USA v Germany: Paris Olympics women’s soccer semi-final – live
Key events
Preamble
Welcome to a match that could be seen as a referendum on legendary England manager Emma Hayes, but is in reality more of a challenge for the vaunted US women’s national soccer team’s forward line, which seems to have become less productive since beating Germany by four goals and seeking a nickname as cool as “the three-edged sword,” the label given to the women who won the first-ever Women’s World Cup in 1991.
Points will be awarded (or noted in this commentary) to anyone who can name the three players who earned this nickname.
More importantly, this match will determine whether the US or Germany will play for gold.
Although the U.S. took a 4-1 decision in the group stage, and Germany narrowly defeated Canada with a 0-0 draw and a penalty shootout win (by Germany? Who would have thought?), no one is going to take this match lightly. The U.S. women have some injury concerns, and… well… it’s Germany.
Beau will be here soon. In the meantime, here’s how the US got here:
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 uneasy, but its arrival almost put Hayes’ team on the podium.
“It was very tactical,” Hayes said. “That’s why I liked it so much. It was a game of guts and determination. It was decided by one moment of brilliance.”
You can read the full report below: