As the morning sun dawned, the U.S. Women's Soccer Team and the German Women's Soccer Team kicked off the Olympic Women's Soccer Semi-Finals in Beijing on August 7th in a thrilling matchup. A brilliant shot by Sophia Smith at the end of overtime made the score 1-0, and the U.S. team advanced to the final with this thrilling victory, their first return to the Olympic final stage since 12 years ago.
Back in the group stage, the two teams met, resulting in the U.S. routing Germany 4-1.
In the semifinals, the U.S. team continued to control the pace of the game. In the first half, the U.S. had 64% of the ball and a 7-2 shot ratio, which seemed to give them the advantage, but the shooting efficiency wasn't good, with only one shot on target. In the second half, the two sides went back and forth, each taking six shots, but Anjomi's injury in the 74th minute put Germany in a passive position, but despite this, the two sides were still locked in a 0-0 draw.
In overtime, the deadlock was broken in the 95th minute when Sofia Smith deftly received a pass from a teammate in the box and fired a powerful shot on goal to make it 1-0! Remarkably, all three of Sofia's goals in this tournament have come for Germany. Even after falling behind, Germany took four consecutive shots on goal in the 117th-119th minutes, but still could not convert. In the end, the U.S. held a slim 1-0 advantage and raised the victory banner high.
