Key events
Gooooooaaalll! USA 1-0 Germany (Smith 95)
Just like that! Swanson puts it to Smith, and even with Rauch apparently in the right spot, Smith stretches out a leg and taps the ball past Berger.
93 min: Swanson’s exertion level today is astronomical. She’s on the right flank at midfield with it now.
Germany gain possession, and Bühl takes on Fox one-on-one. Her shot goes through Fox’s legs but right at Naeher.
92 min: Rodman with a speculative cross. Not a terrible idea.
Swanson wins the ball and seems to be the only one moving on the field, but she gets weak contact on her shot from 22 yards.
92 min: Lohmann is the player Germany have taken off.
It’s a passive, wary start to extra time for both sides.
So Jaedyn Shaw remains on the bench. She’s inexperienced, sure. She might not be fully fit – but if she’s not, why wasn’t she replaced on the roster by alternate Croix Bethune?
Subs: Elisa Senss on for Germany.
Emma Hayes brings on two subs – Korbin Albert for the captain Horan, Jenna Nighswonger for … Crystal Dunn? That can’t be!
Full time: USA 0-0 Germany
Remember goals in the first 90 minutes? Ah, the good old days.
To extra time we go.
90 min +5: Dunn commits a foul at midfield, awarded on a long-delayed whistle.
Germany take their time with this one, trying to make it uncomfortable. For the USA.
It’s headed to Naeher for the easy save, but she bobbles it before collecting.
90 min +4: Dunn faces down a defender, almost finds space and ends up getting a throw-in.
Do they have anyone who can throw it 40 yards? Wasn’t that a thing in women’s soccer for a while? Remember the flip throw?
90 min +2: Horan wins the ball and slams it forward. Not a bad idea if they could catch Germany unaware, but they don’t.
Rodman again with it. She makes a smart choice and sends back to Fox, then to Girma.
90 min +1: Rodman tries to force a pass.
USA regain the ball. Fox to Rodman to Coffey, floated into the area.
Back to Dunn, to Sonnett, to Fox, nice run and she’s possibly fouled, ball into Williams, and the US forward commits a foul.
90 min: Germany may have had the better of play from halftime until the 80-minute mark or so, but I think the USA have turned the tide. I’d still be very wary of a counterattack.
Five minutes of stoppage time will be played.
89 min: Rodman finds Swanson, but Swanson is too close to the end line for an effective cross.
The world broadcast feed shows us the graphic of the alleged moment the ball was passed to Swanson before she put the ball in the net, and she’s offside by two or three yards. Not sure we needed that.
88 min: I almost wonder if Emma Hayes believes her side have the advantage in extra time. That would explain the lack of substitutions.
Ball is played down to Swanson on the left, and her cross is almost on target.
Lynn Williams lobs the ball into the middle of the penalty area, and Berger has to get through traffic to punch clear.
This is better from the USA.
87 min: And indeed, Swanson was off. That was a very short VAR review if one was taken at all.
86 min: The ball is in the net, but Swanson was almost certainly offside.
Good finish, though.
85 min: Germany hold the ball 35 yards from their goal. Slight bursts of US pressure.
They start to break, but Swanson brilliantly comes back to win the ball, then unbrilliantly passes too far ahead of Smith.
83 min: Joe Pearson writes: “Regarding Foudy’s comments about mistreatment of the athletes, frankly it’s been a theme at this Olympics. No air-conditioning, bad food, making them swim in a poop-filled river. It goes on and on. All spectacle, no respect.”
I’ll share that with her. She’ll appreciate it.
A rather ambitious passing attempt from Germany there.
82 min: Freigang down the right, centers, back to Freigang, someone’s probably offside there, the ball is centered again, but guess who’s there?
And NOW the flag goes up.
82 min: Smith is knocked down. The referee plays advantage – and given the USA’s lack of danger from free kicks, it’s a beneficial call. But Horan takes too long to tee up her shot.
80 min: The USA win a throw-in and hold the ball for an eternity. Patience almost pays off as Smith ends up with the ball. Her shot is deflected back to Rodman, whose one-timer is well-held by Berger.
