Tag: Christiane Endler

Chelsea fends off Lyon as UWCL quarterfinal goes into Twilight Zone

The UWCL drama levels, and the strangeness, were extremely high

Chelsea and Lyon played out a UEFA Women’s Champions League classic on Thursday, with the finish containing equal parts weirdness and drama

The Blues emerged victorious on penalties despite losing 2-1 on the night, with Maren Mjelde’s spot kick in the eighth minute of stoppage time leveling the aggregate scoreline at 2-2 with the game’s final touch.

Ann-Katrin Berger then emerged as the hero, saving two spot kicks to end Lyon’s reign as the champions of Europe.

Chelsea won the first leg 1-0 in France, setting up an extremely tense second leg. Both teams pursued the opening goal, and between that exuberance, typically rainy London conditions, and desperation from both teams to win, a true battle played out at Stamford Bridge.

Berger stopped an early Delphine Cascarino chance (with Lindsey Horan inches away from poking the rebound home), only for Christiane Endler to respond by denying a Sam Kerr one-on-one later in the first half.

The tension kept going up, and the game got progressively more strange. Melanie Leupolz had to leave the match a bloody mess after she was struck in the face by Danielle van de Donk’s trailing hand. A short-handed Chelsea would end up withdrawing their entire central midfield for a range of reasons, while a typically stacked Lyon was able to turn to the likes of Ada Hegerberg and Dzsenifer Marozsán off the bench.

Finally a goal came, and for Lyon it was symbolic of how scrappy they had to be to gain an edge over Chelsea on the night. A recycled set piece was chested down by Wendie Renard to Horan, who had just enough speed to round Jess Charles and hit a blind cross along the endline.

Vanessa Gilles had stayed forward, and did just barely enough to reach a foot out before Magdalena Eriksson could arrive, somehow prodding the ball towards goal, off Berger’s upper arm, and (by mere inches) over the line.

Through sheer willpower, Lyon appeared to have gained an edge as Chelsea’s energy levels flagged. Extra time largely saw the visitors look more potent, and if anything a goal for the defending champions felt inevitable.

In the 110th minute, the pressure finally told. Vicki Bècho’s clever flick gave Lyon width, and Hegerberg’s cross from the right floated just out of Eriksson’s reach. With the rest of the Chelsea defense too stagnant, Sara Däbritz’s bobbling finish — while far from convincing — was just enough to get past Berger.

Chelsea began the predictable “last chance saloon” approach, hoofing it long and hoping for the best. Lyon, with a team stocked with strong headers and seeming to have more energy, looked solid.

However, with essentially the last play of the match, the French giants couldn’t quite clear Berger’s free kick from midfield. Wendie Renard won the first header, but could only glance the ball away from the goalmouth. Kerr tried a cross, but Bècho beat multiple Chelsea players to the ball.

Chelsea’s Lauren James saw that header fall to her, and for a split-second, the option to shoot was open. James took another touch though, then tried to get to the endline. Bècho followed, and James hit the deck.

Initially, referee Ivana Martinčić had no interest in giving a penalty, but a two-minute VAR check (all coming after the two minutes of stoppage time that had initially been announced) centered on whether Bècho had clipped James, or if James had clipped her own feet.

At long last, Martinčić gave the penalty, but even that wasn’t enough drama for this match. It took over a minute from that point for Mjelde to have the ball on the spot, but there were still two more minutes to wait. The reason? Martinčić wanted every player from both teams, other than Mjelde and Endler, to clear out of the area. It seemed like this was a literal last kick.

More than three minutes after knowing she’d have to take a stoppage-time penalty in a UWCL quarterfinal against mighty Lyon, and with manager Emma Hayes literally unable to look, Mjelde held her nerve, powering the equalizer past one of the world’s best goalkeepers.

Chelsea shot first in the tiebreaker, and Mjelde — just four minutes in real time from when she’d beaten Endler the first time — was among the successful shots from both teams. However, Berger flew to her left to deny Renard in the third round, giving Chelsea the edge.

