USWNT have not been convincing at Tokyo 2020 thus far at least buy they still scrapped through to the semis. Alyssa Naeher showed up for the shootout but she was under scrutiny again for the Dutch equalizer to make it 2-2. To be fair she even saved a late penalty at the back end of normal time. It cannot be easy being a fan of the US team with the stress they put you through but hey they all count. After all, Italy men's team won the Euros after going to extra time on 3 of their knockout matches. No Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan for this one but the former scored the decisive pen.

The most impressive players this tournament for me have been Dunn and Heath. Heath has the pace and dribbling skill , was unlucky to be flagged just offside early in the match. Miedenna was the Dutch's best player with both goals and all round play. She was given way too much time to turn and shoot for the first goal. Her second was more of more poor play by Naeher. The goalie sees the ball from a long way and had ample time to get behind the ball but failed to do so. The defending in this tournament of crosses had been generally poor as seen by first USA goalby Mewis. The quality of deliveries from crosses has been excellent, just watch the peach of a cross by Williams in assisting for the goal. It was Williams who got the second. I want you to check out the defending by the Dutch for the goal. There is a defender right on the line for the Why I ask? Doesn't that make the team a woman light in the box? Anyway well taken goal by Williams, couldn't have been easy with the ball bouncing before the strike.

Let's talk about penalties now. A common myth in soccer circles says that if you hit the ball down the middle, chances are you will get to score. I say that is a bunch of nonsense. It is down to good fortune and some science behind it. It starts with selection of shooters. You choose the best players with the least amount of misses in their previous seasons. You arrange that the most inexperienced player starts and progress through to your most experienced.Statistically chances Of missing a penalty progress as the penalty also progresses so you will want your most level headed shooter in the later stages of it. Mind the age of the shooters too. The youngest shooter and most likely to miss should come first.