Women's World Cup 2015: Best Twitter Reactions to Japan's Win over England

Four years after Japan defeated the United States for the World Cup title, the 2015 Women’s World Cup will feature a Japan-U.S. rematch after Japan defeated England 2-1 in Wednesday’s semifinal match.

When the two teams headed into halftime tied 1-1—with both goals coming on penalty kicks—there was a creeping feeling that this game could feature an unusual ending.

This might qualify as an unusual ending:

Losing a World Cup semifinal game in stoppage time is one thing, but losing on an own goal is an entirely new kind of gut-punch loss, one that makes you stop and re-evaluate your own existence.

What happened to Laura Bassett is something no one should wish on his or her worst enemy. She tried to make a play to stop a pass from going through, and it resulted in the worst possible outcome for a team that has never made a Women’s World Cup final.

Combine the women’s drought with the fact that the English men’s national team hasn’t won a World Cup since 1966, and the loss becomes especially brutal.

Unfortunately, Bassett will live in infamy as another chapter in English football’s many tales of woe. For our friends across the pond, we offer our deepest condolences.

But the show must go on, and for Japan (and the rest of the soccer viewing world), this outcome was exactly what this World Cup needed—a rematch for the ages.

The 2011 Women’s World Cup final ended with Japan defeating the U.S. in penalties, and judging by Wednesday’s match, Japan has not lost its touch in penalty kicking accuracy.

The Americans’ defensive effort in this tournament has been nothing short of heroic, and it will need to keep up the pace to avenge its 2011 defeat.

The U.S. advanced to the World Cup final after catching a couple of breaks involving penalty kicks, with Germany missing on a penalty kick and the U.S. being awarded a penalty on a foul that may or may not have been outside the box.

But as the saying goes, it’s better to be lucky than good, and the U.S. will welcome all the luck it can get against Japan on Sunday.

With the match scheduled for July 5, a win for the United States could make this the most patriotic weekend in recent memory.

Get your red, white and blue underwear ready, America. It’s going to take all of us to close this out.