August 3, 2024; Paris, France; Japanese goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita (1) and American ahead Sophia Smith (11) on the Parc des Princes stadium in the course of the 2024 Summer time Olympics in Paris. Necessary Credit score: Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports activities Sophia Smith scored within the ninety fifth minute and the U.S. ladies’s nationwide staff beat Germany 1-0 in Lyon, France on Tuesday to advance to the gold medal sport on the Paris Olympics.
The U.S. will face both Brazil or Spain in Paris on Saturday with an opportunity to medal for a fifth time and first since London in 2012.
Smith strode to fulfill Mallory Swanson’s by way of ball on the appropriate facet of the penalty space. Smith blocked the ball from defender Ferry Rauch after which fired the ball previous goalkeeper Ann-Katlin Berger, who got here late.
Swanson and Smith every have three targets and two assists in 5 video games.
Within the 119th minute, Laura Freigang’s header from shut vary was met by Alyssa Naeher’s leaping save together with her left foot to protect the win.
Neher made seven saves for the U.S., which outscored its opponents 11-2 on the Olympics. Berger had 9 saves.
That is the second scoreless sport within the historical past of the ladies’s match within the common season semifinals. The final one was Sweden towards Brazil in 2016.
The USA additionally wanted Trinity Rodman’s additional time purpose (105+2 minutes) to beat Japan 1-0 in Saturday’s quarterfinals. The U.S. ladies’s soccer staff went to additional time for the second time in a row, having beforehand carried out so within the semifinals and gold medal sport on the 2004 Olympics (beating Germany and Brazil).
The U.S. staff defeated Germany 4-1 within the group stage on July 28 and was tied 3-1 at halftime. Nonetheless, the U.S. staff did not make a breakthrough regardless of scoring 5 factors within the 45 minutes of the rematch. Six photographs have been heading in the right direction, though none might be thought of of top quality.
The U.S. ladies’s soccer staff has received a medal at each match since its inception in Atlanta in 1996. The staff misplaced to Sweden within the 2016 quarterfinals concerning penalties.
Saturday might be this system’s redemption after its failure on the 2023 Ladies’s World Cup, when america failed to achieve the semifinals in 9 makes an attempt.
–Scene-level media
