Sophia Smith fires the USWNT to its first Olympic final since 2012 with a 1-0 win vs. Germany

For so many years, the U.S. women’s soccer team won games with heart, energy, adrenaline, and a flat-out refusal to lose as much as its talent.

In recent times, the Americans’ generation of new players has faced questions about whether it had those intangibles. They too often didn’t seem to at last year’s World Cup, and even at the 2021 Olympics.

On Tuesday, a year to the day after being knocked out in Australia, this young squad showed that it has brought that flame back to life. Led by centerback Naomi Girma’s stellar defending and Sophia Smith’s 95th-minute goal, the U.S. edged Germany, 1-0, in a slugfest of an Olympic semifinal in Lyon, France.

The win returns the Americans to Paris for Saturday’s gold-medal game (11 a.m., USA Network, Telemundo 62, Peacock), their first major-tournament final since the 2019 World Cup, and their first Olympic gold-medal game since 2012.

They will face Brazil, which pulled off an all-time upset of reigning champion Spain, 4-2. The result not only knocked the world’s No. 1 team flat, but it ensures that the decades-long curse of the Olympics continues: No reigning World Cup champion has won the next Olympic title.

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If you were expecting a repeat of the Americans’ 4-1 group stage rout, you didn’t get it, but that shouldn’t have been a surprise. Rematches rarely go the same as the first meeting.

The U.S. didn’t lack for chances, with 19 shots, including 10 on target. Rose Lavelle was denied in just the fourth minute, Lindsey Horan had a close-range header saved in the 79th, and Mallory Swanson put the ball in the net in the 86th but was clearly offside.

At the defensive end, the return of midfielder Sam Coffey from a suspension and centerback Tierna Davidson from a knee injury helped limit Germany to two shots in the first half, and goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher was rarely troubled.

Davidson played only the first half, though, replaced by Emily Sonnett for the second and beyond. It was unclear whether that was planned. Girma played every minute, and was exceptional even by her high standards: five clearances, three interceptions, 13 recoveries, and an astonishing 125 completed passes from 132 attempts.

U.S. manager Emma Hayes made her first attacking substitution in the 60th minute, withdrawing attacking midfielder Lavelle for forward Lynn Williams and dropping forward Swanson into Lavelle’s spot.

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Hayes then made a big call at the start of extra time with a double move: a left back swap of Jenna Nighswonger for Crystal Dunn, and a central midfield swap of Korbin Albert for captain Lindsey Horan.

Horan hadn’t had a great game, completing just 26 of 35 passes to go with two shots and seven defensive recoveries. It was all the more disappointing because Horan plays her club soccer in the same stadium where she played for her country on Tuesday, with many of her Lyon teammates in the stands.

Smith’s breakthrough didn’t quite come out of nowhere, given the relative openness of an extra-time game played in 90-degree heat. But it was sudden.

Coffey played Swanson up the middle, who then sent a ball ahead that initially looked unreachable for Smith. Yet she remarkably managed to shoot from behind German right back Felicitas Rausch, and angled the shot over onrushing goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger.

“I felt like I had to do that for this team — we’ve been working so hard,” Smith told NBC after the game. “I found a way to put it away. But honestly, I don’t remember anything that just happened in the past 100-and-whatever-many-minutes.”

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The game was far from over, with 25 minutes of extra time still to go. Hayes sent in defender Casey Krueger for Swanson in the 111th to try to close things out, though it was a risk to leave the U.S. with just two midfielders.

When Germany won a corner kick in the 114th, U.S. fans held their breath. But the Germans didn’t play it well, and when Naeher caught the ball in the air, she fell to the ground in thanks.

The biggest hold-your-breath moment came in the 119th, when Germany won a free kick. Klara Bühl hit it into the wall but was able to loop the rebound over the defense. Before anyone could figure out whether Laura Freigang and Sjoke Nüsken were offside (they were not), Naeher leaped into a spectacular kick save of Freigang’s header — a Penn State product denying another ex-Nittany Lion. (Freigang spent two years in State College before beginning her professional career in her native country.)

Emily Fox blasted the ball away, Germany regained it, and Sonnett repelled the next foray with a header. Smith sprinted to the loose ball and blazed past two defenders, but couldn’t shoot around an onrushing Berger.

At least the Americans got a corner kick out of it, and were able to keep the ball at that end of the field until the final whistle. When it came, Hayes pumped fists to the crowd, and her players celebrated with unrequited joy.

“It means absolutely everything,” Smith told NBC. “We had a hard year last year. Things didn’t go how we wanted to at all. We knew we were better than that, we know we have so much potential in this group. We’re a young group, but we can be so good, and we showed that and we’ve been showing that every single game.”

Now they’re one win away from seizing back their predecessors’ throne. And coincidentally, they will play for gold on Smith’s 24th birthday.

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