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Women’s World Cup: 5 players to watch in USA vs France quarterfinal

By Coley Gallagher

REIMS, FRANCE - JUNE 24: #3 Samantha Mewis of USA competes for the ball during the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup France Round Of 16 match between Spain and USA at Stade Auguste Delaune on June 24, 2019 in Reims, France. (Photo by Zhizhao Wu/Getty Images)
REIMS, FRANCE - JUNE 24: #3 Samantha Mewis of USA competes for the ball during the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup France Round Of 16 match between Spain and USA at Stade Auguste Delaune on June 24, 2019 in Reims, France. (Photo by Zhizhao Wu/Getty Images) /
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RENNES, FRANCE – JUNE 17: Amel Majri of France Women during the World Cup Women match between Nigeria v France. (Photo by Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Images)
RENNES, FRANCE – JUNE 17: Amel Majri of France Women during the World Cup Women match between Nigeria v France. (Photo by Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Images) /

3. Amel Majri – France

Amel Majri is France’s left back. She plays the same position for her club, Olympique Lyon. Last season Majri scored 10 goals and had nine assists for Lyon, the most of any defender. In her nine years in Lyon, she and her team have finished at the top of Division 1 Féminine, the French women’s equivalent to the French men’s League 1.

Voted best French player of the year in 2016 by her fellow French footballers, Majri played her early international career with her native Tunisia. She joined the French team in 2014. Majri is highly technical. She keeps her cool under pressure, particularly in tight spaces. A natural winger with shocking speed, Majri flies up (and down) the left side. She can dispossess an opponent at one end, then race upfield and send in a deadly cross at the other.

Majri has been solid for France in the World Cup. She sent in the balls that led to France’s first goal against Norway and the winner against Brazil. Majri and France struggled against Nigeria. They were unable to score from open play against the Nigerian side, whose physicality and attacking style is more like the United States than other teams France faced.

That said, five of her Lyon teammates start with Majri for the French national team. These Lyonnaise players have won six UEFA’s Champions League Championships in nine years. Their experience playing and winning in Champions League should suit them well.

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