PARIS — After a long, hot, ponderous afternoon of frustration, Trinity Rodman took the ball down, shimmied to her left and delivered a brilliant laser when the United States women’s national team needed it most.
Rodman’s blistering shot from a tight angle rippled the net in extra time, simultaneously sending the crowd into hysterics and Rodman’s teammates into a pileup on top of her. It was a magnificent goal, and one that proved to be the difference in a 1-0 U.S. victory over Japan in a tense quarterfinal match at Parc des Princes on Saturday.
The Americans will now face either Canada or Germany in the semifinals on Tuesday in Lyon.
For much of the match on Saturday, it seemed as if the Americans might not get there at all, as they struggled to unlock the Japanese defensive stance which was disciplined, regimented and stifling. Just before halftime in extra time, however, Crystal Dunn sent a searching cross-field pass and Rodman broke down the flank.
She cut her way into the box and unleashed a vicious shot with her left foot that whizzed past Ayaka Yamashita’s helpless dive. It was the latest goal scored by the U.S. in an Olympic knockout game since Alex Morgan’s late winner at Old Trafford in the semifinals of the 2012 Games, and it allowed the Americans to avoid the lottery of what had felt, at times, like an inevitable penalty shootout.
Playing their match in the same venue where the U.S. men’s team crashed out of the Olympic tournament to Morocco a day earlier, the atmosphere — which had been so heavily against the U.S. on Friday — was very much behind the Americans for this match. “U-S-A!” chants came from all sides as the teams warmed up, and the U.S. national anthem became more of a group song session.
