USWNT 5 standouts from 2-1 win over France

PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 28: Alex Morgan of the USA celebrates following victory in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup France Quarter Final match between France and USA at Parc des Princes on June 28, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Matthew Lewis - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images) /

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The USWNT faced their toughest test yet in the 2019 Women’s World Cup and passed with flying colors, defeating France 2-1.

Megan Rapinoe supplied both of the USWNT’s two goals for a second straight 2-1 win in the knockout stages of the 2019 Women’s World Cup, but she was far from the only standout performer in a tidy display from a team regarded as the world’s best.

After defeating France in a highly-anticipated quarterfinals matchup, the USWNT will have to face an equally difficult opponent in England, who are fresh off of a dazzling 3-0 win over Norway.

Until then, it’s time to take a look at five players who stood out in the United States’ impressive victory over the host nation.

ST Alex Morgan

Hobbled and facing a physical back four, Alex Morgan failed to make much of an impact against Spain in the Round of 16. However, Morgan was a decisive factor in the USWNT’s win over France, despite still being less than 100-percent while also facing difficult weather conditions and two more elite center backs.

Morgan didn’t score any goals, but the Golden Boot candidate’s game goes beyond goals at this stage of her career. Always a tactically brilliant player, Morgan has now become an expert in hold-up play, and she helped spring Tobin Heath for the assist on the counterattack that gave the USWNT a game-deciding 2-0 lead. Technically, the USWNT had a third, but the referee’s unfairly called off Crystal Dunn for offsides in a move that Morgan set up in eerily similar fashion.

All of that is impressive, but Morgan also deserves plenty of praise for the determination she showed at the end of the game. Showing that she’s one of many great leaders on this team, the woman wearing the captain’s armband helped stave the game off with her strength and dribbling in the game’s final stages, holding off fatigue to shave valuable seconds off the clock. France were hungry for that last counterattack, but Morgan made sure it wouldn’t happen.

Morgan’s impact on games go beyond “goals scored”, and hopefully more fans start to notice all the little things in her game as a hard-working striker.