The U.S. Women鈥檚 National Team advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2019 Women鈥檚 World Cup with a controversial 2-1 win over Spain that required two penalty kick goals to see the Americans through.
In what was a physical, chippy game throughout, the U.S. didn’t score a single goal in the run of play but were rewarded with penalties twice, the second despite a VAR review on a light touch of Rose Lavelle in the box.
Megan Rapinoe took and made both penalty kicks, the game-winner coming in the 76th minute.
Rapinoe slotted home a penalty kick in the seventh minute after a foul in the box against Tobin Heath to open the scoring.
But Spain leveled the score quickly after a bad play out of the back, with Jennifer Hermoso beating Alyssa Naeher just two minutes later. The game went to halftime tied 1-1.
Spain鈥檚 goal ended the U.S. women’s team shutout streak at 647 minutes and was the first goal scored against them this World Cup.
With the win, the U.S. advances to play host nation France in the quarterfinals on Friday in Paris.
