Bale salvages draw for Wales against U.S. in World Cup
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 15 (UPI) — The first World Cup knockout competition the U.S. had ever played in was over, and it was played by the same man who had taken them to the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
That was the case for Michael Bradley — and he was playing in his first World Cup final since 2010.
Bradley scored the only goal of the game, an extra-time winner to edge out the United States for a 1-0 victory over France on Sunday in the quarterfinals of this year’s FIFA World Cup, in the United States when the teams played the first game as the FIFA Under-17 World Cup hosts.
“It was a big day for me but also a big match for England, but the big thing for me for England is now I can put these boys in the (semi-)finals at the (U-17) World Cup,” Bradley said. “They want me to be the hero and, with a little bit of luck, I can. This way, we can put ourselves in the semi-finals at the (U-17) World Cup; hopefully, it’s going to happen for us.”
This was Bradley’s first match at a World Cup final since he scored a goal as the U.S. won the 2010 World Cup over Mexico.
The U.S. was going against the European champion of the previous four World Cup tournaments, France. The Americans had not been in a World Cup final since beating the Netherlands on penalty kicks in 1974.
The U.S. had not played in a World Cup final since a second-round win against Ghana in 2002, when Bradley had played for the United States.
The U.S. had earlier beaten France and Belgium in the group stage and was in second place.
The U.S. was on the road to the next round after an easy victory against Belgium in the first round of group play. France was third in group play with a 2-1 victory over Uruguay.
United States went to second round