A dream women's World Cup match: U.S. Meets France

The Women's World Cup game that had been hoped for and hyped for months is finally here: U.S. versus France.

One versus four.

Defending World Cup champion versus hometown favorite.

Friday's game is expected to be the best game of this tournament so far. It's almost a shame it's just a quarterfinal match instead of the final. These two teams have shined this tournament. The winner advances and the loser heads home.

Kick-off in Paris is at noon (Seattle time) and will be televised on FS1 and Telemundo and Hulu. The winner advances to a semifinal match-up against England on Tuesday.

(A Seattle Sounders and Seattle Reign fan blog posted this nifty map of bars that have confirmed they will be showing World Cup games):

(Our web producer, Kara McDermott, a super fan, says that most bars would switch to the game if you ask.)

The United States comes in as the favorite. It's won all its games in the Women's World Cup so far and has set records along the way (including number of goals scored in the group play, and biggest goal differential, just to name a few). There will be another record set during this quarterfinal match. It marks the 125th game that U.S. Head Coach Jill Ellis has led this team (she's currently tied with April Heinrichs).

The U.S. made it to the quarterfinals in a hard-fought 2-1 win over Spain. It was not the Americans' best performance. But it was enough to advance and that's what matters in this tournament. The Americans have been dinged up by fouls and hard tackles and were tested most of the game by a scrappy Spaniard squad.

Like the U.S., France hasn't lost a game in this World Cup either and is playing every bit as good as fans of Les Bleues expect from them. France also fought to a tough win in their last game: defeating Brazil 2-1 in extra time. The French have rallied around their team, too, and cheered them on in ways normally reserved for the more popular men's national squad.

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