Great Falls Tribune from Great Falls, Montana • Page S4

GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE WWW.GREATFALLSTRIBUNE.COM conceding a goal. Only Australia, in the first half of the group-stage opener, has managed to score against the Americans. ONORING A TEAMMATE: That white teddy bear that has been a constant feature on bench throughout the tournament honors midfielder Kozue Ando, who broke her left ankle i the World Cup opener against Switzerland. While Ando returned home to Japan, she remains lose to the players and not ust symbolically with the eddy bear that wears her jersey. She was in her team- thoughts during the emifinal victory over Engl and.

Miss Ando was talking to the players in the locker oom on the phone, and also she sent Sasaki said. also was the fact hat she could come to Vanc ouver to cheer for us. That as the source of our energy. we were able to do THE NUMBERS: It will be he U.S. fourth appearance in the final.

The Americans won the World up the first year of the wom- tournament in 1991, and hen again in 1999. he United States has a 241-6 all-time record against Jap an, and a 2-1advantage in World Cup meetings. US Continued from 1S ELAINE The United States' Abby Wambach walks to the field for practice ahead of the Women's World Cup final in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Saturday. I won this rodeo last year. I was really hot, and so a lot of pressure coming in, you know, to try to become back-to-back champi- That happen, but the future bodes well.

confidence is sure coming Bridges said. get two back-to-back rides like that, go 71and 74, you know, pretty decent While the end to a college career meant Bridges could et healthy, the beginning of another is taking the pressure off a young Montana owboy. Will Powell, a St. Ignatius oper bound for Montana rodeo program in the fall, found himself in the oney Saturday. Powell won the steer wrestling and laced in tie-down roping.

owell tossed the steer in ust 7.5 seconds, and attributed at least some of his recent success to the end of the recruiting process. a lot off my mind for the recent high school rad said. puts me at ease because not worried about where going, what I doing. It just gives me time to And rodeo he is. Powell and team-roping partner Josh Harris, of Ronan, are in the thick of a stretch of six rodeos in four days.

They head to a PRCA event in Drummond and open rodeo Sunday. They arrived from Harlowton around 1:30 a Saturday. a lot of Powell admitted. pretty exp ensive from the fuel and the entry fees, but it makes it orth it when you can win a nd ride good As for being decided on ollege, Powell has no qualms with his decision. I kind of thought, now, just stay close for ollege, stay around the said Powell.

four hours away, but I can come home when I was recruited by chools in Texas and Colora- but decided to stay in the Treasure State, where he and Cut Caleb Guardipee laced second in the high school team-roping finals earlier this year. head to nationals in Rock Springs, Wyo. later this month as well. Local competitors showed well in Choteau as well. Former high school all-around champion Celie Salmond won the barrel racing, coming in a 17.73 in the morning slack.

Her prep teammate, Shelby Rasmussen, was second at 1 7.74 seconds. Guardipee and his father, onny, took the team roping uckles, and Kelsey Hansen won the breakaway oping. TRIBUNE FROST Aniko Nelson of Bozeman takes a left turn during Ladies Barrel Racing at the Choteau Rodeo on Saturday. Choteau Continued from 1S VANCOUVER, British Columbia The most successful World Cup conc ludes on Sunday when the nited States and Japan take the field at BC Place. Record attendance.

Record TV ratings. A rematch of the classic final from 2011 and the gold-medal match from the 2012 Olympics. With the final match also comes the conclusion of a tournament where the in- quality of how FIFA treats he game was on dis- lay in real time: Artificial urf fields; competing teams taying in the same hotels; a prize money pool one-third of what their male counterparts had available in Brazil a year ago. The issues will remain until FIFA gets its next opportunity in four years to show how much it values the World Cup. referred to FIFA as the stadium that houses this event, the game is the centerpiece of this event, not the ins United States coach Jill Ellis said.

think people help, FIFA included, but to notice how popular this sport is. And to make sure, like anything, there is always an evolution. There is always a process to go through before equal footing is FIFA trumpeted the suc- cess of the tournament on Friday. It has set attendance rec- rds with more than 1million fans, shattered TV viewing records beyond just the American market and staged asuccessful expansion from 16 to 24 teams for the first time. Yet for all the positives FIFA will rave about in the aftermath of the tournament, the equality problems were significant.

The use of artificial turf on all fields was at the head of he list. A group of players, led by American Abby Wambach, filed a claim in a Canadian court that said holding matches on artificial turf amounts to gender discrimination because the World Cup would never be played on fake grass. The players dropped the claim earlier this year. But the turf the only issue. The prize money for the tournament is $15 mill ion, while the purse was more than $500 million a year ago in Brazil.

While much of that is due to sponsorship dollars, there is a feeling that gap should be smaller. think $500 million would necessarily be a number that looking for in terms of the number of spon- sors they bring in and world views and the amount of money the World Cup generates but something ore than ($15 million) ould probably be appropri- a American Megan Rapin oe said. think getting there. Sometimes we have to drag our way there, but every time we have a World Cup a big event and people pay attention and bigger the next FIFA also has been criticized for housing opposing teams in the same hotels, omething that hap- en on the side. It was a wkward from the start: Ellis aid the Americans had din- er in the room next to Australia before the teams met in the opener.

