The United States made an incredible run to the semifinals of the Women’s World Cup The U-20s, after going 2-0 down against Germany, equalised late on and won on penalties, now face North Korea.
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At the Pascual Guerrero stadium, the Europeans took the lead with goals from wingers Cora Zicai and Loreen Bender, but the Americans equalized in the 98th and 99th minutes with goals from forwards Jordynn Dudley and Ally Sentnor, respectively.
In the penalty shoot-out, Americans Ally Sentnor, Leah Klenke and Riley Jackson celebrated. Jella Veit scored for Germany and Paulina Platner, Vanessa Diehm and Alara Sehitler missed. Die Nationalelf tried to smother their opponents with intense pressure and began to try to do damage down the flanks, especially on the right, where full-back Laura Gloning and Bender came together.
The Europeans had their clearest chance in the 17th minute when midfielder Sophie Nachtigall, who has shown her versatility throughout the tournament, unleashed a powerful shot from the edge of the box that missed due to a handball by goalkeeper Teagan Wy that deflected the ball off the crossbar. The Americans began to take control of the game little by little, with their best players starting to show up.
One of them, the top scorer Pietra Tordin, had a clear chance when she received the ball in the area, got past an opponent with a turn and fired a right-footed shot that grazed Rebecca Adamczyk’s left post at the end of the first half. In the second half, the Americans continued to attack and in the 51st minute they had a clear chance with a very strong shot from Sentnor that crashed into the post. The team led by the British Tracey Kevins continued to dominate, but everything was unbalanced when the winger Gisele Thompson, who was playing very well, brought down the winger Bender in the area and the South Korean referee Hyeon-Jeong Oh blew the penalty.
After the review requested by the US coach, the referee ratified her decision and in the 61st minute Zicai nailed the ball into the upper right corner of Wy’s goal. The goal unbalanced the North Americans, who lost the clarity they were showing in attack and looked disorganized, despite the substitution of Leah Klenke and Dudley.
Germany vs. United States.
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The few attempts that made progress were stopped by centre-backs Vanessa Diehm and Jella Veit, who formed a wall that their opponents were unable to get past either above or below. Likewise, the few errors committed by some of the defenders were corrected by other teammates, such as left-back Tomke Schneider, who with a tackle took the ball from Sentnor’s feet in a play in which, due to a European error, the ball fell to her to finish in the area.
In the 91st minute, Peter’s team scored the 0-2 on a counterattack in which Nachtigall shot, Wy saved and the ball fell to winger Lisa Baum, who set up Bender to celebrate what they thought meant qualification. However, the surprise came when midfielder Ally Lemos set up Dudley, who scored in the 98th minute to stop the game without thinking that her team might equalise.
And so it was in the final play of the match, when midfielder Taylor Suarez sent in a cross for Sentnor to knock out a right-footed shot that left the opposition, who were already looking like they were in the semi-finals, cold. Extra time revealed the fatigue of both teams. The match was played far from the penalty area and there we
re hardly any flashes of freshness to be seen. The extra half hour was an act of faith for both teams, who were already expecting the penalties that would take the Americans to the semi-finals.
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