USA vs. France, 2019 World Cup: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, and Match Thread

Welcome to your live thread for the United States Women’s National Team against host France in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup quarterfinals. The two teams will fight today for the right to advance to the semifinals against England. The USWNT’s World Cup title defense continues today in Paris (3 p.m., FOX, Telemundo).

The USWNT is 17-3-3 against France after kicking off the 2019 schedule with a 3-1 loss to the World Cup hosts in Le Havre. The Yanks were sloppy with the ball and lacked quality in the attacking third in that Jan. 19 meeting, which is to say they played very similarly to what we saw from them against Spain in the Round of 16. However, Megan Rapinoe, Tobin Heath, Kelley O’Hara and Julie Ertz were all missing due to illness. Kadidiatou Diani bagged a brace for the French in that match and Marie-Antoinette Katoto made it 3-0. Mallory Pugh’s goal prevented the shutout.

The United States hasn’t beaten France in three meetings, so the hosts will enter the match with confidence. Prior to the January match-up, the U.S. and France last met 15 months ago in a 1-1 draw in the 2018 SheBelieves Cup at Red Bull Arena last March 4. Prior to last year’s draw, the USWNT lost 3-0 to France in the 2017 SheBelieves Cup. The U.S. last tasted victory against France with a 1-0 win in the 2016 SheBelieves Cup on Alex Morgan’s stoppage-time goal in Nashville. 

France manager Corinne Diacre has an outstanding roster of world-class players, led by forwards Eugénie Le Sommer from Olympique Lyonnais and Gaёtane Thiney, midfielder Amandine Henry, and defender Wendie Renard. Her squad defeated Brazil in extra time to survive the Round of 16. Despite playing 30 more minutes than the U.S. in the last round, France has had an extra day of rest.

The U.S. must get Morgan, Rapinoe, and Heath going again. Part of that is making good decisions in the attack and finding the open forward rather than firing over the bar from distance. Morgan has six career goals against France, so giving her the ball seems like a good idea.

In my opinion, France is the team to beat in this tournament. Other teams are capable of winning it, but the hosts are one of the best teams in the world (currently ranked No. 4 by FIFA) and they’re on their home soil. France is also the only team the U.S. hasn’t gotten a result against in 2019, as the Yanks are 11-1-2 in 2019.

Rosters

USWNT (Caps/Goals)

Goalkeepers (3): 21-Adrianna Franch (Portland Thorns FC; 1/0), 18-Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride; 21/0), 1-Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars; 50/0).

DEFENDERS (7): 7-Abby Dahlkemper (North Carolina Courage; 44/0), 12-Tierna Davidson (Chicago Red Stars; 21/1), 19-Crystal Dunn (North Carolina Courage; 88/24), 11-Ali Krieger (Orlando Pride; 101/1), 5-Kelley O’Hara (Utah Royals FC; 121/2), 4-Becky Sauerbrunn (Utah Royals FC; 161/0), 14-Emily Sonnett (Portland Thorns FC; 34/0).

Midfielders (6): 6-Morgan Brian (Chicago Red Stars; 83/6), 8-Julie Ertz (Chicago Red Stars; 85/19), 9-Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC; 72/10), 16-Rose Lavelle (Washington Spirit; 30/9), 20-Allie Long (Reign FC; 46/6), 3-Samantha Mewis (North Carolina Courage; 53/14).

Forwards (7): 17-Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC; 153/30); 10-Carli Lloyd (Sky Blue FC; 278/113), 22-Jessica McDonald (North Carolina Courage; 8/2), 13-Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride; 166/106), 23-Christen Press (Utah Royals FC; 120/48), 2-Mallory Pugh (Washington Spirit; 56/17), 15-Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC; 156/47).

France

Goalkeepers (3): 1-Solene Durand (EA Guingamp), 16-Sarah Bouhaddi (Olympique Lyon), 21-Pauline Peyraud-Magnin (Arsenal, ENG).

Defenders (8): 2-Eve Perisset (Paris Saint-Germain), 3-Wendie Renard (Olympique Lyon), 4-Marion Torrent (Montpellier HSC), 5-Aissatou Tounkara (Atlético Madrid, ESP), 7-Sakina Karchaoui (Montpellier HSC), 10-Amel Majri (Olympique Lyon), 19-Griedge Mbock Bathy (Olympique Lyon), 22-Julie Debever (EA Guingamp).

Midfielders (6):”> 6-Amandine Henry (Olympique Lyon), 8-Grace Geyoro (Paris Saint-Germain FC), 14-Charlotte Bilbault (Paris FCF), 15-Elise Bussaglia (Dijon FCO), 17-Gaetane Thiney (Paris FCF), 23-Maeva Clémaron (FC Fleury 91).

Forwards (6): 9-Eugenie Le Sommer (Olympique Lyon), 11-Kadidiatou Diani (Paris Saint-Germain), 12-Emelyne Laurent (EA Guingamp), 13-Valerie Gauvin (Montpellier HSC), 18-Viviane Asseyi (Girondins Bordeaux), 20-Delphine Cascarino (Olympique Lyon).

How to Watch

Match Time: 3 p.m. (ET).

Venue: Parc des Princes — Paris, France.

TV: FOX Sports 1, Telemundo.

Streaming: FOX Sports GO, fuboTV, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo, NBC Sports Live Extra app.

Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow @StarsStripesFC, @ussoccer_wnt, and @TheManeLand.

Match Thread Rules

This is your live thread for posting comments on the match. So use our comments section below to talk about the game in real time with other supporters. If you’re new, welcome to our happy home! While you’re here, please observe a few basic rules:

• Absolutely no links to illegal streams. They can get us in trouble, and no one wants that.
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• Keep it somewhat clean and fair when criticizing players / officials. You never know who might be reading.
• Do unto others in the match thread, the way you would have others do unto you. We are a fun community and want to keep it this way. We have a moderator, but we’d rather let him enjoy the game instead of having to play babysitter.

Enjoy the match. Go America!