Canada quashes redemption quest by USA, to meet Sweden at Olympic women's football final

Megan Rapinoe (R) of the United States vies with Ashley Lawrence of Canada during the women's football semifinal match between the United States and Canada at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Ibaraki, Japan, Aug. 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Lu Yang)

Canada stunned the USA by 1-0 during the women's football semifinal at Tokyo 2020, to join Sweden in the final stage.

TOKYO, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Two 1-0 semifinals on Monday set the stage for the final showdown between Canada and Sweden at the Olympic women's football tournament.

The quest of the USA to retake the Olympic football goal medal came to an end after a 1-0 defeat to Canada, who improved from the two bronze medals at the last two Olympic Games.

The USA led in all the important stats, with 13 shots compared to Canada's 3. But it was the Canadians who converted a 73rd-minute penalty to nail a place in the final.

"Every player in the locker room has 100 things that we would all want to do better and that's the most frustrating thing for all of us. It's sad because these things only come around every so often," said U.S. player Megan Rapinoe, "It's a tough one to swallow."

"We have a medal to compete for. We obviously had goals of winning a gold medal, but any medal is really special, we can't lose sight of that," she told the post-match press conference," We have a tonne still to play for, taking home a bronze medal would be a great accomplishment for this team."

Members of Canada celebrate after winning the women's football semi final match between the United States and Canada at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Ibaraki, Japan, Aug. 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Lu Yang)

The USA has won four gold medals since the inception of the Olympic women's football tournament in 1996 but suffered an early elimination in Rio 2016.

Having arrived in Japan as reigning world champion, the USA has stumbled by a 3-0 defeat against Sweden in its opener, and only managed to reach the final four after a penalty shootout with the Netherlands.

The other semifinal between Sweden and Australia was also decided by one goal. Sweden's Fridolina Rolfo latched onto a blocked shot by the Australian goalkeeper at the beginning of the second half to seal the match at 1-0.

The final between Sweden and Canada will be played on Aug. 6.