2012 Summer OlympicsSoccerVideo

Canada Gets Some Redemption, Scores In Stoppage Time For Bronze

Canada’s loss to the U.S. the Olympic women’s soccer semifinals was about as bitter as a loss can get. Not only did Alex Morgan score the winning goal for the Americans less than a minute before the match was set to move to penalty kicks, but the U.S. also benefited from a call that was strange at best, terrible at worst. But while that defeat put them out of the running for the top prize, they still had a chance to medal if they could beat France today in a match for the bronze.

And for much of the match, it looked like a French breakthrough was inevitable. There was a run during the second half when the Frenchwomen had scoring chance after scoring chance – while I was also occupied writing about important issues at the time, for a while it seemed like every time I looked up, France had just had another near-miss. But the shots only count if they go in, and after 90 minutes of play, neither team had actually netted one. Were we in for a repeat of the Canada-U.S. semifinal? Was Canada in for yet more heartbreak? Enter Diana Matheson, via CTV:

Hard not to feel good for Canada here – had they lost another match in similar fashion to the semifinal defeat, that would have been brutal to watch, much less experience. (On that same note, tough to feel bad for France, because after completely dominating stretches like they did, to have it end like that… oof.) But that’s the thing with soccer, where every opportunity to score is especially valuable: one moment can make or break a match. Canada made it happen when it counted today, and now the French team feels like Canada felt earlier this week. Sports – they’re pretty cool sometimes. And also crushing.