MATCH STATS
It was a nervy problem, however the U.S. ladies’s nationwide group did simply sufficient after 120 minutes of play to flee with a 1-0 win towards Japan in a quarterfinal match on the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Heading into the match, Japan was a group taking part in a sure fashion that the U.S. had not but confronted within the match.
The Individuals have been unable to create momentum all through the match as Japan sat deep in its personal half and tried to hit the U.S. on the counter. The attacking trio of Sophia Smith, Mallory Swanson and Trinity Rodman couldn’t discover a method to break previous the Japanese protection. Midfielders Lindsey Horan and Rose Lavelle had the ball loads — because the group’s 71% possession benefit suggests — however discovered it difficult to create alternatives for his or her attackers.
“It was a really onerous match. It was like a chess match,” Horan stated. “That is what we have been saying within the huddle simply now after the sport. Japan [is] a tremendous group and I really feel for them.”
Each groups took almost the identical quantity of pictures (15 for the U.S. and 12 for Japan), however Japan regarded just like the group nearer to scoring because it examined the American protection. Sturdy performances from Naomi Girma and Crystal Dunn on the again have been greater than sufficient to maintain the U.S. within the recreation.
After an underwhelming 90 minutes, the USWNT left it very late to seek out its breakthrough in additional time.
Rodman scored a flashy aim within the one hundred and fifth minute because the 22-year-old took on a defender earlier than reducing to her left foot and curling the ball from the sting of the field into the highest left nook of the aim. It was a coming-of-age second for Rodman, proving that she is usually a participant to rely on in vital moments of a match. She is now the youngest participant in USWNT historical past to attain a aim in an Olympic knockout match.
“I’ve flashes of what occurred,” Rodman stated. “I acquired into the realm, I obtained an attractive move, then I took a shot. It wasn’t that I did not have confidence in my shot, however on the identical time, I could not imagine it. That is the perfect second in my profession.”