Yahoo Finance USWNT Will Play in Bronze Medal Game After Losing to Canada in Semifinal at Tokyo Olympics
The U.S. women's soccer team will be competing for a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
On Monday at Ibaraki Kashima Stadium, the the U.S. women's national team, led by captain Becky Sauerbrunn, lost to Canada 0-1 in the tournament's semifinal. There were several issues, including an inability to score despite dominating the possession time. Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher also had to exit during the match with an injury.
Had the Americans won, they would've competed in the final round for the sixth time — and for Team USA's fifth gold medal at an Olympics.
The U.S., the most successful nation in the women's competition, has won four of the six previous Olympic tournaments. No other nation has won multiple golds in women's soccer at the Games.
The last time they played Canada was at the SheBelieves Cup in Orlando in February, when the Americans won 1-0. The last time the U.S. and Canada met in an Olympics, it was during the semifinals of the 2012 London Games, where Team USA went on to win gold after defeating Japan in the final.
With Monday's game, three-time Olympian Sauerbrunn earned her 192nd cap, tying her with Brandi Chastain for 13th on the USWNT's all-time caps list.
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The team's path to a medal in Tokyo kicked off with a rough start last month.
In their opening match against Sweden on July 21, the USWNT lost 0-3. Days later, they recovered with a 6-1 victory against New Zealand. and then played to a scoreless draw with Australia on July 27 — though it wasn't enough to win, it was enough to advance.
On Friday, the Americans had a shootout win against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals when a 2-2 draw led to Press, Morgan, Lavelle and Rapinoe's tie-breaking penalty kicks.
"This is who we are. It is knockout round, you either get on a flight tomorrow or you drive to Kashima," Rapinoe told reporters about the U.S. bouncing back after a tough group stage. "We just want to put it all out there. This team just never really quits, even when we are playing like s---, or we are playing great, or playing in the middle. We are still going to go out there and play as hard as we can."
The bronze medal game is set for Thursday.
To learn more about Team USA, visit TeamUSA.org. Watch the Tokyo Olympics now on NBC.
