Two of this summer’s biggest football tournaments are to be decided this weekend: The Women’s World Cup and the South American Championships, Copa América 205.
FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015: Japan vs USA in the final – a rerun of 2011 and 2012
July 5, Japan and USA will play the final of the Women’s World Cup of football 2015, just like they did in 2011. Then, Japan won after a dramatic overtime and penalty shootout. The year after, the teams met again in the final of the 2012 London Summer Olympics. That time, USA won 2-1. England and Germany will play for the bronze.
The semifinals
Both semifinals were decided by kind of odd events. If we start with USA versus Germany, the first half belonged to team USA. Germany was pressured, just as they were in the quarterfinal against France. For some reason, this is how the matches have looked like for Germany this year. They are usually a team machine over 90 minutes but something has not been quite right this tournament. However, with 30 minutes to go of the game, they got the chance to take the lead through a penalty shot. As usual, Celia Sasic stepped forward to take the shot. However, this time, she missed. Instead, it was USA who got the deciding goal from the penalty spot after a questionable decision by the referee. Alex Morgan ran into Annike Krahn outside the penalty box and for some reason the referee called for a penalty shot for USA. Carli Lloyd scored 1-0. In the 84th minute Kelley O Hara increased the lead to 2-0 and USA went through.
In the match between Japan and England, there were two penalties as well. Aya Miyama put her penalty shot away in the 33rd minute and Fara Williams tied the game seven minutes later. England put up a good fight against the current champions. The ending became a bitter tale though. At 90 minutes +2, England’s Laura Bassett attempted to clear the ball but instead put it into the crossbar and into her own net. 2-1 Japan and a devastated Bassett. England has done a good tournament though, eliminating Norway and Canada in the play offs.
Chicken Swedes held Germany as winners throughout the tournament. The final between Japan and USA should be a tight game and it is hard to bet on a winner here. However, Chicken Swedes place our money on USA. If they win, we can at least say that our national team played a tied match against the world champions in this tournament. 🙂
Chile versus Argentina in the 2015 Copa América final
July 4th the final of Copa América is played between Argentina and Chile. Both teams played an impressive game in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Argentina are favourites to becoming South American champions. However, they haven’t won Copa América since 1993. They lost the World Cup final against Germany last year.
The road to the final
Chile reached the final by winning their group, beating Ecuador 2-0, tied against Mexico (3-3) and crushing Bolivia 5-0. In the play offs they beat Uruguay 1-0 in a match most remembered for some dirty scenes we are hoping won’t repeat themself in the final. In the semifinal they beat Peru 2-1.
Argentina’s road to the final has been through few goals, except for in the semifinal. They won their group by playing a tied game (2-2) against Paraguay and two 1-0 victories against Uruguay and Jamaica. No goals from Lionel Messi in the group stage. However, in the play offs he scored his penalty shot when the goalless quarterfinal against Colombia was to be decided. He also did a good match in the semifinal where the team got their goal scoring going, beating Paraguay 6-1.
Although it will be a tight game, we believe that it is time for Argentina and Lionel Messi to win a title this year.
