Jessie Fleming scored the lone goal to give Canada a shocking victory over the top-ranked U.S. Women’s National Team in the Tokyo Olympics semifinals Monday.
Fleming converted on a penalty kick in the 74th minute at Ibaraki Kashima Stadium, depriving gold to USWNT, which won the 2019 World Cup. The Canadians advance to the gold medal game.
The Americans didn’t put their first shot on goal until the 65th minute.
“I just think the players have a lot to look at ourselves about,” Megan Rapinoe said. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, we didn’t play better,’ and getting on each other, but we need to perform better, period.
“We can deep-dive into analyzing, and I know we will, but at the end of the day, there’s all the preparation you can do and all the tactics, and then there’s everything else, and that’s what we were missing. You can’t put a name on the ‘everything else,’ but it’s just getting it done from players, from all of us.”
It’s just the second time the USWNT has not qualified for the Olympic final since 1996. The loss to Canada as the team’s first since 2001. This marks the second consecutive summer Olympics that the USWNT has not won gold after a stretch for three straight – 2004, 2008, 2012.
The USWNT will play Australia in the bronze medal match.
–Field Level Media