What is the international word for redemption?
Facing the same situation in the same spot that led to a stunning exit five years ago,, the United States women’s soccer team survived penalty kicks Friday and beat the Netherlands in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The teams played to a 2-2 tie through regulation and two extra periods before the USWNT prevailed with a 4-2 edge in penalty kicks.
Alyssa Naeher saved two penalty kicks, on top of one in regulation that would have sunk the USWNT, and Rose Lavelle, Alex Morgan, Christen Press and Megan Rapinoe all buried their attempts.
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The USWNT had four go-ahead goals in the first 120 minutes disallowed by offside calls. The second and third, both by Press, would have broken the 2-2 tie but the rulings were upheld after video replays. The fourth, by Morgan, was with just seven minutes remaining in the second extra period. The Netherlands lost a goal to the same call – bailing out an airborne Naeher as she juggled a ball – in the first extra period.
The American women fell down 1-0 on a Vivianne Miedema goal before Samantha Mewis and Lynn Williams scored in a three-minute span to put the US ahead at halftime. However, Miedema netted another in the 54th minute to even the intense game.
The US was coming off an uneven group play performance, going 1-1-t to set up a rematch with the Dutch squad they beat in the 2019 World Cup final.
In four Olympics matches, the USWNT had a remarkable nine goals taken off the board for offsides. But the resilient veteran-laden team survived – unlike in 2016, when it was ousted by Sweden in the Olympics quarterfinals – to face Canada in the semifinals.