In the early morning of August 7, Beijing time, the Olympic women's soccer semifinals began to compete, the United States women's soccer team against the German women's soccer team. Sophia Smith scored the winning goal in overtime, and the U.S. team beat the German team 1-0, successfully advancing to the final, which is also 12 years after they again entered the Olympic final.
The two teams met back in the group stage when the U.S. defeated Germany 4-1.
In this semifinal, the United States remained in control. For 45 minutes in the first half, they had 64% possession of the ball and a relatively oppressive 7-2 shot ratio, but with average shooting efficiency, the U.S. only put one of their seven shots on target, and ended the half in a 0-0 draw with Germany.
In the second half, the two teams were even with six shots each, but Germany's star striker Anjomi was injured in the 74th minute and was forced to be replaced as the teams continued their 0-0 draw.
In overtime, the U.S. broke the deadlock right from the start, when Sophia Smith scored in the middle of the penalty area from a teammate in the 95th minute to make it 1-0.Remarkably, all three of Sophia's goals in this Cup have been for Germany. Trailing until the last minute, Germany mounted a late comeback, finishing with four consecutive shots on goal in minutes 117-119, but unfortunately they failed to break through. In the end, the U.S. carried the score to the end with a 1-0 win.