The USA’s shots haven’t been sure goals by any means, but with a lesser keeper, the game might indeed be at least 1-0 by now.
79 min: CHANCE FOR THE USA, as the ball is kept alive off the corner kick, and Horan gets a decent header on frame and away from Berger’s body, but the capable German keeper is able to make the save.
78 min: Hegering remains down. The crowd has started what is often incorrectly called a “Mexican wave.” It’s a wave.
Bibiane Schulze Soriano replaces Hegering.
Would the USA bring on Jaedyn Shaw? Is she healthy?
76 min: And enough with the whistling. Use your words.
Rodman turns on the right and wins a corner. Not bad work there.
Hegering, who blocked the cross, is down and may also have a cramp. As a reminder, Germany are short-handed at this point – though another way of looking at it would be that they’ve brought in alternates who are well rested.
75 min: Bühl dribbles 20 yards undisturbed by a US midfielder, then dishes to a teammate who is easily dispossessed. There’s some whistling as if a foul occurred. I don’t think it did.
73 min: Germany work the ball around the top of the penalty area, and Minge shoots from 22 right around hand height for Naeher. Maybe not the best option available.
Have I mentioned the USA might want to shore up central midfield? Maybe?
73 min: Should Hayes leave Rodman in the game because she can, like Jude Bellingham, be ineffective for all but five seconds that change the course of the game? And unlike Bellingham, she’s a very effective two-way player?
Or should she sub in … wow, not many options.
72 min: Rodman has the ball again and crosses into nothing again.
The ball pings around to Smith, whose shot through traffic deflects off Lynn Williams, who’s standing in front of her.
71 min: Now Horan, playing in her professional home of Lyon, wins the ball 25 yards out. The attack is promising until Rodman passes into two German defenders.
On her day, Rodman is one of the best attackers the USA have had in a long while, which is saying a lot. This is not her day. She still tracks back very well, of course.
70 min: I’ve received an email that’s too long to read while Germany attack again, then win possession in central midfield. Nüsken bails out the USA by fouling Horan.
68 min: I’ll repeat from the Japan game, though, that the USA played smartly against Japan by simply maintaining possession without running too much.
But Hayes will need some subs here. Germany just brought on Laura Freigang for the ineffective Anyomi. Again, I’ll say Korbin Albert needs to be on the field now.
67 min: Anyomi races alone down the right flank as Dunn is caught elsewhere. She crosses, which is huge mistake because the USA have, I’ll say again, the best center back in the world in Naomi Girma, who’s right there.
Anyomi falls to the ground with an apparent cramp, and Naeher sportingly helps her stretch before trainers arrive and everyone takes an unofficial hydration break.
66 min: Champion and Foudy are belaboring the stress of the Olympic tournament, with many games compressed into a couple of weeks and some unusual travel involved. They’re not wrong, and the biggest issue is the roster size. Having 18 players and four alternates is simply absurd.
63 min: While injured and tired players are tended to, here’s a comment from Matt Turner:
Regarding your halftime pet theory, I think it has some validity. My daughter is part of an NWSL academy and their matches against local opposition are frequently one-sided, to the point they are attempting to play against the boys in the upcoming season. But this is why clubs now travel all over the U.S. in the ECNL (Elite Club National League) in order to find more difficult competition. This works, but it also contributes significantly to the pay-to-play problem in this country, with travel costs going into the thousands of dollars each year. Maybe in a country as large as the U.S. you’re damned either way?
Also, if you have 20 chances and only take 2 of them how do you beat an opponent 10-0?
Because the team as a whole gets 100 chances.
The problem with the ECNL is that there are also other leagues that have top teams, so a good club from Loudoun County can fly to Florida to play games that are no more competitive than they would find in Arlington. And so on.
US Soccer needs a unified youth soccer structure. But their lawyers are already busy fending off lawsuits from, say, a dormant league with a lawsuit that persists for no reason other than vengeance.
62 min: CHANCE FOR THE USA, by far the best of the game. Girma plays it ahead to Swanson, who gets around Berger and … hits the side netting. Might have opted to pass.
The flag was apparently up, but we haven’t seen a replay, and I seriously doubt she was offside.
