Trinity Rodman lifts USWNT to victory over Japan in Olympic quarterfinals

PARIS – Forward Trinity Rodman ended an extra-time stalemate with a spectacular goal and the U.S. Women’s National Team’s quest to reach the top of the podium at Paris 2024 will continue as the USA outlasted Japan, 1-0, in a tense and tight quarterfinal.

In the Olympic host city of Paris at last after spending the group stage in southern France, the U.S. was held in check for more than 105 minutes by a determined Japanese side that defended in a low block and with extreme discipline. Halfway through extra time at the Parc des Princes, however, Rodman delivered, sending the fifth-ranked Americans to an Aug. 6 semifinal in Lyon against either Germany or Canada. It will be the USWNT’s seventh trip to the final four in eight Olympic appearances.

Rodman’s game-winner at the end of the first period of overtime the latest goal the USWNT has scored in the Olympics since Alex Morgan’s goal in the 120+3 against Canada in the 2012 Olympic Semifinal.

Pandemonium in Paris!

🎥 » @NBCOlympics
pic.twitter.com/zFcxfexBws

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) August 3, 2024

The USA, under recently appointed head coach Emma Hayes, has now started an Olympic tournament with four wins for just the second time. The last came in 2012, when it wound up defeating Japan for the gold medal. USA-Japan has become a knockout-round fixture in recent years and Friday’s clash was the seventh elimination game between the pair at either a Women’s World Cup or Olympics, the most common knockout-stage fixture in the history of the two global competitions.

The U.S. now holds a 32W-1L-8D advantage over Japan all-time and has prevailed in six of those seven elimination affairs. But the one in which it fell — the memorable 2011 Women’s World Cup Final — and the challenge Japan consistently poses has left the rivalry feeling much closer on the field than it appears on paper. So it was again Friday at the Parc des Princes, where the seventh-ranked Nadeshiko nearly stymied an American attack that had netted nine times in three group-stage games.

Hayes made one change to the team that defeated Australia in the Group B finale, inserting Korbin Albert into midfield in place of the suspended Sam Coffey (yellow card accumulation). Coffey was one of three Americans, along with goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher and center back Naomi Girma, who played every minute of the group stage. Center back Tierna Davidson (leg contusion) missed her second-straight match and Emily Sonnett once again filled in admirably beside Girma.

The rest of the team remained intact as Hayes prioritized momentum and chemistry in the USA’s fourth match in 10 days and her eighth game at the helm. Those qualities would be vital, as Japan, the Group C runner-up, sat back far more than usual and forced the Americans to try and play their way through their 5-2-3 formation on defense. The U.S. held the vast majority of the ball (nearly 80% possession) during a quiet opening half hour, but the Nadeshiko were intent on testing the USA’s patience and limiting any potential attacking forays out wide or in behind.

In the 30th minute, the U.S. finally got a glimpse of the Japanese goal. A midfield flick-on by captain Lindsey Horan set forward Sophia Smith free on the right, but the striker’s shot from an acute angle missed the mark. Japan forced the first save from Naeher five minutes later as recent Utah Royals signing Mina Tanaka was able to turn on Horan and fire a low effort toward the goalkeeper. Miyabi Moriya and Rose Lavelle traded chances toward the end of the first half, but the Japanese shot went high and the American bid was comfortably saved.

The stalemate continued after intermission with Japan gradually taking a few more chances going forward although forward Mallory Swanson barely missed a 63rd-minute curler. Japan’s numerical advantage in midfield carried the potential to create problems for the USA when the ball turned over, but Korbin Albert, Horan and Lavelle rarely did. Manchester City’s Yui Hasegawa was the orchestrator of several threatening Japancounterattacks and blasted a promising look over the crossbar in the 80th. The U.S. then mustered its best attacking spell of the half during stoppage time, but it was unable to break through as the Japanese fell back and clogged shooting lanes.

The USA then entered extra time in a third-consecutive Olympic quarterfinal. The first two, against Sweden in 2016 and Netherlands in 2021, went to penalties. Hayes’ interest in avoiding another tiebreaker prompted her first substitute of the afternoon as forward Lynn Williams relieved Swanson. Smith created the USA’s best chance of the game in the 97th as she dispossessed defender Moeka Minami and raced toward goal. Japan netminder Ayaka Yamashita came out quickly and smothered Smith’s shot.

As the first period of extra time entered stoppage time, Girma tried a pass the U.S. had been lacking to that point, a longer, angled ball over the top. It proved promising. Her delivery into the right corner was won by Rodman, but the ensuing cross didn’t connect. However, the idea to bypass Japan’s bank of defenders was clearly a good one and Dunn tried it seconds later, this time from the center circle. Rodman was open again and this time she brought the ball down, raced into the box and cut the ball back against Japan’s Hikaru Kitagawa before unleashing a perfect left-footed blast over the flying Yamashita and into the upper-left corner of the net.

It was Rodman’s third goal of the Olympics, following scores against Zambia and Australia. She hadn’t scored in any of her pervious 12 USWNT appearances this year but has been flying in her first-ever Olympics. Rodman also had an assist on Smith’s opening goal against Germany, giving her a goal contribution in each of the USA’s four Olympic matches.

Naeher’s shutout was her second of the tournament and her 10th in 20 career Olympic or Women’s World Cup appearances.

The semifinal will take place at the Stade de Lyon, an iconic location in USWNT history. It was the site of the 2019 Women’s World Cup Semifinal win against England and then the defeat of Netherlands in the World Cup Final. Seven players on this Olympic squad were on that World Cup championship roster. The venue is also the home ground for Horan, who joined Lyon in 2022 and has already won a pair of French league titles and the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

Group B runner-up Germany and Group A runner-up Canada are scheduled to play later on Saturday in Marseille.