It lasted just moments. On the very next shot, Endler dove to her right to slap James’ penalty away, and Däbritz would bring Lyon back to even terms heading into the final round.

Jess Carter made no mistake for Chelsea, but with the game on the line, Berger read Horan’s intentions all the way, tipping the U.S. women’s national team star’s effort away.

Chelsea, despite looking like they’d run out of gas before crossing the finish line, were somehow through.

Having come through extraordinary drama, Chelsea joins Barcelona, Arsenal, and Wolfsburg — who knocked out France’s other big power, Paris Saint-Germain, earlier on Thursday — in the semifinal draw.

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Dumornay stars as Haiti qualify for their first-ever women’s World Cup

The world gets to meet Melchie Dumornay this summer

Haiti has shocked the world, qualifying for their first-ever women’s World Cup.

Les Grenadières got two goals from the outstanding Melchie Dumornay and then hung on for dear life to upset Chile at the Women’s World Cup Play-off Tournament on Tuesday, securing a spot in this summer’s tournament.

This wasn’t in the script at the start of World Cup qualifying. Haiti was considered a longshot to have this opportunity after being drawn into a CONCACAF W Championship group with the U.S. women’s national team, Mexico, and Jamaica.

A stunning 3-0 win over Mexico in that group was enough to send them to this playoff, and after a 4-0 rout of Senegal on Saturday, they faced a vastly experienced Chilean side that had qualified for France 2019.

An even first half saw Chile trying to hoard possession in the hopes to break down Haiti, who in turn seemed poised to break out on the counter at any time.

A game played this evenly will often be settled by a big-time player, and the ace up Haiti’s sleeve answered the call. Dumornay, the 19-year-old who will join the list of global superstars at Lyon in a summer transfer, gave Haiti the lead in first-half stoppage time.

It started simply, as Dumornay won the ball from Karen Araya at midfield, then burst away from Yessenia Lopez. After playing a long-range one-two with Roselord Borgella, and with no Chilean defender slowing her charge to goal, Dumornay was on the ball inside the box.

Despite a hefty shoulder check from Carla Guerrero that sent Dumornay tumbling sideways, the young attacker somehow placed the ball into the upper corner, beating Christiane Endler with a wonder goal.

Chile, stunned, nearly gave up a second before the break, with Borgella letting them off the hook with a miss. Borgella then nearly got herself a second assist, chipping the ball to  an open Nérilia Mondésir early in the second half, but the Haiti captain couldn’t shape herself to shoot, and the chance evaporated.

Haiti’s momentum took a hit midway through the second half, with Sherly Jeudy stretchered off with a potentially serious-looking knee injury. However, it took some time for Chile to get into a more dangerous tempo. In truth, Haiti goalkeeper Kerly Theus had little to do until an 80th minute save to deny the overlapping Daniela Zamora.

With Chile growing frustrated over what they felt were stalling tactics, Haiti actually offered the bigger late threats. Borgella hit the post, while a Dumornay cross zipped through the goalmouth untouched as Mondésir — while behind pulled back by Isadora Olave — couldn’t reach the service.

That fistful of jersey in Olave’s hand saw referee Salima Mukansanga point to the spot after a VAR check, but Endler kept Chile alive, diving right to save Mondésir’s tame 89th minute spot kick.

That sparked a real urgency in Chile and a loud contingent of Chilean fans at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium. Cote Rojas nearly gave them the moment they craved, catching Theus off-guard with a header that bounced just barely wide early in a given 11 minutes of stoppage time.

Lopez went even closer two minutes later, uncorking an absolute rocket from nearly 30 yards that Theus just barely tipped onto the crossbar. Chile had three attackers lurking, but the power of the shot sent the rebound beyond any of their runners’ reach, and Haiti escaped.

