FIFA WOMEN'S WORLD CUP SOCCER 2019
Fox Sports 1, 9:00 a.m. ET
Yesterday on the Fox broadcast network, the U.S. women’s soccer team faced the host nation, France, in a well-played quarterfinal game, one in which the American squad scored an early goal, built an eventual 2-0 lead (with both goals scored by Megan Rapinoe, pictured), and held on to win after France scored a goal late and tried furiously to even the score before time ran out in regulation play. The day before, in the first quarterfinal game of this year’s FIFA tournament, England had advanced by soundly beating Norway, so both England and the U.S. are through to next week’s semis, facing each other Tuesday in a rematch of the war for independence. Today, the other two squads to advance will be determined, by a pair of games played in doubleheader action – televised live this morning not by Fox, but by sister cable sports network FS1. (They’ve come a long way, baby, since John Madden, hired to offer commentary for the new network’s first foray into athletic coverage, joked that the newly christened Fox Sports, at that time, ought to more honestly be called “Fox Sport.”) At 9 a.m. ET, Italy faces the Netherlands – Italy being the Cinderella squad of this year’s games, making the quarters for the first time in 28 years, and the Netherlands, though a powerful team, trying to advance to the semis for the first time ever. Then, at noon ET, it’s Germany vs. Sweden. Sweden hasn’t beaten Germany in these games since defeating them in the 1995 World Cup, but both teams are very strong and confident this year.