Amandine Henry scored one for the highlight reel on Wednesday. (MEG LINEHAN/Equalizer Soccer)
France crushed Germany 3-0 to open play on the final match day of the SheBelieves Cup on Wednesday in Orlando. Amandine Henry, Eugenie Le Sommer, and Valerie Gauvin scored the goals. France finish the tournament on 4 points (1-1-1) and after opening by conceding four straight goals to England, finish even on goal difference. With the U.S. defeating England, 1-0, in the final game of the tournament, France finished in third place. Germany (0-2-1, 1 point) failed to win a match and finished last of four.
The only downside for France was an injury to Aissatou Tounkara late in the first half. Tounkara’s plant leg was taken out on a challenge by Dzenifer Marozsan and was down for several minutes before being taken off the pitch on a stretcher. Early indications are that Tounkara’s left leg had broken. Because of the time it took to get her off the field the opening half saw a full dozen minutes of stoppage time.
When the first half finally did end France were ahead 1-0. The play began when German keeper Almuth Schult came wide of her 18-yard box to play the ball with her feet and Germany made a mess of the clearance. France took over the Gaetane Thiney fed Le Sommer who deftly laid the ball back to Henry. The former Portland Thorns midfielder did all the work from there, hammering a 20-yard rocket past Schult to give France the edge.
Late entry for goal of the tournament comes from @amandinehenry6, a familiar face to @NWSL fans! ? pic.twitter.com/S7ZP8akJk6
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) March 7, 2018
Germany saw Alexandra Popp miss the frame on two golden opportunities and Marozsan nearly catch French keeper Sarah Bouhaddi off her line on a long-distance chip attempt. And the reigning Olympic old medalists began the second half on the front foot. They just missed a golden opportunity to level early in the half but Marion Torrent calmly made her way across the six to slide tackle the ball to safety.
Soon after that, a France throw-in went to Thiney who managed to get off a cross in exceptionally tight quarters. The German defense failed to stay with Le Sommer who had a free header on what was a remarkable cross and it was 2-0.
In the 68th minute, Thiney sent a long ball down the right side where Le Sommer had a mile of space to run onto it. She crossed it for Gauvin who made the finish for the decisive 3-0 score line.
The only highlight for Germany was the late entrance of Lena Goesling who won her 100th cap for Germany.
