The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team’s journey to Olympic gold came to a stunning end on Monday as they fell 1-0 to Canada in the semifinal.
The loss will see the Americans having to settle for the bronze medal if they can win their final match on Thursday.
Both clubs had their struggles due to the temperatures and neither goalkeeper had much work to do on their end. U.S. midfielder Megan Rapinoe put a shot on the net in the 68th minute but Canadian goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe parried the ball away from danger.
In a tight match, Canada was awarded a penalty kick in the 75th minute after American midfielder Tierna Davidson committed a foul inside the box. Canada’s Jessie Fleming stepped up and calmly converted the goal, out of the reach of U.S. backup goalkeeper Adrianna Franch, who came on for the injured Alyssa Naeher.
“Not our best game, not our best tournament,” Rapinoe said. “It’s a bitter one to swallow, obviously we don’t want to lose to Canada. We just couldn’t figure it out on the field. I don’t know exactly what it was but yeah, but this certainly not one of our better performances.”
