On the verge of missing the gold-medal game for the first time, the U.S. women’s soccer team caught a break when the referee made a call rarely seen in the sport.
Then the Americans put together a final winning surge, inspired by the familiar — a pep talk from co-captain Abby Wambach.
“I know I’ve said this before,” she said she told her teammates during extra time. “But it really does just take one moment and one chance, one moment of brilliance for somebody to do something individually spectacular.”
The moment came beyond the 90 minutes of regular time, beyond the scheduled 30 minutes of extra time. In the third and final minute of injury time, with goalkeeper Hope Solo already preparing for a penalty kick shootout, Alex Morgan looped in a 6-yard header on a long cross from Heather O’Reilly, giving the U.S. a 4-3 win over Canada in the Olympic semifinals at Old Trafford.
“I don’t have much to say because I need to wrap my head around what just happened,” Solo said. “And that’s the truth of the matter. We tend to keep things interesting.”
The Americans overcame three one-goal deficits, all due to Christine Sinclair goals in the 22nd, 67th and 73rd minutes. Megan Rapinoe scored in the 54th and 70th minutes, and Wambach in the 80th for the U.S., leaving Sinclair and Wambach tied at No. 2 with 143 international goals apiece, both chasing Mia Hamm’s world record of 158.
It was the sequence that led to Wambach’s tying goal that left the Canadians fuming. It started when goalkeeper Erin McLeod was whistled for holding the ball more than six seconds, a call even U.S. coach Pia Sundhage said she had never seen before.
That gave the Americans an indirect free kick inside the area. Rapinoe took the kick and rammed it into the Canadian wall, the ball glancing off the arm of Marie-Eve Nault. Referee Christiana Pedersen of Norway then awarded the U.S. a penalty kick, which Wambach converted off the left post.
McLeod said she did not receive the usual warning from the referee about holding the ball too long, although she said the linesman had told her at the start of the second half not to slow down play.
“I think the referee was very one-sided,” McLeod said. “It was an interesting sequence of events. I think we outplayed the Americans the entire game. I think it’s unfortunate the calls went the way that they did. Of course, the Americans are a great soccer team, and today we were better, and the luck went their way.”
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