What a result and it was a long time coming! There will be a brand new champion in Olympic women's football.
You better believe it! Canada is going through and will wait for either Australia or Sweden. Regardless, it will be a first for the next gold medal winning team.
I made the mistake of not following my own advice and missed the penalty as I was working in the other room. Did get to enjoy sad faces later. Pinoe looked shocked and relieved
Are they serious? NBC is really asking to lose their broadcasting rights if they can't even carry the event to the very end no matter the outcome.
I said that I wasn’t going to watch but woke up at 5:30EST. I didn’t turn on the TV until now. Canada can thank me for not jinxing them. You’re welcome, Canada!
Well, my hard demanding work of jinxing the USA (even made on the correct, neglected thread for the match, and not on this one) ended paying in gold. Canada exacted revenge for poor Netherlands. Now, although I can't see them beat Sweden (but who I am to make predictions? ), I am quite sure that the gold will go to a "deserving" team. This incarnation of the USWNT, for what they showcased in 5 games, didn't honestly look like a legitimate winning team: what did they do here, apart from bludgeoning poor NZ and forcing a lucky toe-to-toe with Netherlands? I can even see them losing the bronze to whichever team will emerge from the other semifinal (although I guess no-one is exactly thrilled by the prospect of a repeat of Australia-USA! ). I'll probably miss the 3rd-place match, by the way, but I'll make sure not to miss the final, now that I know it can't be won but the dark-side of the force. Oh, and it is confirmed that winning back-to-back WWC and Olympics is an impossible task!
The highlights, by the way, can only be a blank screen interrupted by the PK: the PK itself was Canada's only shot on goal, and USA didn't much more.
I gave up on that game. Found it very hard to watch. Quite a poor quality game for a semi-final. As soon as I turn it off it looks like the game came alive Happy for Bev. First English coach to make an Olympic football final. I’m assuming that is right. As for the USA. It looks like their coach will get a lot of the blame but there were so many poor individual displays. Only really their keeper was at the required level.
Megan Rapinoe got choked up when asked about a moment she & Carli Lloyd shared after the loss to Canada in (likely) their last Olympics. Meanwhile Carli is running suicides in the background the entire interview. @CarliLloyd is a warrior & an inspiration. #USWNT #Tokyo2020 #USA pic.twitter.com/c2B9hPIfso— Kylen Mills (@KylenMills) August 2, 2021
Lol. She really is sprinting after 90 minutes. After being up for an hour, I’m ready to run…back to bed.
My guess is that Sinclair giving it to Fleming may have had more to do with the fact she'd be taking a PK here against her club teammate. I'd guess Franch knows her tendencies and has seen her practice PK's numerous times. It was smart to let someone else take it, but not because of missing one against Brazil.
You're right, that was probably the real reason. Anyway, I am not sure any top-player would have had the clear-mindness and the unselfishness to give the PK to a team-mate out of feeling that she probably had a better chance at converting it.
Now I guess it's very telling that the Eurosport highlights of the USA-Canada semifinal start very deep in 2nd Half: all of us who watched the match live would have gladly skipped 1st Half too if had been possible. Also, notice the caption with a piece of stat at the moment when the PK was awarded to Canada (72'): at that time Canada had just 1 shot, 0 shots on goal. Although the score was the same, I guess we can safely say that the Australia-Sweden game was much more enjoyable to watch (not that it needed much to beat USA-Canada ). These highlights show Kerr's goal that was disallowed for a "mysterious" foul in the box (although actually it's not exact to say that it was disallowed, because the whistle came clearly before the shot), but they don't show the final relevant event: Carpenter committing a clear DOGSO foul on Hurtig at 90'+5' and being rightfully Red Carded for that (thus missing the Bronze medal match):
England and GB footballer Ella Toone and GB 800m runner Keely Hodgkinson. Went to the same school. From Leigh Sports Village to the Tokyo Olympic Village! Good luck in your final race. ‘Home’ is proud of you❤️ pic.twitter.com/vsjcX4CqKY— Ella Toone (@ellatoone99) August 2, 2021
I was wrong to assume. "Believe in what you're doing. For female coaches, that can be difficult. It's never a straight path. If you dream big sometimes things come your way" @bev_priestman on becoming the first English coach to make an Olympic final since 1948. For @ForbesSports https://t.co/YoU1rx5b8r pic.twitter.com/x4MnEO4wEy— Asif Burhan (@AsifBurhan) August 2, 2021
Do not give any clear signs who will win since in 1948 the coach from England and the Swedish NT both did win (he was their coach obviously) which can not happen this year.
It really wasn't a long time coming. There was a brand new gold medal champion in the previous Olympic games in Rio; both teams in the final had never won gold.
Ok, let's put it that way, since I guess I know what @Kakeru actually meant: there will be a brand new Olympic Champion that hasn't won any major women's tournament before.