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 were 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 its tempo. Swanson thought she had won it late for her team in the 86th minute as she got on to the end of a pass and put the ball past German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, but 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 allowed the U.S. to stay in the match.
After a long tactical battle that extended into extra time between Emma Hayes and Germany head coach Horst Hrubesch, Smith’s goal in the 95th minute proved to be the game-winning moment.
The 23-year-old used her pace to get on the end of a brilliant through ball from Swanson and beat a defender to strike the ball past Berger from inside of the box.
As expected, Germany upped its attack. In the 118th minute, Naeher’s spectacular kick save prevented Laura Freigang’s close-range header from going into the net. The USWNT was able to hit on the counter directly after as Smith dribbled past two defenders but was unable to convert the chance.
In the end, the U.S. did just enough to hold off Germany and advance to the gold medal match.
It was another match where the U.S. faced an opposition that relied on sitting back and hitting on the counter, but Hayes’ decision to keep her starting front three in the entirety of the match paid off. Smith, Swanson and Rodman will once again need to be at the top of their game if the U.S. wants a chance of winning gold.
The Americans will play the winner of the other semifinal match between Spain and Brazil in the gold medal final at 11 a.m. ET on Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Parc de Princes in Paris.
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