The Olympics will continue beyond Aug. 6 regardless of the semifinal result. Defeat will send the Americans to the bronze medal game on Aug. 9, while a win will bring them back to the Parc des Princes, now forever the site of Rodman’s iconic strike, for the Aug. 10 gold medal game.

GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN

USA — Trinity Rodman (Crystal Dunn), 105+2nd minute: A beautiful, long-range switch of play from Dunn found Rodman in the right corner and the in-form forward did the rest. Rodman beat Hikaru Kitagawa on the dribble and whipped a left-footed shot across the face of goal and into the upper left corner. USA 1, JPN 0 FINAL

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• The U.S. advances to the Olympic semifinals for the seventh time in eight trips to the Olympics and the 15th time in 17 total appearances at world championships, only failing to reach the semifinals at the 2016 Olympics and 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
• The USWNT improves to 32W-1L-8D against Japan, including an 8W-0L-1D against the Japanese at world championship event.
• The U.S. has now won all five meetings against Japan at the Olympics, its most wins ever against one opponent at the Olympic games.
• The USWNT has now won 12 consecutive matches in France dating back to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, its longest winning streak in any country outside of the United States.
• This marks the second time the USA and Japan have gone to extra time and the first since the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup final, which Japan won over the USA on penalty kicks.
• This was the USA’s 10th extra time match at the Olympics and the first since the 2020 Quarterfinal against the Netherlands. In that match the USS advanced 4-2 on penalty kicks after a 2-2 draw through regulation and extra time.
• The USA is now 7W-1L-2D all-time at the Olympics in extra time matches.
• This is the first time the U.S. has kept a clean sheet in the knockout rounds of the Olympics since shutting out New Zealand 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Olympics.
• With midfielder Sam Coffey suspended due to card accumulation, Korbin Albert made her first start of the Olympics. The 20-year-old Albert became the third-youngest player to ever start for the USWNT at the Olympics, trailing only Mallory Swanson (18-years-old at Rio 2016) and Tiffany Roberts (19-years-old at Atlanta 1996) and the youngest to start for the USA at a world championship since 20-year-old Tierna Davidson started and tallied two assists against Chile at Parc des Princes in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup group stage.
• Emily Sonnett made back-to-back starts for the USWNT for the first time ever at a world championship as she started again at center back in place of the injured Tierna Davidson (leg contusion).
• Rodman now has goals in back-to-back games for the second time in her international career, the only other instance coming in the USA’s September 2023 wins over South Africa.
• Her three goals are now tied Mallory Swanson for the team lead this tournament and are tied for the fifth-most by any USWNT player at single Olympics.
• At 22 years of age, Rodman is the youngest player to score for the USWNT in an Olympic knockout round match since 20-year-old Lindsay Tarpley scored in the 2004 gold medal match
• With her goal, Rodman has now been directly involved in a goal in all four matches at the Olympics, the longest streak by any USWNT player at a single major tournament since Carli Lloyd at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the longest by any USWNT player at the Olympics since Alex Morgan (6 straight) and Abby Wambach (5 straight) at the 2012 Olympics in London.

– U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT –

Match: United States Women’s National Team vs. Japan
Date: Aug. 3, 2024
Competition: Paris 2024 Olympics Quarterfinal
Venue: Parc des Princes; Paris, France
Attendance: 43,004
Kickoff: 3 p.m. local / 9 a.m. ET
Weather: 75 degrees, partly cloudy

Lineups:
USA: 1-Alyssa Naeher; 7-Crystal Dunn, 14-Emily Sonnett, 4-Naomi Girma, 2-Emily Fox (6-Casey Krueger, 120+1); 3-Korbin Albert, 10-Lindsey Horan (Capt.), 16-Rose Lavelle (13-Jenna Nighswonger, 106); 11-Sophia Smith, 9-Mallory Swanson (8-Lynn Williams, 91), 5-Trinity Rodman
Substitutes not used: 18-Casey Murphy, 15-Jaedyn Shaw, 21-Emily Sams
Suspended: 17-Sam Coffey
Head coach: Emma Hayes

JPN: 1-Ayaka Yamashita; 20-Miyabi Moriya, 6-Toko Koga (5-Hana Takahashi, 91), 4-Saki Kumagai (Capt.), 3-Moeka Minami, 13-Hikaru Kitagawa (19-Remina Chiba, 106); 14-Yui Hasegawa (16-Honoka Hayashi, 106), 10-Fuka Nagano; 15-Aoba Fujino (7-Hinata Miyazawa, 81), 11-Mina Tanaka (9-Riko Ueki, 70), 8-Kiko Seike (17-Maika Hamano, 46)
Substitute not used: 22-Shu Ohba
Head coach: Futoshi Ikeda

Stats Summary: USA / JPN
Shots: 15 / 13
Shots on Goal: 3 / 1
Saves: 1 / 2
Corner Kicks: 6 / 4
Fouls: 3 / 6
Offside: 4 / 2

Misconduct Summary:
USA – Emily Sonnett (Caution) 57th minute

Officials:
Referee: Tess Oloffson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Almira Spahic (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Francesca di Monte (ITA)
4th Official: Espen Eskas (NOR)
VAR: Ivan Bebek (CRO)
AVAR 1: David Coote (GBR)
AVAR 2: Ovidiu Hategan (ROU)

Woman of the Match: Trinity Rodman