USWNT, Australia 0-0 draw; USA and Netherlands in the quarterfinals

The U.S. women’s national football team ended the group stage of the Olympics on Tuesday with a 0-0 draw against Australia in Kashima.

As a result the Americans finished second in Group G and qualified for the quarterfinals. The Dutch national team will play in Yokohama on Friday for a review of the 2019 World Cup final, where the men’s 2002 World Cup final took place.

The Orange team beat China 8-2 to close the group stage. Star striker Vivian Midema recovered from a thigh injury and scored two goals in the final 28 minutes. He now has eight goals in the competition, an Olympic record.

There is no such entertainment in the American game. He only targeted seven combined shots, and the Americans had three. He was generally 10-8, well-placed and possessed, surprisingly without any defense, which was the mainstay of Vladko Antonovsky’s executive position.

When Group G captain Sweden took a 2-0 lead over New Zealand in a match played at the same time, Antonovsky and his players realized they needed a draw to finish second. They did it because it was ugly.

“We came up with the mindset that the first goal is to win the game and the second goal is to perform better professionally.” Antonovsky to reporters At his press conference after the game. “We didn’t do it first, but we did it a second time, which is very important because it eventually put us in the same place.”

Of course, fans who wake up at 4am or late will not be satisfied with a draw on ET – especially without a goal. They shouldn’t be either. Despite the Americans scoring 6-1 against New Zealand, the football firefighters were the worst team in the group. In two U.S. games against quality rivals, they did not score.

Read more: US women’s soccer team defeats New Zealand 6-1 to win first Tokyo Olympics

In this match, Alex Morgan had the best chance to score for both teams in the first half, scoring offside in the 31st minute when Kelly O’Hara went for a corner kick on a cross. Initial restarts showed that Morgan was on par with Australia’s last defender, but the computer telemetry at the video replay booth showed that Morgan was worse off by the shoulder – and may be less.

When it came time for substitutes, all eyes were on American striker Lynn Williams, who missed the team’s first two games, due in part to a minor injury. His defensive speed is ready to exploit an Australian backline. Kristen Press and Megan Robino usually fail to do that.

Matters were summed up with an American play in the 58th minute in which six American players were initially offside, but the assistant referee ended the series before raising his flag. However, wide opener Kelly O’Hara missed a pass recovered by Morgan, but pushed the ball towards the crossbar.

Television cameras filmed the American bank as Antonovsky had his hands on his head.

He finally replaced in the 65th minute, sending in Lindsay Horan to replace Sam Maves – who was extraordinarily bad for the match – and Tobin Heath to replace Robinho. Williams and Carly Lloyd came in 74th to replace Bryce and Morgan.

Antonovsky pointed out that while Christy Maves was in 87th place to replace Rosty Lovell, the Standings shares were already known on the field.

“It was a great test for us today to see how well the players could execute the game plan.” he said. “So whatever we think, we have to do it [next] A game, we give it to them and then let them do their job. ”

However, the risks of showing that the United States has stepped up its game have not been met.

Read more: How to watch the finals of the men’s Olympic football team stage

All four games will take place on Friday. TV channels not yet confirmed. All games are available online NBCOlympics.com.

4 hours: Canada. Against Brazil in Rifu

5 hours: Great Britain vs Australia match in Kashima

6 hours: Japan vs Japan in Saitama

07:00: U.S. vs. Netherlands in Yokohama