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Key events
Full time: USA 2-1 Australia
Give Australia credit for a late surge. But the lesson here is that a team that fancies itself a medal contender should play the USA straight-up rather than packing it in and hoping Smith, Rodman and Swanson misfire.
Australia harbor a slim chance of advancing. They will likely be seeking a new coach.
Naeher punches clear. Australia play it back, but they’re offside, and that should do it.
Replay confirms that the offside call was correct.
90 min +7: A long throw-in. Cleared. It’ll be an Australian corner. Arnold comes forward. This is the last-ditch effort.
90 min +6: Kennedy again has the ball in a dangerous spot, but Krueger intervenes, perhaps a bit lucky not to be called for impeding – what used to be called “obstruction” and is almost never called, anyway.
90 min +5: That Australian goal, incidentally, is only the second one conceded in the Emma Hayes Era.
An Australian attack breaks down, but they have ramped up the pressure and nearly win it back.
90 min +4: I think Germany scored again. Yeah, they did. Good for them.
Australia’s touch lets them down deep in their own end, and they give up a throw-in.
90 min +3: There are seven minutes of stoppage time. Australia will press forward to save their Olympics.
And a CHANCE as Kennedy sends a header just wide as Naeher comes out ineffectively.
Goal! USA 2-1 Australia (Kennedy 90+2)
A cross, a Michelle Heyman flick-on, and Alanna Kennedy beats Emily Sonnett to the ball to poke it home.
Well now …
89 min: CHANCE for Australia! A flicked header from Catley goes just wide of the far post. Naeher would’ve struggled to get there. That was their shot.
88 min: Australia have a 4-to-1 numerical advantage on a loose ball in their own penalty area, and it takes forever for them to clear it.
Finally, they get up the field and earn a corner kick.
87 min: Australia are having to defend far too much here, scrambling back to contain the fresh-legged US attack.
The Matildas get up the field, but Girma cuts out the cross.
84 min: The game is racing at full speed now, but the USA finally realize they can calm things down, and they do so.
Australia show no signs of being able to get back in this.
Tameka Yallop will enter in an attempt to change that.
82 min: What … how?
Smith brilliantly cuts inside and shoots. It hits the inside of the near post. It trickles across the goal line. It hits the inside of the far post. At last, Arnold collects.
How that didn’t go in is a mystery. Or at least a question for a physics professor.
81 min: I often get nasty email when I say a player took a dive, but … Jenna Nighswonger just took a dive. The ref buys it, to Ellie Carpenter’s consternation.
I wonder how much the game would change if we had VAR for potential simulation.
79 min: CHANCE for Australia, as Nighswonger switches off for a second and allows Australia to keep the ball in play. It ends up with a hard shot from outside the penalty area from van Egmond, and Krueger is there to block.
Croix Bethune, an injury replacement on the US roster, comes in to replace Mallory Swanson.
78 min: NBC’s Jon Champion points out that, for all the pre-Games controversy, Albert’s teammates flocked to her after the goal. Maybe, but the celebration didn’t last long.
Goal! USA 2-0 Australia (Albert 77)
An atrocious pass from the Australian defense goes straight to Albert, who traps it 25 yards out and then blasts it into the upper corner. Screamer.
75 min: Swanson with a cross to the far post for Horan, who tries to reach a foot onto it but can’t.
74 min: Hydration break.
Current standings:
9 USA
6 Germany (+2 goal difference)
3 Australia (-3 goal difference)
0 Zambia
Reminder: Brazil finished with 3 points and a -2 goal difference, so there’s no way Australia would be ahead of them with a loss. If Australia lose, they’d likely need Colombia to either hold Canada to a draw or lose by a lot. Or maybe New Zealand could beat France by three goals.
73 min: Australia are really going for it now. They press as the US defenders and Naeher pass the ball around the back, and they force a turnover but can’t maintain possession.
71 min: The USA’s passing got sharper as the first half went on, but they just had a discombobulated effort to surrender possession.
Australia’s effort to get forward is snuffed out as Krueger shields the ball out of play for a throw-in.
70 min: A US corner prompts a few aggravating seconds of positioning in the penalty area. It’s eventually cleared.
68 min: The US subs are pretty easy to figure out. Lynn Williams is a straight swap for Rodman. Krueger replaces Fox at the back. Albert is likely playing the same No. 6 role as Coffey, though picking up a yellow card right away was maybe too literal of a replacement.
67 min: Albert wastes no time picking up a yellow card for rugby tackle on Foord. That wasn’t smart. She’s on thin ice with the US fan base already due to some social media things.
Australia put the ball in a dangerous spot, but they’re offside.
Bear in mind – all Australia need is one goal. That’s it. They’d be through.
64 min: Aerial cross toward Heyman, who isn’t far off.
NOW we get the USA subs …
IN: Lynn Williams, Korbin Albert, Casey Krueger
OUT: Trinity Rodman (on a yellow card from a previous game, therefore a risk to miss the quarterfinal), Emily Fox, Rose Lavelle
Sam Coffey, who was lucky to avoid a second yellow in this game (she already has two for the tournament), remains out there. That’s odd.
64 min: Sophia Smith tries a 360-degree spin move to get past two defenders, but when the ball was played to her, she was already past them. Offside. Easy call.
62 min: The ball goes out of play, and … we still don’t have the subs. Strange.
Australia keep possession for a few passes before losing control.
61 min: The USA prep a hockey line change, but they can’t make it yet.
Australia on the attack, and it’s Raso – thankfully not subbed out – with a shot that gets blocked.
The USA try to break the other way, but the ball is too far ahead of Smith, and Arnold collects.
59 min: Here come the subs. Michelle Heyman, who scored the winner against Zambia, replaces … Raso? Oh, come on. Is Australia removing its most dangerous player.
Ah … no. It’ll be Torpey instead.
Emily van Egmond replaces Gorry.
That is a lot of experience coming into the game.
57 min: And it’s 3-1 Germany. Lea Schueller is wide open 10 yards out to take the cross to her feet and slam home her second goal of the game.
56 min: Torpey makes a nice move on the left and whips a cross in the air, though a shot might have been a better idea.
This is so much better than the first half. Soccer rewards patience, doesn’t it?
55 min: I’ve looked up the goals from Germany-Zambia – Klara Buehl put Germany up 2-0 in the 47th, and then who else but Barbra Banda? The NWSL’s scoring leader scored in the 49th.
Back in this game, Sam Coffey flirts with a second yellow card. NBC’s Julie Foudy is perplexed that she’s still in the game, having already picked up a yellow that will keeper her out of the quarterfinals.
54 min: Rodman sends a dangerous cross to Smith, but she was offside.
This is indeed the more entertaining encounter for which we all hoped.
53 min: Shot on goal for Australia! Raso was perhaps a bit impatient there, but she sends a knuckling ball in on target to test Naeher’s alertness.
52 min: Lavelle figures “Why not?” from 22 yards out, and her shot deflects off a defender’s head for a corner.
The USA haven’t been strong on set pieces in recent years, lacking a target forward like Abby Wambach, but they scored on one here.
From that corner, it’s a 25-yard shot by Naomi Girma, who misses her first international goal by about a foot.
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