Late magic from Smith, Naeher sends USWNT to Olympic gold medal match
Sophia Smith notched an extra-time winner, and Alyssa Naeher recorded a last-minute save to beat Germany 1-0 and lead the U.S. to the Olympic gold medal match for the first time since 2012.
The U.S. women’s national team met a familiar foe in the Olympic semifinals on Tuesday.
The USWNT had dominated Germany 4-1 just nine days earlier in the group stage, but Tuesday’s semifinal carried greater importance. It was an elimination game, and the Germans had learned from their lopsided loss.
Germany resorted to more pragmatic tactics, bolstering their defensive structure and trying to push around the Americans, imposing themselves on the game.
“It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking we’ve already played them, but we knew it’s a semifinal match,” Naomi Girma said. “It’s going to be hard — and it was.”
The U.S. couldn’t run up the score like before, but in the end, while the result was much tighter, it was arguably more impressive. For the second straight match, the USWNT found itself locked in a 0-0 stalemate after 90 minutes, needing extra time to decide a winner — and with only two full days of rest.
Again, the U.S. found a goal in extra time. Trinity Rodman edged the Americans past Japan on Sunday, and on Tuesday, it was Sophia Smith who was the hero.
With tired legs in the 95th minute in 90 degree heat, the U.S. produced a frisson of attacking artistry to score the deciding goal. Off a German turnover, the ball moved from back to front in three quick, incisive passes: Girma to Sam Coffey; Coffey to Mallory Swanson; Swanson to Smith; Smith to goal.
“Find a way. Find a way,” Smith said of Swanson’s through ball to her.
“I knew when Mal got it and faced up; she knows how to thread passes through like no other, and I just had to get on the end of it,” Smith added.
Smith was the first to claim the ball. German defender Felicitas Rauch looked to shepherd it to goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, but Smith put her foot on the gas, running around Rauch to get there first. With Berger outside the box, Smith lifted her shot into the gaping net.
“I saw a little opening of net,” Smith said. “And I was like, ‘I just have to put it there.’”
However, the integral Americans were not strictly on the front line. Alyssa Naeher made a pivotal, match-sealing save. Girma, who has played every second of the compact Olympic tournament, compiled another composed performance to keep a clean sheet. Emma Hayes called her “the best defender I’ve ever seen. Ever.” Both players — Naeher, 36, in the twilight of a decorated career, and Girma, 24, with immense promise — are as vital to the U.S. as any flashy player in the front line.
In the 119th minute, German Laura Freigang was as open as a 7-Eleven on the back post and headed a bid on frame, but Naeher, stretching all her sinews to make herself as big as possible, kicked the potential equalizer free of danger.
“Whatever it takes to not let the ball go past you in that moment,” Naeher said.
When the final whistle sounded, the USWNT swarmed Naeher in celebration and, perhaps, relief. It was reminiscent of the last time the U.S. played a semifinal in the Stade de Lyon. On that day — July 2, 2019 — the Americans overcame England 2-1, and Naeher saved a Steph Houghton penalty in the 84th minute. Four days later, the U.S. would lift its fourth World Cup trophy.
Four days from now, on Aug. 10, the U.S. has a chance to take home their fifth gold medal after reaching the final for the first time since 2012. Only Brazil, which reached the final after barely advancing from its group, stands in the U.S.’s way.
Meeting the same opponent for the second time in the same tournament has been common for the U.S., and the USWNT has fared well in the second contest. In the seven times — six of which were in the Olympics — the Americans have met the same foe a second time in a tournament in the knockout stage, the U.S. has won six of them. The lone exception was in the 2000 Olympics gold medal game in Sydney when the USWNT fell to Norway 3-2 in extra time after defeating the Norwegians 2-0 in the group stage.
Germany, who was carved open like a Christmas goose by the U.S. in its 4-1 loss on July 28, reverted to a more defensive strategy to blunt the attacking trident of Rodman, Smith, and Swanson in Tuesday’s rematch. The Germans were also without two of their own attacking weapons, with taliswoman Alexandra Popp (illness) and Lea Schüller (knee inflammation) unavailable for the semifinal matchup.
The fearsome American attacking trio could only be quieted for so long. After a strafing for 90+ minutes, where none of the chances could be converted, Smith cranked in the game-winner. Then Naeher held onto the lead with her kick save.
If opponents in the knockout stage of the Olympics weren’t hard enough, Hayes has assigned her own challenge to her team.
“I want them to develop. I want them to suffer,” she said. “I want them to have that moment because I do not believe you can win without it. And I haven’t had long enough for this group to get that yet, and I want to see who they are when it’s hard.”
Hayes has only been in charge for nine games, but the U.S.’s fortunes have taken a positive turn. Tuesday’s match fell exactly a year after the U.S. was dumped out of the 2023 Women’s World Cup in the round of 16 — its earliest exit.
“We had a tough year last year in every way possible,” Smith said. “This is a new year, and we’re really just showing the world we didn’t ever drop off. We just needed a learning year and a growth year, and we’re back and hopefully on top after this next game.”
The USWNT’s march to the final showed the U.S. has rebounded quickly from recent failures and has solved nagging problems. The front three is firing — scoring 10 of the U.S.’s 12 goals at the Olympics — after being profligate, albeit without Swanson, last summer. Hayes has re-instilled a fear factor and a cohesive tactical plan.
But the ultimate sign of the U.S.’s rediscovered command of global women’s soccer would come with winning a gold medal.