Germany coach Silvia Neid said it was difficult following a win to return to the hotel and take the elevator with some of the players the team had just defeated. believe this meet the level of professionalism you should expect at a World Neid said. Even own match- racker on its website was caught using male pronouns to describe players during the tournament-opening match between Canada and China in Edmonton. While many of these are FIFA-related issues, some of the inequity lies with the individual countries and their soccer federations. FIFA officials have driven home throughout this World Cup that part of the onus falls to those governing bodies to reat the game with he same importance as soccer.

In football, certainly you have had other issues like society, financial resources, the treatment of women and women football in any country which is said Tatjana Haenni, head of soccer. yes, true there is huge differences. This tour- ament the top teams you see he requirements they have, he investment they do, the umber of people they bring such a tournament is quite different than some There is optimism among female players that the FIFA corruption scandal and President Sepp resignation may lead to new leadership that treats the game with greater equity. But the next opportunity to display any changes happen until 2019 in France. think Sepp had the mindset that any help that he hrew to the side he needed to be congratulated 10 times over for Rapinoe said.

the right thing earn you a pat on the back. Just because promoting the World Cup and promoting the game mean the best thing that has ever hit the As orld Cup ends, inequality remains By Tim Booth Associated Press ELAINE United States head coach Jill Ellis speaks during a news conference for the Women's World Cup soccer final in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Saturday. The U.S. plays Japan on Sunday in the final. EDMONTON, Alberta Days after a gut-wrenching oss, England finished its eepest run in the orld Cup with an uplifting victory.

No last-minute heartbreak this time around. Just a solid all-around perform ance for Steph Houghton a nd company. nifty legwork prevented an own goal and Fara Williams scored on apenalty kick in the 108th inute, leading England to a 1 -0 victory over top-ranked ermany in the third-place game Saturday. is the team we wanted to coach Mark ampson said. wanted show the nation that, look, can be knocked down, but we can also get back up.

And what we aren Bardsley stopped seven shots as England rebounded quite nicely from 2-1loss to Japan. That semifinal was decided in the final minute of second-half stoppage time when Laura Bassett directed the ball into her own net. The response by the ixth-ranked Lionesses was their first victory over Germany in 21meetings. To finally beat Germany is a real big statement from his team, and something hese players will be remembered the 32-year- ld Sampson said. think the performance of the players speaks vol- mes of the type of group had the pleasure of working ngland finished the ournament with a 5-1-1rec- ord.

It had never won an elimination game in the World Cup in three revious appearances. or Germany, which lost 2 -0 to the United States on Tuesday, it was a disappointing finish for the two-time champions and raised fur- her concerns about wheth- the pro- ram is beginning to slip. Since winning back-to-back World Cup titles in 2003 and 2007, the eight-time European champions have a 2-3 ost-preliminary round rec- rd in the past two tourna- ents. It was the last World Cup game for German coach Silvia Neid and goalkeeper Nad ine Angerer. Neid is retir- i ng after the 2016 Rio ames, while Angerer is retiring from the national team following this tourna- ent.

very sad, but how it is. This is Neid said. the end, I think England had more chances. We had a lot of chances, but unfortunately, we have any Lianne Sanderson set up the only goal when she was pulled down by Tabea emme while attempting to get to a pass into the penalty area to the right of the goal. illiams scored her third goal of the tournament a nd second on a penalty kick by punching the ball just inside the left post while Ang erer faded the other way.

Neid said the penalty was justified. ngland avoided a major scare in the eighth minute, when Jo Potter came inches a way from scoring into her wn goal. Sara Daebritz sent a pass into the penalty area, and teammate Bianca chmidt headed it toward he net. Unaware that Bards ley was preparing to catch the ball, Potter leaped and got her head on it. The ball caromed toward he goal, where Houghton as facing the net and icked it back over her head inches before it crossed the line.

Bardsley said she wants to frame the picture of the aptain preventing the goal. I think that picture will orever be etched in my mind of leg above her head, practically touching the Bardsley aid. I think that epitomizes hat this team is about in my opinion. There a player on the pitch or even on the ouch line today that have given their right leg to make sure that we won a bronze Germany had several opportunities to tie the game in the final 10 minutes. Anja Mittag, off a free kick just outside the penalty area, found an opening and got a shot off that was cooped up Bardsley.

In the 116th minute, Schmidt got behind Engl defense and headed a cross just wide of the right ost. he success in Canada has created a large uzz back home, where they attracted support from Prince William and ational team captain Wayne Rooney. England wins 1 -0 vs. Germany in extra time to finish in third place GEOFF IMAGES Fara Williams celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal during the FIFA Women's orld Cup third-place match against Germany on Saturday in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. BY JOHN WAWROW Associated Press.