Tuesday night’s intense semi-finals set the stage for the women’s football finals and the third-place play-offs at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Arsenal Women’s Emily Fox has made it to the Final with the US Women’s National Team (USWNT), while our World Champion Gunners Mariona Caldentey & Laia Codina’s Spain will play in the 3rd place play-off after losing to Brazil in the semi-finals.
USA vs. Germany (1-0)
Emily Fox, who many believed had suffered an injury against Japan in the quarter-finals weekend, started the game and played the entire 120 minutes. After 90 minutes, the two teams remained locked in a 0-0 draw. However, five minutes into extra time, the United States broke the tie with Sophia Smith, and Germany, who were missing top player and captain Alex Pop, were unable to respond, losing 1-0. Fox and her US teammates will compete in the Olympics final against Brazil on August 10th at 4 p.m. UK time.
Spain vs. Brazil (2-4)
Brazil stunned Laia Codina, Mariona Caldentey, and their Spanish teammates. The South Americans did not come to play, as by halftime, they had a comfortable 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Irene Paredes (an own goal) and Gabi Portilho. The Spanish World Champions were unable to mount a comeback in the second half, conceding a third goal in the 71st minute when Adriana scored. Duda Sampaio’s own goal in the 85th minute of the Olympic semi-finals gifted Spain a consolation goal. Unfortunately, Brazil scored their fourth goal six minutes later via Kerolin. Salma Paralluelo then scored, but it was too late in the game to stage a comeback. Caldentey, who played every minute of that 4-2 loss, Codina, who subbed off in the 77th minute, and their Spanish teammates will face Germany for the bronze medal on Friday afternoon, 9th August.
Aside from Fox hopefully becoming an Olympic gold medallist and Caldentey and Codina hopefully picking bronze, the fantastic upshot of these Olympics is that our girls went through the competition largely injury-free (hopefully nothing happens in the final games), and they’ll be fired up ahead of the 2024–25 season, in which we expect our Gunner women to excel.
Do you think Emma Hayes USWNT can beat Brazil Women on Saturday?
Michelle M
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