This is what leadership is.
England manager Mark Sampson gave a touching interview about Laura Bassett's own-goal and England's heartbreaking exit from the Women's World Cup.
Sampson called Bassett a hero for her play throughout the World Cup and said she doesn't deserve the World Cup ending that she got.
It was hard to believe at first when it popped up in the upper left hand corner of the TV during the broadcast of the semifinal between the United States Women’s National Team and Germany:
Over the past 5 games of the 2015 World Cup, Germany had average 11.8 shots on goal, not shots in general, shots on goal. Against the USWNT on Tuesday night, they only had one.
England will be wondering what could have been after losing a heartbreaker to Japan in the Women's World Cup semifinals.
Laura Bassett scored an own goal during injury time to send the defending champions into the final against the United States.
Japan opened the scoring on a 33rd minute penalty from Amy Miyama. England equalized on a Fara Williams penalty seven minutes later.
The score remained 1-1 until Bassett's own-goal in the 92nd minute.
Japan will play the U.S. on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.
Following the U.S. Women’s National Team’s 2-0 win over Germany on Tuesday night, we at The18 examined the top 5 storylines emerging from this semifinal victory:
In just a few hours from now, we will be witnessing probably the match of the year between the US and Germany, the two best teams in women's soccer.
With the exception of their game against France, the Germans cruised into the semis. The US on the other hand, has played a few nail biters to get to this point.
It's going to take a team effort in order for the USWNT to advance to the World Cup Finals. So, what will it take to defeat the Germans?
Here are three things:
If the USWNT wanted more publicity before their match last Friday against China, they got it in spades from defender Ali Krieger, who will be featured in ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue next month.
Krieger, who received her 70th cap during the US's 2-0 victory over Colombia, will be featured in the issue, which comes out the day after the World Cup final, July 6th.
In the issue, Krieger explained why she decided to pose.
If you are a soccer fan, this is the match we've all wanted and waited for: No. 1 vs No. 2 in women's soccer.
Germany will face the U.S. in the semis of the Women's World Cup this coming Tuesday in Montreal after both surviving their quarterfinal matches.
It took penalty kicks, but the Germans outlasted France Friday night to earn their spot in the semis. Meanwhile, the US once again put on another great defensive performance to defeat China, 1-0 on Carli Lloyd's goal.
Germany and France were tied at 1-1 after 120 minutes of play and tied 4-4 after eight made penalties. Then Celia Sasic made her second penalty of the day, and Nadine Angerer saved Claire Lavogez’s effort and Germany were through to the semifinals.
The game was an especially lively one, with both sides showing the class that made them ranked first (Germany) and third (France) in the world.
France made a grab for the lead in the first minute, but Louisa Necib’s shot went wide.
OK, so here's what happened: Sports Illustrated editor Mark Mravic tweeted about England's badass goal to send them to the knockout stage of the World Cup. He mentioned one of SI's football contributors, Andy Benoit, who apparently thinks women's sports are about as exciting as we all think hanging out with Andy Benoit would be.
Yes, you can expect Alex Morgan, arguably the USWNT's best player, to start tonight when the US faces China in the quarter finals of the 2015 World Cup.
Morgan may still be recovering from a knee injury, but she is far closer to being 100% than she has ever been since going down injured in the first place. It is no coincidence that she has started the last two games. Expect that trend to continue, especially given the fact that Morgan scored the game winning goal against Colombia in her last match.