U.S. vs. France is the heavyweight battle the world has been waiting for.
The top-ranked American squad will face off against the host country Friday in an epic quarterfinal showdown in Paris (3 p.m. ET, FOX). The winner will be the overwhelming favorite to hoist the World Cup trophy in Lyon on July 7. The loser will be lamenting the quirk of the random World Cup draw.
Both teams cruised through the group stage without facing adversity. That changed for both teams in the first knockout game. France needed an extra-time goal to escape a massive upset bid from Brazil, while the U.S. secured the quarterfinal spot thanks to an ugly, physical win over upstart Spain that included a fortunate penalty call that led to Megan Rapinoe’s winning goal.
The Daily News caught up with U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Kristine Lilly earlier this week in Midtown Manhattan to help us preview Friday’s game.
Lilly already has one of the most impressive resumes in soccer history. But the former U.S. national team star — with an astonishing 352 caps over 23 years — has recently added another accomplishment to her career achievements: published author.
Lilly, a midfielder on the famed 1999 World Cup winning U.S. squad, co-wrote “POWERHOUSE: 13 Teamwork Tactics that Build Excellence and Unrivaled Success" based on the blueprint of the mighty U.S. women’s national team with Dr. John Gillis Jr.
In addition to breaking down U.S. vs. France, Lilly talked to the News about the growth of the women’s game around the globe, video assisted replay (VAR) and why there is still a battle to be fought for gender equality in the sport.
(Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity)
Daily News: What are your overall thoughts on how the U.S. has played so far?
Kristine Lilly: Well, I still think they haven’t played their best game yet, so I think that’s sometimes a good thing. ... But I think the Spain game was a great game for them to have prior to going into the next round just because Spain was organized and they needed a little bit of a test. The first two games — Thailand and Chile were new to the World Cup, new teams to the big stage — and then Sweden didn’t have the best game against the U.S.
Spain offered them a challenge and I think it [showed what teams will attempt to do against the U.S.], more organized, more compact and then looking to counter.
DN: This sets up the game everybody has been talking about — U.S. vs. France. What does the U.S. have to do in order to win?
KL: They have to possess the ball a bit better. They’ve got to move it not only across the field, but connecting the lines a bit more ... and then finishing chances. We did it against Thailand, now they’ve got to find the back of the net in these environments. And the thing is, the difference in these stages of the [tournament] is those chances. Not many chances are going to occur, so you have to finish those ones you do get.
DN: From the French perspective, what do they have to do to be successful on Friday?
KL: They have to use their crowd to make them feel better, not more nervous. Because I think it can tend to do both things. But I think they’ve been playing well, and I think each game for them has been getting better. Kind of the same thing, they have to finish their chances.
I think the U.S. forwards might pose a little more of a threat to their backline ... they’re a little quicker. [Megan] Rapinoe is crafty, Alex [Morgan] can get behind the lines and Tobin [Heath] is just creative and technical so I think they’ll cause [problems] for their backs.
DN: You’ve had the pressure of playing in a World Cup on home soil, so you have an idea of what the French players are experiencing.
KL: I think as players we don’t bring it upon ourselves, I think it’s from the outside world. I think for us in that World Cup (""99) we were more so just wanting people to come to the games (laughing) and show that women’s soccer is wonderful to watch and support. And I think once we got to the knockout stages and then to the final game, we were ‘All right, now we’ve got to win ... now we’ve got to win.’
I think we used the crowd [a sold-out Rose Bowl] to our advantage. I think we enjoyed it, we were celebrating with the crowd — not just our wins but just the support we had — so I think you can use the crowd to your advantage and use it as support instead of as pressure.
DN: Can you draw any parallels between the ’99 team and this current squad?
KL: Their forward line is pretty good. We had a great forward line as well. That’s been the U.S.""s strength [over the years]. Our attacking style and the creative players who can find the back of the net. And they seem to be having fun. We enjoyed our time in ’99 and came together as a team and it seems like that’s what they’re doing as well.
DN: How about a prediction for Friday’s game?
