PARIS: Megan Rapinoe stole the headlines again as her brace took the United States through to the semifinals of the women’s World Cup on Friday, the holders beating France 2-1 in Paris to puncture the hopes of the host nation.
Rapinoe’s free-kick five minutes into this quarter-final evaded a sea of bodies in the box on its way into the net to stun the home crowd at the Parc des Princes.
The USA then soaked up pressure before delivering the knockout blow midway through the second half when Rapinoe turned in Tobin Heath’s center, although Wendie Renard pulled a goal back late on for France to set up a tense finish.
Jill Ellis’s team held on and they go through to a semifinal against England in Lyon next Tuesday as they seek to retain their crown and win a fourth World Cup in eight editions.
“This is so special to beat the host nation in the Parc des Princes. You can’t ask for any more than this,” said Rapinoe.
The pink-haired Rapinoe has been crucial on the field in this run, while dominating headlines off it thanks to her spat with President Donald Trump over her refusal to attend any post-tournament reception at the White House.
The 33-year-old had already scored twice in the win over Spain in the last round. Here, she took her tally for the tournament to five goals on the occasion of her 157th cap.
Meanwhile, France will leave their own tournament with more than a few regrets.
Ellis praised the hosts, saying: “That’s a fantastic team we played tonight, and that is the most intense match I have ever been a part of.”
Nevertheless, that will be scant consolation for them. They were the only team to defeat the USA in the two years leading up to the World Cup and they did not really do themselves justice here before an expectant crowd.
Coach Corinne Diacre had been set the target of going all the way to the final on home soil, yet that always looked a tall order from the moment the draw was made last December and they were set on a quarter-final collision course with the best team in the world.
“It’s a failure in a footballing sense, we can’t hide from that. We are far from fulfilling our objective,” said Diacre.
“I hope we at least won people’s hearts tonight and since the start of the tournament.”
Only once before had they even made it to the semifinals, and for the second World Cup running their adventure ends in the last eight, the same stage at which they went out of the 2016 Olympics and the last three European Championships.
Having started this tournament with a first-half blitz against South Korea in the opening game, Les Bleues never really reached the same heights again.
The country’s leading sports daily L’Equipe had called this “the challenge of a lifetime,” and in that context conceding the opening goal so early on a sweltering Parisian evening was a disaster.
Alex Morgan was fouled by Griedge Mbock outside the area to the USA left, and Rapinoe’s low delivery went in without taking a touch, passing through the legs of France skipper Amandine Henry en route.
The home side then had lots of the ball but rarely really troubled USA goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.
Their opponents had not created much either, although they made their intent clear right at the start of the second half as a Samantha Mewis strike drew a fine save from Sarah Bouhaddi, who then did well to keep out Heath’s follow-up.
The second goal arrived in the 65th minute, with Morgan and Heath combining down the right before the latter’s ball across goal was turned in by Rapinoe.
France did not give up and set up a frenzied finale as they reduced the deficit nine minutes from time, Renard evading her marker to head in Gaetane Thiney’s flighted free-kick for her fourth goal of the tournament. But the USA saw out the victory.
Rapinoe knocks out hosts and fires USA into World Cup semifinals
Rapinoe knocks out hosts and fires USA into World Cup semifinals
- The Americans will travel to Lyon to face England
- Wendie Renard’s thumping 81st-minute header gave home fans at the Parc des Princes hope
Draw completed for WTA’s 2026 Dubai Tennis Championships
- World No. 3 Elena Rybakina placed in same half of draw as Coco Gauff, Elina Svitolina and British No. 1 Emma Raducanu
- Field includes 16 of world’s top 20 female players, 6 Grand Slam winners
DUBAI: The draw for the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships’ WTA 1000 tournament took place on Saturday, determining the pathway to the final for the tournament’s star-filled field.
This year’s line-up features 16 of the world’s top 20, including Australian Open winner Elena Rybakina, World No.5 Coco Gauff, and last year’s history-making Dubai champion Mirra Andreeva.
Taking place at a renovated Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, the 26th edition of the city’s women’s showpiece will run from Feb. 15-24 and boasts six Grand Slam singles winners sharing a collective nine titles between them.
While the top eight seeds all received first-round byes, top seed and World No. 3 Rybakina — triumphant in Melbourne just a few weeks ago — is on course for a second-round meeting with German Tatjana Maria. On the other half of the draw, No. 2 seed Amanda Anisimova could face two-time Grand Slam winner Barbora Krejcikova — a winner here in 2023 — in the round of 32, should the latter safely negotiate her first-round tie with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Rybakina’s half of the draw also features the likes of 2023 US Open champion Gauff (No. 3 seed), World No. 9 Elina Svitolina (No. 7 seed), 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko (No. 10 seed), British No. 1 Emma Raducanu and rising star Alexandra Eala of the Philippines – who will face Lucky Loser Hailey Baptiste of the US to progress to a second-round tie with 2024 Dubai winner Jasmine Paolini.
Eala, who attended the draw and is sure to attract huge Filipino support when she starts her campaign on Sunday at 7 p.m. (UAE) on Centre Court, said: “The atmosphere changes a lot when there’s so many excited people. It means a lot for me, because it makes me feel like I’m home when I’m traveling for so many weeks of the year. And I think that feeling is reciprocated for a lot of the overseas Filipino workers. I know there’s a huge population of them here in the Middle East, so it means a lot for people to see themselves in other people. That’s what makes it special here.”
The Kabayan community will also have the chance to watch Leylah Fernandez, the Canadian of Filipino descent, on Centre Court when she meets No. 13 seed Liudmila Samsonova earlier in the afternoon.
On the opposite side of the draw, as well as the WTA’s youngest 1000 winner Andreeva and World No. 6 Jessica Pegula, Greek star Maria Sakkari will follow up her semifinal appearance in Doha last week with an opening round match against No. 16 seed Iva Jovic. This year’s Dubai tournament marks Jovic’s first appearance in the Middle East, and she is already impressed by what she has seen — which includes plenty of the emirate, having taken in the panoramic city views afforded from atop the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa.
“I didn’t get to see a tonne of (Maria) play in Doha, so I’m going to talk to my coach and we’ll do some scouting,” said the 18-year-old American. “It’s never easy playing someone who is going into the week with a lot of confidence and she’s definitely in the match zone, but I’m going to do everything I can. I think I’ve prepared very well. I’ve worked hard for the last couple of weeks going into the start of the year. It’ll be tricky, but that’s what we love.
“The start of WTA week is always exciting for us because it gives us an opportunity to showcase some of the improvements that we have done in the past year,” said Ramesh Cidambi, managing director, Dubai Duty Free and chair of the Tournament Organizing Committee.
He also confirmed a new Court One with a 2,000-seat capacity, as well as an expanded Tennis Village. “This is phase one of the upgrade we are doing to the site and as soon as this tournament is over, we will start working on the expansion of the Centre Court to add another 2,500 seats and have a 7,500-capacity Centre Court.”
The 26th edition of the annual WTA event, which takes place from Feb. 15-21, features 16 of the top 20 ranked female players in the world and 33 of the top 40. It will be followed by the emirate’s annual ATP 500 men’s tournament from Feb. 23-28.
