Trinity Rodman’s extra-time stunner sends USWNT to final four at Paris Olympics

The U.S. women’s national team, led by Emma Hayes, is just two wins away from a record-breaking fifth Olympic gold medal after Trinity Rodman scored a wonder goal in overtime in a quarterfinal against Japan, who didn’t really come into the picture until the final round.

The women’s soccer tournament at the Paris Olympics should at least provide a starting point for asking whether the Americans’ 46-month slow-burn career under the departed Vlatko Andonovski will be remembered only as a failure or, as the world’s almost salivating soccer establishment has openly made clear, as a permanent decline from the league of perennial favorites.

The jury is still out, but the early results are promising. Hayes, the former Chelsea manager who took charge two months ago, has led the U.S. to four wins in its first four major games. The Americans, who scored just four goals in as many games during last year’s World Cup elimination, have scored nine in a perfect run through the Olympic group stage. The wait for a 10th on Saturday afternoon was often an uneasy one, but its arrival has put Hayes’ team close to the podium.

The first half was indeed a bleak affair in which the US dominated possession but were unable to create meaningful chances against Japan’s well-organized block. Playing behind a friendly crowd that chanted “USA!” every few minutes, the Americans took a more measured approach rather than simply ramming it upfield as they might have done in the not-so-distant past, but their patience was nearly punished twice in the 10 minutes before half-time when Japan created two moments of real danger through Kiko Seike and Miyabi Moriya.

By then, signs of fatigue among the U.S. forwards, none more so than Rodman, cast Hayes’ decision not to rotate players during the abbreviated group stage in stark relief. Elsewhere on the field, the captain, Linsey Horan, a former Paris Saint-Germain midfielder back in familiar territory, was a step too slow. Korbin Albert, Hayes’ only substitute since Wednesday’s win over Australia, was ineffective even before he stayed with a knee injury at the end of regulation time.

Things didn’t get much better after the break. By the hour mark, the US looked even more lackluster and lacking in attacking ideas, while the Nadeshiko, despite a lack of real scoring chances, looked more likely to break through. They were given an immediate boost when West Ham’s Riko Ueki replaced Mina Tanaka on 70 minutes and fired a shot straight at goal, inches wide of the post.

Japan manager Futoshi Ikeda had already made three substitutions when Hayes made her first substitution before extra time with Lynn Williams, the all-time WSL goalscorer, replacing Mallory Swanson. By then, exhaustion on both sides had led to defensive lapses, most notably when Japan’s keeper Ayaka Yamashita was forced to make a close-range save after Smith had taken one too many touches.

The Americans desperately needed a moment of inspiration to avoid a penalty shootout, and they got it from Rodman in the final minutes of the first extra time. She found space behind Japan’s high pressure and responded to a long pass from Crystal Dunn. She cut back to the left to get past left back Hikaru Kitagawa and curled the ball into the top corner with her left foot, past the fully extended Yamashita, for her third goal of the tournament.

Now it was the Americans’ turn to sit back and settle the match. After a quarter of an hour in which the game was largely even, Hayes’ team celebrated their breakthrough to the last four in front of a jubilant crowd that included former American stars Megan Rapinoe and Mia Hamm, and rapper Snoop Dogg.

The US advances to the semi-finals, where they will face the winner of the quarter-final between Germany and Canada on Saturday evening in Marseille.