KL: Ahh, s--t. I don’t know. I have no idea, maybe 2-1 U.S. ... I think it’s going to be good. I mean, needless to say, it’s going to be entertaining. But I think these are two teams that are playing well. France beat us already (3-1 in a January friendly in Le Havre) so the U.S. has that in the back [of their minds].
DN: Any sense of disappointment that this game is being played so early in the tournament?
KL: In ’99 we played Germany in the quarters. You’ve got to play the best to be the best.
DN: VAR ... the three ugly letters of this tournament. What are your thoughts on how it was introduced and how it has been utilized?
KL: I’m glad that (FIFA) choose to use it. How it’s being used I’m not sure I understand completely. I think that goes for all of us. I think it’s disturbing the game too much. ... Sometimes when I think it should be used, it’s not being used. I think they are doing a bit more of a test run on it this World Cup which I’m a little bit disappointed at. With the men [2018 World Cup in Russia] it was never really an issue, so why is there such drastic change?
DN: As a former player is this something you would have been concerned about as we are seeing these major five-plus minute delays for reviews?
KL: It definitely affects the flow of the play. ... There has been a lot of research — there’s a lot of goals scored in the first five minutes, the last five minutes, injury time when there is a little lull. (With VAR) there is a lot of those moments because for a second you sit back and take a breath and then you’ve got to refocus. So I think there is too much of that and then it’s interrupting the play of the game.
DN: What does the success of so many of these European teams mean for the growth of women’s soccer? (The 7 quarterfinalists other than the U.S. are all European.)
KL: I think it is helping grow the game for everybody. I mean you start to realize when you do put in investment in a team what can change. You can see that from Italy, you can see that from Spain, you can see that from England. And then you see new countries, Chile, Scotland and Thailand. More support and they’re going to be better. Whether it’s being paid, better training, better coaches, better marketing, better attention, just respect. And that changes the mentality for everything.
DN: And does this show the U.S. needs to increase support to stay ahead?
KL: We just want to get to a stage where it’s not a battle anymore. You’re flying the men this way, why don’t you ... This is silly to me now, some of these conversations, so hopefully we can get past that stage.
DN: The amount of fighting your generation had to do, how frustrating is it that these same battles are still being fought?
KL: It is. This whole conversation is just tiring. It’s draining. It’s tiring because it’s the same conversation, it’s not anything different. Granted now it’s increasing the amount of dollars, or more balancing of where you’re spending the dollars, but I think the federation needs to start taking some initiatives. ... I think being more forthcoming would be a better way to look at it.
DN: What has changed the most about women’s soccer since the start of your career?
KL: I think just the knowledge of it. We used to tell people what team we were on and that there was a U.S. women’s national team. Now everyone knows about it. So that’s one of the biggest things. I think the attention — social media has created it, the media has done a better job of putting the women’s game out there more. So all of those elements. And then the levels are getting better. The education in the youth (levels) is getting better, coaching seems to be getting better at a younger age.
DN: When a young player comes up to you looking for advice, what do you tell them?
KL: My first thing I tell them is work hard and have fun. Two elements that I think we need. We are not reinventing soccer, but if you want to be successful you have to put the work in. You can hire the coaches, private trainer, strength person and all of that but you still have to do the work. And I think a lot of times all these players are given so much that I think they forget how hard they really have to work. If you want to get to the next level there is always another level you can push yourself at. But in the big scheme is these younger kids, they have to have fun in whatever they’re doing.
DN: Why did you decide to write “POWERHOUSE"?
KL: I met the co-author John and his wife Lynette when I was living in Austin, Texas for a few years and we were coaching — our daughters were in kindergarten together — and we ended up coaching their soccer team. We would talk about the success of the U.S. team and he’s in the business world and he was like there are so many elements of sport that need to be drawn to this business world. Everybody is always worried about individual [achievement], getting up the ladder and we never focus on the team concept and he was like, your stories and what you guys did through that period of time is pretty amazing. I speak about it so much and everyone always wants to hear about my career and whenever I’m talking about it I’m talking about the team. It always goes back to the team. It’s never "" Oh, I did this, it’s we did this."" This book is so great because it shares the stories that helped our team be successful, and people can take to their organizations, groups or teams to help them be more successful.