For the second Olympics in a row the United States women's national team won't win gold. Canada defeated the United States 1-0 in the semifinals Monday morning to send the USWNT to the bronze medal match. Jessie Flemming recorded the lone goal for Canada, a penalty kick conversion in the 75th minute.
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The two Concacaf rivals played a choppy and physical first half to begin the semifinal. As the USWNT attempted to come out on the front foot and establish tempo early, Canada got more involved in disrupting their midfield, frustrating Lindsey Horan and isolating Julie Ertz at times. After the initial fifteen minutes, Canada played themselves into the match and pinned the USWNT back, though a different game changing moment occurred in the 20th minute.
Alyssa Naeher was subbed out of the game after making a play on the ball in the box and injuring herself on the landing. After the match manager Vlatko Andonovski confirmed that she injured her knee, but they don't know the extent of the injury yet. And The U.S. number one did make an attempt to try and play, but needed to sub out and made way for Adrianna Franch in net. The disjointed play continued as the two sides close out the first half
The United States didn't make any immediate substitutions to start the half, and played another active opening fifteen minutes, and recorded their first shot on goal from Carli Lloyd just past the hour mark. The turning point of the match however occurred in the 75th minute. After a VAR confirmation of an incident in the box between Canadian substitute Deanne Rose and U.S. center back Tierna Davidson, a penalty kick opportunity was presented.
Franch guessed correctly and positioned herself against the attempt, but Canadian midfielder Jessie Flemming converted the penalty and Canada closed out the remaining final minutes of the match to secure their place in the Olympic final.
Team USA will have an opportunity to play for a bronze medal on Aug. 5 and will face Australia, who lost their semifinal match to Sweden. After the match Megan Rapinoe made sure to emphasize how special any Olympic medal would be, even a bronze.
Canada ⚽: Jessie Fleming 75' (Penalty)
After going behind the United States were able to ratchet up the pressure, but while they sent a constant stream of crosses in they resulted in very few clear chances to tie the match. Carli Lloyd turned one contested cross into a bullet header that rattled the cross bar, but other than that it was mostly tame efforts from the USWNT who will now play for bronze.
