PARIS _ When the final whistle sounded on an exhilarating and exhausting 2-1 win over France in the Women's World Cup quarterfinals, 11 of the 12 players on the United States bench raced onto the field Friday to celebrate with teammates.
Megan Rapinoe didn't move.
"I was very tired," she explained. "I was very stressed."
With reason. Rapinoe has spent the last two days in the Twitter crosshairs of President Donald Trump over a 6-month-old videotape, released last week, in which she said she wouldn't go to the White House if invited after the World Cup.
Never mind that some teammates said the same thing. The rest of the team closed ranks behind her. The result was a two-goal night from Rapinoe and a gutty, gritty effort by the rest of a U.S. team known more for its star power than its willpower.
"We have such a tight group," Rapinoe said. "It's obviously a cliche to say it. Everybody wants to have that.
"But we really do have a group that really does just want to win."
Added defender Becky Sauerbrunn: "In a World Cup, you need to be able to win pretty and win dirty. And sometimes you just have to put in a hard shift.
"Tonight was one of those nights where you put in a hard shift."
And it was enough to earn a date in the semifinals with England on Tuesday in Lyon. It also extended the Americans' winning streak in Women's World Cup play to 10 games, dating to 2015, and their unbeaten streak to 15, dating to 2011. No team has done better.
Rapinoe's first goal came in the fifth minute on a free kick through traffic and the second an hour later when Rapinoe, trailing the play, scooped up a pass that had evaded Samantha Mewis in the center of the box and blasted the loose ball into the lower-left corner.
But the win, that came from a far deeper source.
"We play with a lot of heart and a lot of guts," defender Kelley O'Hara said. "We can be blue collar if we need to be. Trust me."
A fearless back line defined the night perhaps even more than Rapinoe did. In the 63rd minute, O'Hara stepped in front of point-blank shot from France's Amel Majri, taking the ball in the chest and then collapsing to the turf. A minute later Julie Ertz crashed into a French player while contesting a header and went down as well.
The U.S. might have started the game wearing uniforms with blue and red trim but finished wearing black-and-blue bruises.
"To me a big tackle is as important and kind of brings energy (of) a great goal. Because that's not easy and you're putting your body on the line. It's necessary and it's important," said goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who made four saves and was prevented from having to make at least that many more by her scrappy defenders.
"You see the same sliding from the first minute to the 90th minute. That's a testament to their heart, their energy, their passion and their willingness to put whatever they have to on the line to win the game."
And the U.S. needed every ounce of that determination. Playing before a hometown crowd of 45,595, the largest of this World Cup, the French outshot the U.S. 20-10 and had the ball 60% of the time. The U.S. had dominated both statistics in its first four games.
"The surge of momentum from the fans, at times it was a tsunami," U.S. coach Jill Ellis said.
So after the taking the 2-0 lead on Rapinoe's two goals _ she had two in the U.S.'s 2-1 win over Spain as well _ Ellis dropped Ertz from the midfield into defense, giving the U.S. a back five.
"I've never seen the U.S. do that before," French coach Corinne Diacre said. "Once again the Americans showed that matches come down to small details."
And maybe a little luck, considering what appeared to be a hand ball by O'Hara in the final minutes failing to merit a second look from Ukrainian referee Kateryna Monzul.
"We can debate this call all night long," Diacre said. "But what point would there be in that?"
France did get on the scoreboard in the 81st minute on a driving header by defender Wendie Renard, who sliced between Ertz and Mewis to halve the deficit. But that's where the scoring ended, and at the final whistle Rapinoe _ who came off in the 87th minute _ wasn't the only American too spent to celebrate.
"I've been very fortunate to be in some pretty amazing, amazing games," added Sauerbrunn. "But I'll put this top 10."
Ellis went one better.
"That is the most intense match I've ever been a part of," she said.
And the tournament isn't over.
"As much as we were celebrating this win, I just reminded them we're just getting warmed up," Ellis said of her postgame talk with the team. "We're on a mission.
"You've got to let players enjoy this moment tonight because I think that was a gritty win for us. We'll let them sleep and then back together tomorrow."
