Tag: women’s football

Sophia Smith scored the winning goal in extra time as the United States of America (USA) beat Germany 1-0 on Tuesday to advance to the Paris Olympics women’s football final.

Smith settled a close-fought but poor semi-final in Lyon by firing past Germany goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger to finally break the deadlock five minutes into extra time.

The USA, record four-time gold medallists, will go to Paris for the final on Saturday against either World Cup holders Spain or Brazil, who play their last-four tie later.

Germany, who won gold in 2016, can still claim the consolation of bronze as they stay in Lyon for the third-place play-off on Friday against the loser of the second semi-final.

The Germans had been the more accomplished side in normal time although quality was desperately lacking in the final third from both teams on a stiflingly hot day.

Emma Hayes’s USA, meanwhile, played at a level far removed from their clinical display in beating Germany 4-1 in the group stage in Marseille.

However, once again the quality of their attack made the difference.

In Saturday’s quarter-final win over Japan, it was right-winger Trinity Rodman who scored the only goal of the game in extra time.

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This time it was Sophia Smith who was the match-winner, firing past Berger after being picked out by a Mallory Swanson through ball.

It was a third goal at the tournament for the Colorado-born forward who will turn 24 on the day of the final — her other two strikes came against Germany in the group stage.

Contrast that cutting edge with Germany, who were dealt a serious double blow ahead of the game when ill captain Alexandra Popp and the injured Lea Schueller, the two most prolific and experienced goal-scorers in their squad, were ruled out.

The Americans had chances in the 90 minutes, including from a late Lindsey Horan header that was kept out by Berger.

Swanson even had the ball in the net, although she was well offside and the flag was raised early.

But they found a way through in extra time, and Smith was then only denied a second goal by a good Berger save.

There was drama right at the death, with USA goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher saving at close range to deny Laura Freigang an equaliser before Smith almost got a second on the break.

The USA won the last of their four women’s football gold medals at London 2012. They claimed bronze three years ago in Tokyo and were also silver medallists in 2000.

Germany, whose coach Horst Hrubesch was in charge of the men’s team that won silver in Rio in 2016, will now hope to leave with Olympic bronze for the fourth time.

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World Cup holders Spain survived a major scare before beating Colombia on penalties to reach the semi-finals of the Paris Olympics women’s football on Saturday, after the United States edged out Japan.

Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati converted the decisive kick in the shoot-out as Spain beat Colombia 4-2 on penalties after their Paris Olympics quarter-final tie in Lyon had finished 2-2 at the end of extra time.

Spain now advance to a semi-final on Tuesday in Marseille against either hosts France or Brazil, who meet later.

Spain are going for gold in their first appearance in the Olympic women’s football, but they were moments away from being eliminated after falling 2-0 behind to the South Americans.

Mayra Ramirez fired Colombia ahead early on and Leicy Santos doubled their lead early in the second half after a Linda Caicedo shot was saved.

Jennifer Hermoso pulled a goal back in the 79th minute for the world champions, who were then rescued when captain Irene Paredes turned in a Salma Paralluelo cross in the seventh minute of injury time.

That meant extra time, and no further goals led to penalties. Captain Catalina Usme’s first kick for Colombia was saved, while Liana Salazar missed her attempt as Spain scored all four of their efforts from the spot to go through.

Earlier, Trinity Rodman scored a stunning goal in extra time as the United States edged Japan 1-0.

The daughter of former NBA superstar Dennis Rodman struck in stoppage time at the end of the first half of extra time to finally break the deadlock, and Japan’s resistance, at a packed Parc des Princes in Paris.

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That took the USA through to a semi-final on Tuesday in Lyon, where they will face either reigning Olympic champions Canada or 2016 gold medallists Germany.

The USA remain on track under new English coach Emma Hayes to win a record-extending fifth women’s football gold, and a first since defeating Japan in the London Olympic final in 2012.

That silver remains Japan’s only medal in the competition and they go home after thwarting the USA for most of a tense quarter-final, where they failed to take what few chances came their way on the break.

“I honestly think that was the only way we were going to find a goal in that game,” Rodman said of her moment of magic after she was set up by Crystal Dunn.

“Obviously we had tried all game long to get in between them and it wasn’t working, but she played it in behind.

“It just bobbled a little, and then I banged it in the upper 90. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I am very happy about it.”

The presence of Snoop Dogg — who is working at the Olympics for US television — in the crowd in Paris provided more excitement for many spectators than the game itself.

