The United States women took on Japan for their fourth match of Paris 2024. It was a quarterfinals match. The United states was coming off of a 2-1 victory over Australia. The United States won Group B. Japan were coming off of a 3-1 win over Nigeria. Japan finished second in Group C. Both teams were tied on matches played. The United States had the better record and goal differential.
The United States dominated the group stage. They set a record for the most goals scored in a group stage at the Olympics. They came into the knockout stage looking for an Olympic gold medal for the first time since 2012. Coming in they looked like an efficient and hungry team. It did not look like there was much that could stop the United States. Japan did lose a group stage game. Their loss did come against Spain. Japan are a good team. They have made it to the knockout stage of the last four FIFA Women’s World Cups including winning it in 2011. At London 2012 they lost to the United States in the gold medal game. At Japan 2020 they were eliminated in the quarterfinals. There was a lot of confidence in the United States to win this game.
Neither team scored in the first half. Neither team received a yellow card or red card. The score was tied up at 0-0 going into the second half.
In the 57′ minute, Emily Sonnett of the United States received a yellow card. No one scored in the second half either. The score was still tied at 0-0 after ninety minutes. The game went into extra time. In the 105’+2 the tie was finally broken. The United States scored to make it 1-0. Trinity Rodman scored the goal. Emily Fox got the assist. Fox sent a long ball down the field almost from the United states side of the field. Rodman got the ball. She got around her defender. As she was running towards the center of the box, a defender was closing in. She shot the ball and scored. The score was 1-0 United States after the first half of Extra time.
Neither team scored in the second half of extra time. The United States won the game 1-0. The United States have advanced to the semifinals. This is the first time the United States have advanced to the semifinals in back to back Olympics since Beijing 2008 and London 2012. Both of those Olympics were part of five straight gold medal match appearances. Japan have been eliminated. This is back to back Quarterfinal eliminations in the Olympics for Japan.
I was about to have a heart attack or go into a depression or something. After the United States men lost yesterday, it would have been heartbreaking to see this record breaking United States women’s team go out in the first round. This match stayed tied for so long. I think the reason for that is that The United States were not connecting on their passes as well. The timing was off on a lot of what I saw. Japan did a good job of not sitting back with their defensive line. They were moving their backline up whenever they could to push the United States back. That put the United States in a situation they did not see in the group stage. They were under a lot more pressure then they saw in the previous games of this tournament. The United States scored when they needed it most.
The United States outshot Japan by three shots. Japan held the United States to just four shots on target. The United States held Japan to just one shot on target. The United States had two more blocked shots. The blocked shots came in handy late in the second half of extra time. The United States received the only yellow card of the match. The United States had 71% of the ball possession.
The United States are the first team to advance to the semifinals. The United States will play Canada or Germany in the semifinals. Canada are the defending champions. They beat the United States in the semifinals at Tokyo 2020. That would be a rematch. The United States beat Germany once already in this tournament. Either way it will be a rematch in the semifinals. The United States women play again on Tuesday.
Zac Electrifly 
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