SAINT-ÉTIENNE, France -- In the 42nd minute on Tuesday night, Kevin Paredes took the ball down the righthand side, shimmied in front of a defender so he could get toward the end line, and then cut a ball back toward the middle where Griffin Yow had zagged from the other side of the field to meet it. Hitting his shot first time, Yow beat the Guinean goalkeeper, only to drop his head as the ball banged off the side of the post and out of play.
It was a missed chance. But within seconds, Yow looked up and made eye contact with Paredes, who was moving his hands in a circle as if to say, "Keep going and we'll do it again.