The football world champions of the United States failed in the semi-finals of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The all-around star Canada lost to Megan Rapinoe 0:1 (0:0) and will only play for the bronze medal on Friday. Jesse Fleming scored the day’s goal from a penalty in the 75th minute of the game. In the second semi-final, Olympic runners-up Sweden and Australia face each other.
The game was evenly balanced over long distances, with a few highlights. Having finished an hour before the penalty goal, the highly traded American team could no longer counter. Regular goalkeeper Alyssa Naher, the heroine who was still celebrated in the quarter-final thriller against the Netherlands (4:2 iE), was no longer on the pitch. He had to be replaced after only 30 minutes of being injured. Substitute Adriana French projected a right corner from Fleming’s penalty, but could not get the shot.
Canada had to wait 20 years to win against America
The four-time tournament winner missed the Olympic final for the second time in a row. Ahead of the tournament, discussions had intensified about whether the nominated team was too old or not. For example, superstar Megan Rapinoe is now 36 years old and Carli Lloyd is 39 years old. Both came after an hour of playing against Canada. Alex Morgan, the youngest striker on the team at the age of 32, played from the start.
The United States had already surprisingly lost the opening game 3–0 (0–1) against Sweden. The debate over the age of the team may intensify now.
For Canada it was the first win against the USA in 20 years, the Olympic third in 2016 and 2012 will now play for gold for the first time. After gold in Rio in 2016, the German selection missed qualifying for Tokyo through the quarter-finals at the 2019 World Cup.
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