That proved crucial, as Dumornay made it a brace deep into stoppage time. Late substitute Roseline Eloissant helped them create a break from midfield, and Mondésir did brilliant work to lure several Chilean defenders to her before fooling them all with a pass out to the left, where Dumornay had time and space to slot a second past Endler.

It seemed like icing on the cake, but Chile had other ideas. A hopeful cross from the left should have been easy work, but a miscommunication between Theus and Haiti’s defense saw the goalkeeper miss her late attempt to punch. Suddenly facing an open goal, Rojas maintained her cool to fire home a lifeline in the 11th minute of stoppage time.

That set up a potential grandstand finish, with Endler spending a solid 90 seconds inside the Haiti box for corners and set pieces, but Haiti did just enough to secure their first-ever women’s World Cup berth, and their first in either senior-level World Cup since 1974.

They’ll join England, Denmark, and China in a difficult Group D, but as much as they’ll be considered the outsiders for qualification, their opponents will not exactly be comfortable seeing the problems Dumornay, Borgella, and Mondésir pose going forward.

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Catarina Macario, Alex Morgan, Trinity Rodman represent USWNT on 2022 Ballon d’Or shortlist

Three USWNT players made France Football’s list of Ballon d’Or nominees

The 2022 Ballon d’Or nominees are out, and with three USWNT players making France Football’s 20-player shortlist.

Catarina Macario, Alex Morgan, and Trinity Rodman were all nominated for the award, which was inaugurated in 2018 after existing for over 60 years on the men’s side. The Ballon d’Or focuses on the 2021-22 season, rather than a calendar year body of work.

The USWNT has been somewhat curiously overlooked by the Ballon d’Or, with only the 2019 World Cup-winning team really registering with voters. That year, Megan Rapinoe won the Ballon d’Or, with Alex Morgan coming in third, but in 2018 and 2021 (there was no 2020 award due to the Covid-19 pandemic), no USWNT players or NWSL-based players made the top three.

Macario may be injured at the moment, but she emerged as a locked-in starter essentially from the moment she arrived at Lyon. She capped off a spectacular season in France by scoring in the Champions League final as Lyon defeated a Barcelona side that had lost just once all year coming into the match.

Morgan’s return from giving birth has included a change of club, but she’s also had arguably the best club season of her entire career with the San Diego Wave. Morgan has 15 goals in 18 competitive games for San Diego this season, and then won the Golden Ball at the CONCACAF W Championship after helping the USWNT qualify for both the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Olympics.

Rodman was one of the stories of the 2021 NWSL season, winning the Rookie of the Year award and being a crucial factor for the Washington Spirit’s run to their first-ever league championship. Since the start of August 2021, Rodman has posted 12 goals and 8 assists, including an equalizer in last year’s semifinal and the assist on the Kelley O’Hara goal that gave the Spirit their first trophy.

The USWNT trio are joined on the list by a familiar group of players who all happen to call Europe’s biggest clubs their home. Macario is one of five Lyon players nominated, while Barcelona matched that total, meaning that two clubs employ half of the list of nominees.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, and Wolfsburg had two players on the shortlist each, with the entirety of the NWSL being represented by Morgan and Rodman.

The full list of 2022 Women’s Ballon d’Or nominees

  • Selma Bacha (Lyon)
  • Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona)
  • Millie Bright (Chelsea)
  • Lucy Bronze (Barcelona)
  • Kadidiatou Diani (Paris Saint-Germain)
  • Christiane Endler (Lyon)
  • Ada Hegerberg (Lyon)
  • Marie-Antoinette Katoto (Paris Saint-Germain)
  • Sam Kerr (Chelsea)
  • Catarina Macario (Lyon)
  • Beth Mead (Arsenal)
  • Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal)\
  • Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC)
  • Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg)
  • Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona)
  • Alexandra Popp (Wolfsburg)
  • Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
  • Wendie Renard (Lyon)
  • Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit)
  • Fridolina Rolfö (Barcelona)

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