PARIS — Trinity Rodman blasted the U.S. women’s national soccer team into an Olympic semifinal here on Saturday after 105-plus minutes of drudgery.
A sleepy, dreary quarterfinal between the USWNT and Japan droned on and on, into extra time, into stoppage time of the first extra period.
But that’s when Rodman cut inside on her non-dominant left foot, and unleashed a rocket into the top corner.
Asked afterward to describe the goal, Rodman responded with a sheepish smile: “Remind me?”
She said she had “kinda blacked out.” She remembers fullback Crystal Dunn searching for a long diagonal pass. “I honestly think that was the only way that we were gonna find a goal in that game,” Rodman said. She remembers Dunn pinging the ball … “and then I was just like, ‘AhhhhhAhhAhh!'” Rodman said with a chuckle.
On the sidelines, though, head coach Emma Hayes “knew exactly what was gonna happen.”
Rodman, in her own words, “banged it upper-90.”
And she spared the USWNT from what even Hayes admitted seemed like the most likely outcome: a penalty.
“I think we kinda knew it was going to come down to something brilliant like that,” Rodman said.
For 105-plus minutes, the Americans had been neutralized, halted by a resolute Japan team. They lacked ideas and off-ball movement. They’d been whistled by the crowd here at Parc des Princes.
But Rodman, a 22-year-old star who has found her major-tournament footing here in France, ignited the game and the crowd with her third goal of these Olympics.
The Americans held on for a 1-0 victory. They advanced to face Germany, which later ousted Canada on penalty kicks, in the semis on Tuesday. And they proved that they can win a grinder of a game at something less than their best.
The USWNT had rolled into the quarters, looking like their old high-flying selves. A youthful team had recaptured its swagger. The rest of the world surely feared that a fallen superpower had been restored by a few bright attackers and Hayes, their brilliant new British coach.
Japan apparently did. The Japanese women are one of the most technical teams in the sport. But they set up in a mid-low defensive block, in a 5-4-1 formation, and conceded possession to the U.S., apparently afraid of the American press, and of what the U.S. front line could do to them in a more open game.
Over the first 20 minutes, by one measure, the U.S. had over 80% possession.
Japan hardly got close to the U.S. penalty box. Its counterattacks fizzled, snuffed out by American athleticism. It often resorted to just booting the ball to safety, rather than trying to play soccer.
Defensively, though, the Japanese were solid. The U.S. was initially lively but imprecise. Hayes and her top assistant, Denise Reddy, stood at the top of their coaching area on the sideline, pointing and gesticulating, trying to find a way through or around the Japanese block.
The first big chance of the game actually fell to Japan. A measured attack down the left, and a clever pass into forward Mina Tanaka, led to a right-footed shot near the penalty spot. U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher did well to corral it.
And two minutes later, the Japanese flowed forward again. A loose ball bounced to Miyabi Moriya, who rushed her half-volley just a bit, and skied it.
Those two chances seemed to spook the U.S., and the rest of the half settled back into a standstill. As U.S. defenders traded non-threatening passes, some of the thousands of neutral fans here at Parc des Princes booed. One of the defenders, Naomi Girma, completed 105 first-half passes, the most by any player in a full knockout-round match at a major tournament since at least 2011, according to Opta.
Japan then opened the second half with more impetus. After a neat combination down the right, Crystal Dunn had to scramble to clear a teasing cross. Emily Sonnett took a yellow card to fell a Japan break. The U.S., meanwhile, continued to look lost in possession, out of ideas. In the 66th minute — as in the first half — neutral fans began whistling while the U.S. held possession, their European way of expressing disapproval.
The second half then labored on uneventfully. The crowd spent long spells in a hush. The U.S. looked tired, fatigued by a lack of lineup rotation in previous games. Yet Hayes made no subs until extra time, even as weary legs and minds declined to make off-ball runs. Neither side looked capable of scoring.
“We had tried all game long to get in the seams, and get in between them,” Rodman said. “And it wasn’t working.”
And so, mercifully, the game went to extra time.
In extra time, Sophia Smith almost created a goal out of nothing. She caught a Japanese defender in possession, and raced toward goal, in the clear but at a bad angle. Japan keeper Ayaka Yamashita, though, charged off her line to make her biggest save of the match.
Smith was the most lively U.S. player. But Japan smothered attack after attack. Lynn Williams replaced Mallory Swanson after 90 minutes, but nothing about the flow of the game changed.
Then, suddenly, a long ball floated toward Rodman. She took it out of the air with an excellent first touch. She jinked past a defender. And she made sure that the nearly two hours of drudgery will be forgotten.
Teammates wrapped her in a group hug at the final whistle, as Japanese players sunk to the grass, shattered. They had given everything, and frustrated the U.S. “They’re exceptional,” Hayes said. “Their block is the best in the world at doing that, in terms of the way they shift, the way they step, the way they read the rotations. They work their socks off.”
When asked if she had expected Japan to be so difficult to break down, she said: “Yeah. A million percent.”
So she was thrilled that her team found a way through eventually.
“It’s not always flashy. And it’s not always what fans want to see,” Hayes said. “But, like, this is football.”
“It’s inevitable to play games like that,” Rodman said. “We talk about it a lot: Not all soccer’s pretty soccer.”
