Advertisement

Canada shocks U.S. women's soccer team to advance to Olympic final

U.S. Women's National Team defender Kelley O'Hara consoles forward Carli Lloyd as she buries her face in her hands after a loss to Canada in the semifinals of the 2020 Summer Games soccer tournament Monday in Kashima, Japan. Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI
1 of 6 | U.S. Women's National Team defender Kelley O'Hara consoles forward Carli Lloyd as she buries her face in her hands after a loss to Canada in the semifinals of the 2020 Summer Games soccer tournament Monday in Kashima, Japan. Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Jessie Fleming netted a 75th-minute penalty kick Monday to lift Canada to a 1-0 upset of the United States Women's National Team in the soccer semifinals of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Canada will face Sweden or Australia in the gold medal match.

Advertisement

Monday's win was Canada's first over the U.S. women since 2001 and sent the Americans to the bronze medal match.

"It's terrible," U.S. forward Megan Rapinoe told NBC. "Obviously, not our best game and not our best tournament. We didn't have it today.

"Too many errors for us. The space was there for us to play in, we just couldn't get into it."

The top-ranked Americans outshot No. 8 Canada 17-5 in the loss, but could not convert. The teams played a scoreless first half, and the United States lost goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, the star of their quarterfinal win over the Netherlands, to a knee injury in the 30th minute.

Adrianna Franch replaced Naeher in goal. U.S. defender Tierna Davidson then committed a foul in the box midway through the second half to give Canada a penalty kick.

Advertisement

Fleming stepped up to the spot and smacked the attempt into the right side of the net past Franch, who dove to the correct side, but couldn't make contact with the ball.

The Americans continued to attack in the second half, but never found chemistry. The United States failed to score in three of their five games at the 2020 Summer Games.

They also failed to advance to the gold medal game in the 2016 Summer Games and didn't medal at all in Rio de Janeiro. The American won Olympic gold in four of the first five years that women's soccer was part of the Games lineup -- 1996, 2004, 2008 and 2012 -- and won the silver in 2000.

The gold medal match for women's soccer at the 2020 Summer Games airs at 10 p.m. EDT Thursday on USA. The United States will face the loser of the Australia-Sweden semifinal at 4 a.m. EDT Thursday on USA.

"It's a bitter one to swallow," Rapinoe said. "We still have a lot to compete for. It's not the color we want, but there is still a medal on the line. It sucks.

"I feel like we haven't had our joy. It hasn't flowed for us or been easy. It's not for lack of effort."

Advertisement

Breath-taking images from Tokyo Olympics

Greece's Paraskevi Papachristou competes during the triple jump qualifier on July 30. Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo

Latest Headlines