PARIS — It felt like a final, not a quarterfinal, the two favorites in the Women’s World Cup playing for coronation, not simple advancement. The stadium was throbbing. Ticket sellers were asking thousands of dollars for a single seat. Pressure and anticipation seemed to bake like the heat that hovered near 90 degrees. It seemed, too, as if more than a quarterfinal victory were at stake when the United States faced France on Friday, perhaps even validation of women’s soccer’s mainstream appeal. There was also some hint that the United States, the defending World Cup champion, could lose its standing as the dominant power in the sport. Nobody seemed better prepared for the urgency of the moment than the American forward Megan Rapinoe , who scored twice as the United States defeated France, 2-1, before a capacity crowd of 45,595 at the Parc des Princes stadium. Rapinoe scored on a devilish free kick in the fifth minute, swooped onto a crossing pass for a second goal in the 65th and seemed invigorated — or at least not distracted in the slightest — after her midweek jousting with President Trump , who had criticized her for saying she would not visit…