Canada v United States (2012 Summer Olympics)

The matchup between the U.S. and Canada was the 52nd in the history of the series. The U.S. held a 43–3–5 advantage, and they had not lost to Canada since 2001. en route to earning the gold medal. At the final of the 2012 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the U.S. and Canada met, having already clinched places in the Olympics. The U.S. won by a 4–0 margin. Canada opened the group stage of the tournament on 25 July against Japan, who was coming off victory in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. The world champions opened the scoring in the 33rd minute on a goal from inside the penalty area by Nahomi Kawasumi. Just before halftime, Aya Miyama doubled Japan's lead with a headed goal in the 44th minute, and came close to another goal in the 51st minute, when Canada's Lauren Sesselmann was forced into a goal-line clearance. After a slow start to the game, Canada pulled a goal back in the 56th minute as Melissa Tancredi scored, but the match ended 2–1 in favor of Japan. Canada's next game was three days later against South Africa. Tangredi scored a goal in the seventh minute, and in the second half Sinclair netted twice, as the Canadians won 3–0. On 31 July, Sweden opposed Canada in the final game of the teams' group stage play, and scored twice early in the game to take the lead. Tancredi cut Canada's deficit in half near the end of the first half, and added a second in the second half as Canada secured a 2–2 draw. The team finished third in the group and advanced to the quarterfinals, having finished with the best record of any team outside the top two in their group. The U.S. entered the Olympic tournament as one of the favorites. They opened the group stage on 25 July at Hampden Park against France, who they had defeated in the semifinals of the previous year's World Cup. France, who had won 17 straight games entering the contest, scored twice in the opening 15 minutes, on goals by Gaëtane Thiney and Marie-Laure Delie. Later in the first half, the U.S. responded with goals by Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan, which left the game tied 2–2 at halftime. The U.S. took the lead in the 56th minute on a long-range shot by Carli Lloyd, and 10 minutes later Morgan added a second goal to give the U.S. a 4–2 margin, which proved to be the final score. Old Trafford played host to the last U.S. group stage game, against North Korea on 31 July. A 25-minute goal by Wambach was enough to give the U.S. a 1–0 victory and first place in the group. In the quarterfinal stage, the Americans were opposed by New Zealand. In the 27th minute, a right-footed cross from Morgan found Wambach, who slotted the ball past New Zealand goalkeeper Jenny Bindon to give the U.S. the first goal of the game. The score remained the same until the 87th minute, when U.S. substitute Sydney Leroux finished a counterattack by hitting a right-footed shot into the corner of the net, a goal that clinched a 2–0 U.S. win and a spot in the semifinals against Canada. ==Match summary==

The Canada–U.S. semifinal was held at Old Trafford in Manchester on 6 August in front of 26,630 spectators. In the opening minutes of the game, the U.S. applied pressure on the Canadian defense but managed little in the way of shot attempts. Writer Cathal Kelly described the early play as "a grind", a Canada move saw Sinclair receive a pass from Marie-Ève Nault and spin to create space in the box, where her shot beat U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo for the match's first goal. Three minutes later, the U.S. countered. A long pass from the left side of the field by Kelley O'Hara found Rapinoe on the right. for holding the ball in her hands for longer than six seconds without releasing it. The call, which is highly uncommon in soccer, resulted in an indirect free kick being awarded to the U.S. inside Canada's 18-yard box. McLeod had not officially received a warning in the game, but the topic of speeding up her taking of kicks had been brought up to her by an assistant referee during halftime. Wambach had started loudly counting the seconds McLeod was holding the ball in an effort to draw the referee's attention. On the free kick, Tobin Heath tapped the ball to Rapinoe, who attempted a shot. The ball deflected off Matheson and was judged to have been handled by Nault, giving the U.S. a penalty kick. Wambach's spot kick beat McLeod and went into the corner of the net, tying the score at 3–3 in the 80th minute. Both teams had quality scoring chances during the rest of regulation play. In the 85th minute, Morgan ran into the Canadian box and fired a shot. Wambach stretched out to make contact with it, but her effort went wide. After a shot by Morgan that McLeod saved, Canada had a spell of possession, which culminated in an 89th minute shot by an onrushing Schmidt from the right. The shot, from a tight angle, forced Solo into a save. Added time ended with a header by Leroux off a corner kick that went over the goal, sending the game into extra time. The teams continued generating opportunities in the first period of extra time. Rapinoe had a shot go narrowly over the crossbar in the 92nd minute, while a Schmidt free kick in the 96th minute resulted in an overhead kick attempt by Tancredi, which was weakly struck and stopped by Solo. The U.S. had a couple of other shot attempts and controlled most of the play until halfway through extra time, but no goals were scored. In the second period of extra time, the teams maintained what The Guardians Graham Parker called "high octane intense soccer." Wambach nearly had a potential game-winning goal in the 119th minute, when Morgan delivered a cross for her to hit a looping header while leaning back, but the attempt went off the crossbar. Going into added time, it appeared that the game was heading to a penalty shootout, but in the 123rd minute, U.S. substitute Heather O'Reilly delivered a cross into the Canadian box, which Morgan headed past McLeod into the top right corner of the goal. The strike gave the U.S. a 4–3 lead, which they held until the end of the contest. Details ==Post-match==

Following the game, The Guardian Scott Murray called the U.S.–Canada semifinal "the greatest knockout match in major-tournament football" since the 1982 FIFA World Cup semifinal between West Germany and France. Writing for the Toronto Star, Cathal Kelly called it "probably the best game of women's football ever played." A few years after the game, Kelly referred to Canada's defeat as "perhaps the most mythic, vexing, and binding" one a Canadian team had suffered. Pedersen's foul call against McLeod proved controversial in the aftermath of the game. Murray remarked that "nobody in any form of professional football has been pulled up for [holding the ball] since the days crossbars were made out of tape". Following the semifinal round, she received a four-match ban from FIFA for "unsporting behaviour"; the suspension was due to comments directly made to an official after the game. In that match, in which France opposed Canada, the Canadians won 1–0 thanks to a Matheson goal. From a 75th-minute penalty by Jessie Fleming, Canada defeated the U.S. 1–0. In a reversal of the London results, the U.S. won the bronze while Canada won their first gold medal. ==References==