Eric Martinez (writer)
First place finish in Group B and qualified to knockout stage, USA Women’s Olympic soccer team prepares for Japan
The goal for the U.S. Women’s Olympic team is to play well enough to advance to a medal round game. In order for that to happen, the team had to win a group that had Germany and Australia in it. USA had taken care of business accumulating 6 points in their first two matches in Group B defeating Zambia and Germany.
In order for USA to win the group, USA needed to beat Australia, and at least accumulate a point in case of a draw. Wednesday’s game in Marseille saw a USA team that released an all-out attack that totaled 20 shots on goal, with 9 shots on target. The ball possession was evident for the USA with the Americans having the ball 67% of the game. The score may be misleading with the USA beating Australia 2 to 1, but it took until injury time for Australia to score in the 91st minute.
With a 2 to 1 win, USA now will face Japan in the knockout stage on Saturday. Japan advanced from Group C with Spain. Japan dropped their first match against highly favored Spain, but bounced back to defeat Brazil and Nigeria to advance with 6 points. Trinity Rodman and Korbin Albert netted two goals for the U.S. Women’s Olympic soccer team, and will need as many scoring chances as possible on Saturday against Japan.
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