America Wins Again (but Endler was the best)!

Here we go again! Once again, the United States won their second match of Group F in this exciting and surprising Women’s World Cup in France. Their rivals were Chile, who fought until the end but couldn’t prevent losing 3-0 (Thank God it wasn’t 10 more) against the best team in the world.

Chile lost with dignity against the United States, who were clearly superior in all aspects of the game, and didn’t score more goals thanks to the spectacular performance of Chilean goalkeeper Christiane Endler. It all started very nicely, with both teams singing their respective national anthems, some with more passion than others, and finally, the starting whistle sounded for the start of an interesting and nice clash between the North and the South (Game of Thrones?).

The match began pretty harsh for the Chileans, who just a few minutes the game started, Carli Lloyd had the first chance of the game for the Americans, after a beautiful cross to the area by Morgan Brian, which was neglected from her with two fantastic consecutive stops from Endler. The game continued with great intensity from both sides, but clearly with the United States being far superior. In the 11th minute, Lloyd finally had the goal she was looking for: An absolute reaper that went straight into the goal, after a Chilean’s deflection, and with Christiane Endler only able to look what she couldn’t stop (1-0).

The happiness for the Americans was incredible, who still had energies to celebrate, even after scoring 13 against Thailand. But, that happiness didn’t last long as a free kick from the Chileans, ended up in the back of their net after a header from Rayo Vallecano’s Carla Guerrero, but which finally ended being offside. VAR? Yep, VAR strikes again (Happiness for the Americans again).

In the 26th, a header from Julie Ertz ended in the back of Endler’s net, with the PSG goalie unable to stop the ball (2-0). And then, one more time, in the 35th, after a great corner, Lloyd headed the ball in a way Endler couldn’t reach (3-0). At that point, it all looked like Thailand’s episode was going to repeat itself again, but this time, the Chileans were the victims. Endler didn’t want, and she fought all costs to prevent that. However, Carli Lloyd was in a roll, looking for a hat-trick. Who could win that war?

With the first half ended, the clash continued with more intensity in the second one. Lindsey Horan had the chance to make the 4-0 in the match, but a brilliant Endler prevented it with a great foot save. Later on, a long cross to number ’23’ Christen Press, which she headed beautifully to the left side of Chile’s goal, was stopped by the magical hand of Endler, who didn’t want to let any more goals happen. In the end, Lloyd had two chances to complete her hat-trick and bulge USA’s lead, but none of them worked (It wasn’t her day after all). A ball that went to the crossbar and a wide miss penalty. What a shame!

And that was it! Sadly, Chile couldn’t score and lost, and… Surprise, surprise! The USA won (again)! Now, with this result, the United States advances to the round of 16, and will now need to face Sweden, in order to remain in the first spot of their group. Both have 6 points, while Chile, with two defeats, will need to hurry if they want to enter as one of the best third (I’m sorry Thailand, but it seems a lot of Chilean goals are incoming). Who will get to the next stage? And more importantly: Will Chile get its revenge on the Americans? We’ll need to wait and see.