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In-Game Blog: USA vs. Canada

ChulaVista

Member
USA, CANADA SQUARE OFF IN OLYMPIC SEMIFINALS: The U.S. Women’s National Team will meet a familiar opponent in its semifinal clash at the 2012 Olympics, taking on Canada at 2:45 p.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 6, at Old Trafford in Manchester, England. The match will be broadcast live on the NBC Sports Network, NBC Olympic Soccer Channel and streamed on NBC Live Extra. Fans can follow the match via ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker and on Twitter @ussoccer_wnt. The winner of USA-Canada will face the winner of the other semifinal featuring Japan and France with the gold medal to be determined on Thursday, Aug. 9, at Wembley Stadium in London.

HOW THEY GOT HERE:

USA 2, New Zealand 0: Abby Wambach scored her fourth straight goal in this year’s Olympics with the game-winner in the 27th minute and Sydney Leroux added her first Olympic goal as insurance in the 87th minute as the USA improved to 4-0-0 in this year’s Summer Games. The U.S. posted its third straight shutout.

Canada 2, Great Britain 0: Canada’s Jonelle Filigno opened with a 12th-minute half-volley that found the upper right corner of the goal and Christine Sinclair pushed the lead to two in the 26th minute with her free kick going through the right side of Great Britain’s wall as Canada quickly took control against host Great Britain in front of nearly 29,000 at Coventry Stadium. Great Britain entered the match after having outscored its Group E opponents by a 5-0 margin, capping off the group stage with a 1-0 victory against Brazil.

USA vs. CANADA SERIES
  • The most recent meeting between the USA and Canada came on June 30 in the USA’s Olympic Send-Off Match, a 2-1 victory at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. Amy Rodriguez scored the game-winning goal in the 85th minute to break a 1-1 tie.
  • In 2011, Wambach carried the USA offense in two matches against Canada, tallying two goals during a 3-0 win against Canada on Sept. 22, preceded by Wambach’s lone goal for a 1-1 draw on Sept. 17. Lindsay Tarpley tallied a game-winner on Jan. 23 during the USA’s 2-1 victory over Canada.
  • In the only previous Olympic match between the U.S. and Canada, the USA came out on top with a 2-1 victory in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics on Aug. 15. Natasha Kai tallied the game-winner in the 101st minute, Angela Hucles had the USA’s other goal in the 12th minute and Christine Sinclair had Canada’s lone goal in the 30th minute.

IN THE RECORD BOOKS

  • Abby Wambach scored her eighth career Olympic goal during the USA’s 1-0 win against New Zealand on Aug. 3. She is atop the U.S. leaderboard in career Olympic goals, having surpassed the previous record of five held by Mia Hamm and Tiffeny Milbrett.
  • Sydney Leroux’s second-half goal against New Zealand on Aug. 3 was her eighth of the year. All eight goals have come off the bench, matching teammate Amy Rodriguez’s 2012 total as a sub. Leroux and Rodriguez are the best off-the-bench duo in U.S. WNT history with their combined 16 goals in 2012, easily surpassing the previous 12-goal record from Debbie Keller and Tisha Venturini in 1998. Keller still holds the WNT record with nine goals off the bench in 1998, but Leroux and Rodriguez are within one goal of matching a mark that has stood for nearly 14 years.

TODAY'S LINEUP

USA: 1-Hope Solo; 6-Amy LePeilbet, 3-Christie Rampone (capt.), 16-Rachel Buehler, 5-Kelley O’Hara; 15-Megan Rapinoe, 10-Carli Lloyd, 12-Lauren Cheney, 17-Tobin Heath; 13-Alex Morgan, 14-Abby Wambach

Available subs: 2-Heather Mitts, 4-Becky Sauerbrunn, 7-Shannon Boxx, 8-Amy Rodriguez, 9-Heather O’Reilly, 11-Sydney Leroux, 18-Nicole Barnhart

CAN: 18-Erin McLeod; 7-Rhian Wilkinson, 4-Carmelina Moscato, 10-Lauren Sesselmann, 20-Marie-Eve Nault; 8-Diana Matheson, 11-Desiree Scott, 13-Sophie Schmidt; 12-Christine Sinclair, 14-Melissa Tancredi, 16-Jonelle Filigno

Available subs: 1-Karina LeBlanc, 2-Emily Zurrer, 3-Chelsea Stewart, 5-Robyn Gayle, 9-Candace Chapman, 6-Kaylyn Kyle, 15-Kelly Parker, 17-Brittany Timko

FULLTIME: Alex Morgan saves the U.S. with a header at the death! The U.S. is into the gold medal match!

What an amazing match! Alex Morgan scored the game-winning goal in the 123rd minute of the Olympic semifinal match as the U.S. Women’s National Team overcame three deficits during regulation to defeat Canada 4-3 in overtime in one of the most exciting and dramatic matches in Olympic history.

The USA advances to its fifth straight gold medal game where it will face Japan in a rematch of the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final. Japan defeated France 2-1 in the other semifinal.

IN-GAME NOTES:

  • Today's match marks the USA's 500th international game.
  • Megan Rapinoe's goals were her second and third career Olympic goals.
  • Alex Morgan scored the 30th goal of her young career, moving into a third-place tie with Brandi Chastain for 15th place in career U.S. WNT tallies.
  • Morgan has a team-high 20 goals this year, moving into a tie for fourth place on the all-time list for goals during a calendar year with Mia Hamm (1998), Kristine Lilly (1999) and Abby Wambach (2007), who all had 20 goals in their respective campaigns.
  • The USA improved to 93-2-5 all-time when Wambach scores a goal.
  • In games where Morgan and Wambach have both contributed at least one goal, the team is now 9-0-0 this year.
  • The U.S. improved to 389-57-54 all-time in its 500th international match on Monday.
  • Defender Christie Rampone played in her 21st career Olympic match.
  • The USA has won gold in three out of the four Olympic women’s soccer tournaments that have been contested previously while also taking a silver medal in 2000.
  • Becky Sauerbrunn entered the game in the 110th minute – seeing action in her second game of the tournament – and played an excellent 10 minutes to help the USA to victory.

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