Sophia Smith scored in the first extra time to lead the U.S. Women’s National Team to a 1–0 victory over Germany in the soccer semifinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The United States will play the winner of Brazil–Spain in the gold medal match on Aug. 10 at Parc des Princes in Paris. Germany will play for bronze on Aug. 9 in Lyon.
The United States already has the most Olympic gold and most total medals in the history of Olympic women’s soccer, winning four golds, one silver, and one bronze, and now will have a chance to expand on that success.
Smith scored the winner when her right-footed shot, off a pass from Mallory Swanson, found the bottom of the left corner of the goal in the 95th minute.
Both teams are coming off of hard-fought victories in their quarterfinals.
Germany beat Canada 4–2 in penalty kicks following 120 scoreless minutes of regulation and overtime. U.S. forward Trinity Rodman scored in the 107th minute to provide a 1–0 victory over Japan in their quarterfinal on Aug. 3.
The United States beat Germany 4–1 in the group stage on July 28 to clinch its spot in the knockout rounds to win Group B. This time, the Germans were much better defensively and kept 10 players behind the ball for much of the game.
The United States went into attack mode early and had three shots on goal in the first seven minutes by Tierna Davidson, Rose Lavelle, and Sofia Smith but German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger came away with the saves. The Germans were not taking any chances and committed seven fouls in the first 22 minutes and nine in the half.
Germany’s Jule Brand answered with a left-footed shot from the left side of the penalty area but U.S. goalie Alyssa Naeher made the save in the 24th minute.
The United States controlled the flow of play throughout the first with a 64 percent time of possession and outshot the Germans 7–2, but the game was scoreless.
The Germans attacked more in the second half and came close to scoring on shots by Brand and Giulia Gwinn in the 56- and 57-minute, respectively.
The United States had its best chance when Naomi Girma passed a through-ball to Swanson, whose close-range shot in the side netting in the 62nd minute. Germany suffered a blow when its most dangerous player Nicole Anyomi had to leave the game with a leg injury in the 69th minute.
The game went into overtime where Smith scored the game’s only goal. She came close to scoring again but Berger saved her shot in the 104th minute.
The United States and Germany were meeting for the seventh time at the World Cup or Olympics, with four of those match-ups coming in the semifinals. The Americans beat Germany 2–0 in the semifinals of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup en route to their third title.
Overall, the United States leads the head-to-head series 6–1–0 at world championship events. Germany’s only win over the United States at a world championship came in the semifinals of the 2003 Women’s World Cup—a 3–0 victory in Portland, Oregon, that sparked a run to their first Women’s World Cup title.
Sam Coffey served her yellow card accumulation suspension against Japan, so the United States had every player available on its 18-woman roster against Germany.
