Alyssa Naeher stops late England penalty, sends USWNT to World Cup final

VAR played a major role in the second half of Tuesday’s World Cup semifinal between England and the USWNT, and the defending World Cup champions advanced to the final thanks to a brilliant penalty save from goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.

The USWNT was without star forward Megan Rapinoe against England, but took a 2-1 lead into halftime through goals from Christen Press and Alex Morgan.

England’s Ellen White appeared to have equalized the game in the 68th minute – but White’s goal was waved off after a VAR review found that she was marginally offside.

VAR gave England another chance in the closing stages of the game, when a review determined that Team USA’s Becky Sauerbrunn clipped the leg of White just as she was attempting a shot on goal from close range. White protested after no whistle penalty was given immediately, but after a lengthy review, England was awarded a kick from the spot.

With just a few minutes remaining in regulation, Naeher stonewalled England’s Steph Houghton to preserve the Americans’ lead.

Twitter collectively lost it.

The USWNT will play the winner of Netherlands-Sweden on July 7th.