U.S. women’s soccer loses to Canada in Tokyo Olympics, will play for bronze

The U.S. lost their goalkeeper Monday, then they lost their shot at a gold medal, with Jessie Fleming beating backup keeper Adrianna Franch on a penalty kick in the 76th minute to give Canada a 1-0 win in a Tokyo Olympics semifinal.

The game turned in large part on a video replay, with Ukrainian referee Kateryna Monzul overruling her own call that U.S. defender Tierna Davidson had not fouled Canada’s Deanne Rose, who ran up the American’s back at the right edge of the penalty area. But after a long pause, the replay official convinced Monzul to take a look at the video, and the referee awarded the penalty.

Canadian captain Christine Sinclair, who has a record 187 international goals, walked the ball to the spot. But rather than shooting against Franch, her club teammate with the Portland Thorns, she handed the ball to Fleming, a former UCLA standout, who calmly slotted it inside the right post.

Canada will face the winner of the second semifinal between Sweden and Australia in the gold-medal game Friday while the U.S. will face the loser for bronze. The U.S., which had reached the final of the five first Olympic tournaments, has not played for the gold since 2012.

Monday’s win ended nearly two decades of heartache for eighth-ranked Canada, which hadn’t beat the U.S. in 37 tries dating to March 2001. That streak includes a bitterly contested semifinal in the 2012 Olympics, which the U.S. won on an Alex Morgan goal with just seconds left in the second overtime.