Japan sat back and allowed the USA to have most of the possession, which they did without showing a cutting edge.

Their front three of Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith were impressive during the group stage but found the going tougher against Japan’s back five.

That was until Rodman struck midway through extra time, as she controlled a long diagonal ball by Dunn on the right, turned Hikaru Kitagawa inside out and fired a shot high into the far corner of the net.

It was her third goal in four games at the Paris Olympics, making her the USA’s joint-top scorer alongside Swanson.

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Reigning Ballon d’Or Aitana Bonmati scored one goal and helped create another as World Cup holders Spain came from behind to beat Japan 2-1 in their first game of the Paris Olympics women’s football tournament on Thursday.

Spain are making their Olympic women’s football debut at the Paris Games but are leading contenders to win the gold medal after their World Cup triumph in Australia and New Zealand last year.

They fell behind against Japan in the western French city of Nantes to Aoba Fujino’s early free-kick, but Bonmati soon equalised before Mariona Caldentey netted the winner in the 74th minute.

It is the perfect start for Spain in Group C of the Paris Olympics’ women’s football, in which rivals Nigeria and Brazil meet later.

With 12 teams split into three groups of four, there is margin for error as the two best third-placed teams will advance to the quarter-finals.

That will provide some comfort for Japan, who won the silver medal at London 2012.

Spain’s starting XI featured seven players who were in the line-up for last year’s World Cup final win over England in Sydney, plus Alexia Putellas, the two-time former Ballon d’Or winner.

Japan’s side included Hinata Miyazawa, the top scorer at the World Cup, but it was Fujino who opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a fine strike from a dead ball which proved too powerful for goalkeeper Cata Coll.

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However, Spain bossed possession and drew level midway through the first half when Bonmati was played in by Athenea del Castillo and rounded the goalkeeper to score.

They then grabbed what proved to be the winner when Caldentey came in from the left and played a quick exchange of passes with Bonmati before firing in.

Meanwhile, reigning Olympic champions Canada shrugged off a spying scandal to come from behind and start their campaign with a 2-1 win over New Zealand in Saint-Etienne.

Mackenzie Barry gave New Zealand the lead before an embarrassingly sparse crowd at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, the same venue where the men’s game between Argentina and Morocco was affected by crowd trouble on Wednesday.

However, Arsenal’s Cloe Lacasse levelled in first-half stoppage time for Canada, who beat Sweden on penalties in the final in Tokyo three years ago.

Evelyne Viens then latched onto a long ball forward to fire in the winner 11 minutes from the end.

Canada’s build-up had been overshadowed after an assistant coach and an analyst were sent home from the Olympics on the eve of their opening game.

The analyst, 43-year-old Joey Lombardi, was also given a suspended eight-month prison sentence for flying a drone over a New Zealand training session this week in Saint-Etienne.

Lombardi pleaded guilty when he appeared in court in Saint-Etienne on Wednesday.

The assistant coach was Jasmine Mander, to whom Lombardi reported.

Head coach Bev Priestman apologised and decided to take no part in the game against New Zealand as a result because she felt it would not be appropriate.

Canada and New Zealand are in Group A along with hosts France and Colombia, who meet later in Lyon.

Record four-time gold medallists the United States meet Zambia later in Group B, which also sees Germany take on Australia.

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Two Spanish Women’s World Cup winners, Aitana Bonmati and Olga Carmona, and Chelsea’s Australian striker Sam Kerr were on Friday named on the three-player shortlist for UEFA’s women’s Player of the Year award.

Bonmati, who plays for European champions Barcelona, captained Spain at the World Cup and was named player of the tournament. Carmona, of Real Madrid, scored the only goal in the final against England.

Kerr, a semi-finalist with host country Australia, was Chelsea’s top scorer as they won the English Super League and lost to Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final.

The trio were chosen in a vote by coaches of clubs who played in last season’s Champions League group stages, coaches of the 55 UEFA-affiliated countries and a panel of European journalists.

England and Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps just missed out as the fourth-highest vote-getter.

The winner will be announced on August 31 in Monaco at the draw for the men’s Champions League group stage.

Spain and Barcelona striker Alexia Putellas has won the past two years.

The three finalists for the coaching award are Barcelona’s Jonatan Giraldez and the two World Cup final coaches, Jorge Vilda of Spain, and Dutchwoman Sarina Wiegman who led England.

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