Sophia Smith scored a goal in extra time, earning the USA women’s team a 1-0 victory against Germany on Tuesday to secure a spot in the gold medal match at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The Americans have not lost a game in France and will battle for their fifth gold medal in their sixth Olympic women’s soccer final appearance.
The United States will compete with the winner of Tuesday’s later game between Brazil and Spain on Saturday in Paris, and Germany is scheduled to contend for the bronze medal on Friday in Lyon. Smith’s goal broke the scoreless draw five minutes into extra time by moving past defender Felicitas Rauch and German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger. Smith celebrated on the ground and embraced teammate Mallory Swanson after netting her third goal of the tournament.
Smith teammates ran downfield to celebrate with goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher at the final whistle. The Americans had routed Germany 4-1 in the group stage earlier in the tournament.
The U.S. Women’s National Team has not had the opportunity to feature in the finals in the last two Olympic tournaments; they were defeated in the quarterfinals in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and pushed to the bronze medal match at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
Germany didn’t play their veteran captain Alexandra Popp due to illness; she was the only current German player from the team that played and won the gold medal in 2016. Lea Schuller, who had two goals against Zambia in the group finale, was not present because of an inflamed right knee injury.
The United States called back their defender Tierna Davidson to the game-day roster after she did not feature in the last two matches because of a leg contusion. Defender Emily Sams, who was used to replace Davidson in her absence, returned to the alternate list.
Midfielder Sam Coffey, who did not play in the quarterfinals because of her yellow card accumulation, also returned against Germany.
Both teams had a few opportunities to break the goalless draw in the first half. Klara Buehl forced U.S. goalkeeper Naeher into a diving save in the 29th minute, but she was offside. Germany focused on defense in the absence of Popp and Schuller for most of the match.
Rose Lavelle got an early chance for the U.S., but her attempt went straight into Berger’s arms. Mallory Swanson broke down the field in the 62nd minute of the game and had a clear look at the goal, but shot into the side net.
The game opened up in the 20 minutes of regulation to the end of the game. Janina Minge got off a shot in the 73rd minute, but it was easily saved by Naeher. Lindsey Horan’s headshot was caught by Berger five minutes later. Swanson appeared to score in the 85th minute, but she was called back for offside.
The United States got to the semifinals after a hard-fought 1-0 victory in extra time against Japan, with Trinity Rodman scoring the lone goal, her third of the tournament. Germany went on to penalties after a scoreless draw with Canada in the quarterfinals, with Berger stopping two Canadian attempts and converting her own penalty kick to secure the win.
The U.S. has played 38 games against Germany but scored only 27. The last time the teams faced each other in the Olympic semifinals was in 2004 when the U.S. won 2-1 and went on to clinch the gold medal.