The U.S. women’s national team is heading to the gold medal match at the 2024 Paris Olympics thanks to Sophia Smith’s goal and Alyssa Naeher’s goalkeeping heroics in extra time during the team’s 1-0 win over Germany.
It was a physical match for the Americans, who were fouled 20 times by the Germans.
The world’s No. 2-ranked team was without its captain, Alexandra Popp, and tournament leading scorer, Lea Schuller, but was still able to frustrate the USWNT. Germany found its comfort zone in the match by sitting behind the ball, letting the U.S. have possession and making it difficult for its opposition to break them down.
U.S. midfielders Rose Lavelle and Lindsey Horan were unable to impact the game with their creative passing, while the trifecta of Smith, Mallory Swanson and Trinity Rodman couldn’t provide a spark for the team throughout the first half of the match.
The second half is when the USWNT began to pick up the tempo. Swanson thought she had won it late when, in the 86th minute, she found herself on the receiving end of a through pass and tucked the ball past German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger. However, the sideline referee raised the flag to signal an offside call.
Germany also had chances to score, but a superb outing from defender Naomi Girma kept the U.S. in the match.
