TOKYO • If there was ever a time to end the jinx, this was it.
Canada yesterday stunned the United States, handing the world champions a shock 1-0 defeat in the semi-finals of the Olympic women's football tournament to set up a clash with Sweden in Friday's showpiece match.
The Swedes beat Australia 1-0 thanks to a 46th-minute goal from Fridolina Rolfo to make their second successive Games final after their silver medal in Rio five years ago.
Canada celebrated their first win over the US since March 2001 as Jessie Fleming's penalty 15 minutes from time settled the contest.
The crucial moment, in a game which had produced little incident, came when defender Tierna Davidson challenged Deanne Rose on the edge of the penalty area.
After a video assistant referee review, a spot-kick was awarded. Canada's veteran striker Christian Sinclair initially had the ball in her hands, but Fleming took the responsibility and kept her cool to slot home.
The US, four-time world champions and the pre-Games favourites for the gold medal, went close to an equaliser when Carli Lloyd struck the bar with a header but the Canadians held on for a famous victory - just their fourth in 62 all-time meetings - and their first appearance in an Olympic final.
On finally beating the four-time gold medallists, Fleming said: "It has been a long time coming to beat those guys. We want to come away with gold now but it is really special for us to put our flag on the map."
The game was a dull affair until a triple substitution saw Megan Rapinoe, Lloyd and Christen Press come on - a change that brought new life to the American attack.
The first effort on goal finally arrived in the 65th minute with a curling shot from Lloyd and Julie Ertz went close moments later with a glancing header.
But just as the Americans were piling on the pressure, a Canada break led to the penalty award and the end of the road for Vlatko Andonovski's side.
The US have been uncharacteristically poor this tournament, failing to score in three of their five games with star striker Alex Morgan netting just once in the group stage.
Rapinoe admitted the team were just not good enough in Japan.
"It's terrible," said the co-captain.
"We just didn't have it today. Just too many errors from us again. Obviously, we never want to lose to Canada. So it's a bitter one... this sucks. It sucks."
Canada will be going into the final as underdogs as Sweden, who thrashed the US in the opening game 3-0 in a major title warning, aim to right the wrongs of Rio, where they lost to Germany 2-1.
The Matildas gave it their all and saw a goal by Sam Kerr chalked off, but Rolfo, who hit the bar early on, was the difference-maker.
Australia were reduced to 10 players in stoppage time when Ellie Carpenter was red-carded for pulling down Sweden substitute Lina Hurtig.
REUTERS
