Gadea drive which fizzed past Vancil's left-hand upright brought a breath-taking first half to a close, and patrons were left to wonder if the second half could possibly improve on the first forty-five minutes, such was the quality of play on display.

Incredibly, it did! Just fifty seconds after the resumption, La Villa - a giant in the French rearguard, her lack of inches notwithstanding - cleared a close-range Klei header off the line following another Roberts corner.

Seconds later, Butel blocked a Roberts shot to safety as the Americans came out all guns blazing. Verloo was next to take up the challenge, and linked with Kristie Mewis to play Sam Mewis in beyond the French defence on the right.

Pauline Crammer (France) gets away from Julia Roberts (USA)

Carolina La Villa (France) and Vicki DiMartino (USA) in aerial combat

Ines Jaurena (France) lines up Olivia Klei (USA) in a tackle

Kristie Mewis (USA) challenged by Charlotte Poulain (France), watched by Anaig Butel (France)

Courtney Verloo (USA) outjumps Kelly Gadea (France)

A super tackle by Ines Jaurena (France) thwarts Kristie Mewis (USA)

The substitute's first-time shot was blocked by the legs of Philippe, who recovered superbly to deny DiMartino's attempt to drive home the opener in the 48th minute.

Three minutes later, Kristie Mewis played the ball forward to DiMartino, who initially had Butel for company. But a stumble by the defender allowed the striker to space in which to unleash another shot. Philippe saved low by her left-hand post to the frustration of the USA, whose pressure had to pay dividends sooner rather than later.

After Crammer had warmed Vancil's gloves with the first French attack of the half, the USA's pressure finally gained its reward, in the 57th minute. Kristie Mewis took control of a Philippe clearance, and played the ball forward to Verloo.

The classy front-runner played in DiMartino, whose elegant chip from twenty-five yards left Philippe beaten all ends up, the ball clipping the underside of the crossbar en route to the back of the net.

Team USA celebrated accordingly, not realising that they had just committed the footballing equivalent of waving a red flag at a raging bull. Because from the restart, knowing they now had to score twice to keep their World Cup dreams alive, the French tore into their opponents in ferocious fashion.

The pressure they brought to bear nearly paid instant dividends, the USA conceding possession just outside their penalty area a mere three minutes after opening the scoring. Crammer's twenty yard drive flashed just past the post.

Rubio then battered a thirty-five yarder at the target, which Vancil grabbed under the bar. Then a vital clearance by Cloee Colohan denied Crammer in the 66th minute, after she had been released by French captain Solene Barbance.

The French continued to pound away, but the USA looked to have put the shutters up until they were undone by a magnificent strike in the 72nd minute. Gadea and Barbance combined to play the ball to Rubio in central midfield, and she strode forward before unleashing an absolute bullet into the net from fully thirty yards which Vancil barely saw - 1-1, and how!

That set up a grandstand finish, not that this splendid footballing advertisement wasn't already perfectly poised. Straight from the kick-off, Verloo sent DiMartino through, and Philippe tipped her shot over the bar.

Back came the French, pressing for the winner but finding themselves up against a team which had the result they needed - a draw, and also are, in the best traditions of Team USA combinations, well versed in the art of holding that which they have.

Every angle of approach the French tried, they found a USA defender - most often Dunn, Colohan, Brooks and Rachel Quon - frustrating their progress. The defensive effort was outstanding, but the French spirit, epitomised by the inspirational Rubio, was unquenchable.

Cracks in the USA's armour occasionally appeared, but it wasn't until stoppage time that the French finally found a way through. Crammer put everything she had into a piledriver of a thirty yard free-kick, only to bury her face in her hands at the sight of Colohan fearlessly heading the ball over her own bar.

The resulting corner was cleared to Butel on the left flank, from where she whipped in a beautifully weighted cross to the far post. Flying through the gathered throngs was Rubio, whose header had “Goal” written all over it until Vancil launched herself to her right and held on to the ball for dear life.

The despair on Rubio's face spoke volumes, and the sound of the final whistle seconds later brought tears to French eyes all over the park - to a woman, the team sunk to their knees in despair, much like the Young Ferns had done at the same venue four days previously.

The USA, meanwhile, celebrated their success, a clash with Korea Republic their reward for an indomitable display against opponents who gave everything, but ended up as the odd team out in a group from which three of the contenders would have been worthy quarter-finalists.

USA: Vancil; Brooks, Colohan, Dunn; Eddy (S. Mewis, 34), Quon, K. Mewis (Johnson, 85), Roberts (Harris, 90), Klei; DiMartino, Verloo

France: Philippe; Jaurena, Butel, Gadea, La Villa; Augis (Perdrizet, 85), Rubio, Poulain, Barbance (Lavaud, 90), Catala (Makanza, 46); Crammer

Referee: Silvia Reyes (Peru)

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