Brazil, missing Marta for two games, defeated the world’s No. 2 and 3 teams to reach the gold medal match against No. 5 United States on Saturday.
It’s been a strange tournament, one that’s seen the United States look as consistently good as it has since at least the 2023 SheBelieves Cup and possibly the 2019 World Cup.
Now Brazil and the USWNT will both feel fueled by fate heading into an 11 a.m. ET Saturday match at the Parc des Princes.
That comes one day after Spain meets Germany for bronze.
United States vs Germany
The U.S. women’s national team is heading to the gold medal match at the 2024 Paris Olympics thanks to Sophia Smith’s extra-time goal and Alyssa Naeher’s goalkeeping last-gasp leg save 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 were 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.
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. — Leo Santos
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Brazil vs Spain
A team that wasn’t winning with Marta suddenly is doing it for her as Brazil upset No. 1 Spain 3-1 to reach the gold medal game against the United States.
And now the world football legend is set to return for the gold medal match with a chance to say goodbye to the international game in style.
An own goal by Irene Paredes in the sixth minute looked just a stumbling block for Spain, but Brazil was happy to cede possession and doubled its lead before halftime when Yasmim‘s hand-drawn cross around the Spanish back line was slotted neatly inside the near post by Gabi Portilho.
Adriana Leal came off the bench to put an exclamation point on this stunning win, as Portilho assisted the goal. Salma Paralluelo finished her strong tournament with two stoppage-time goals to ruin Lorena Leite’s clean sheet but they were sandwiched around a Kerolin goal as Brazil’s win rarely looked under threat.
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