Canada Stuns US In Olympic Semifinal

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The U.S. Women’s National Team has lost to Canada 1-0 in the semifinals of the Olympics to give up the chance of winning their fifth Olympic Gold Medal.

Likely The Final Olympics For Many

“It is terrible, uhm, I mean not our best game, not our best tournament, Megan Rapinhoe said after losing to Canada for the first time in her career. “We didn’t have it today, too many errors for us today…It sucks.”

Sadly, half an hour into the game, the quarterfinal hero Alyssa Naeher was forced out of the game after picking up an injury. The goalkeeper, whose job title on Wikipedia was changed to Secretary of Defense after her heroics against the Netherlands a few days ago, was replaced by Adrianna Franch.

As expected, the US dominated the chances throughout the game. They also controlled the speed and tempo at which the game was played at.

FINAL | Canada’s penalty proves to be the difference. The USA will play for bronze on Thursday pic.twitter.com/JYrhHdElsD

— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) August 2, 2021

However, despite their best efforts, the two teams entered the half-time interval level at 0-0.

The second half began in a similar fashion. Canada found it challenging to string anything more than one pass together. The U.S. was dominating and building the pressure as they ramped up their attacking threats.

No Juice, No Mojo

Although, out of nowhere Canada broke on the counter-attack and quickly found themselves pinning the U.S. deep into their own territory. In the 73rd minute, a clumsy challenge was made by Tierna Davidson when she went to kick the ball clear but clipped the leg of Deanne Rose who came out of nowhere chasing down the ball.

Jessie Fleming of Canada converted the penalty and Canada took the late lead.

Despite multiple late attempts, the U.S. could not break down the defensive structure of Canada and subsequently eliminated themselves for a chance to compete for a gold medal.

Canada won bronze in the last two Olympics.

They hadn’t beaten the USWNT since 2001, a run of *36* winless games.

Today, they ended that streak to advance to their first-ever Olympic final 🇨🇦😤 pic.twitter.com/nn8xIuRRC5

— B/R Football (@brfootball) August 2, 2021

Carli Lloyd, whose professional future remains unknown, came as close as hitting the post after Megan Rapinhoe put in a terrific ball, but it was not meant to be.

Canada Reigns Supreme

It is the second consecutive Olympics in which the U.S. will not medal, marking the first time in history. In 2016 at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the USWNT finished in fifth place after losing to Sweden on penalty kicks in the quarterfinals.

Moreover, Canada’s victory marks the first win against the U.S. in 20 years after snapping a 36-game losing streak.

The U.S. will play the loser of Sweden and Australia on Thursday in a chance to win bronze.