NO! CANADA!
Neighbors from north stun U.S. women in semis
KASHIMA, Japan — Carli Lloyd, clutch in so many critical moments for the U.S. women’s soccer team, failed to connect against Canada on Monday night and the Americans won’t play for a fifth Olympic gold medal.
Lloyd’s look in the 86th minute with the United States trailing by a goal hit the crossbar as Canada won, 1-0, and dropped the Americans into the bronze medal match against Australia. It is the second straight Olympics that the U.S. failed to reach the gold medal game.
The Americans were bounced from the 2016 Rio Games by Sweden in the quarterfinals.
As Canada celebrated wildly at Ibaraki Kashima Stadium, Lloyd knelt to the turf with her head in her hands.
“That wasn’t good enough,” said Lloyd, the oldest player on the U.S. team at 39 and playing in what was likely her last major tournament with the national team.
The U.S. lost starting goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher when she came down awkwardly after going up for the ball in the 20th minute. Trainers attended to her for five minutes as backup Adrianna Franch warmed up on the sideline.
Naeher tried to stay in the game, but was replaced by Franch in the 30th minute.
Canada pounced in the 74th minute on Jessie Fleming’s penalty kick, which gave Canada its first win against the United States since 2001.
Fleming booted her PK past a diving Franch and took off toward the sideline, sliding on her knees before teammates swarmed around her.
Canada will play for the gold Friday at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium against Sweden.
Canada features Quinn, a midfielder who will become the first openly transgender athlete to win an Olympic medal. Quinn won bronze in 2016 before coming out as transgender.
It is the second straight Olympics that the Americans, the two-time defending World Cup champions, will not play for the gold medal. The team was uncharacteristically uneven in Japan, starting with a 3-0 loss to Sweden that snapped a 44game unbeaten streak.
The Americans bounced back to beat New Zealand but then came a scoreless draw with Australia in the group stage. A 4-2 penalty shootout against the Netherlands on Friday advanced the U.S. to the semifinals.
U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski has been creative with his lineups throughout the tournament. On Monday, Lynn Williams, originally an alternate, started her second straight game. Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe and Samantha Mewis were on the bench to start.
Lloyd actually had two attempts against Canada. She fired off a shot in the 65th minute that forced Canadian goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe to leap to push it over the crossbar. A short time later, Labbe stopped Julie Ertz’s header off a corner from Rapinoe as the United States increased the pressure.