U.S. women survive penalty shootout to advance to Olympic soccer semifinals

This time, the United States didn’t falter in an Olympic quarterfinal penalty shootout.

Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher made two saves and Megan Rapinoe scored the winner in a 4-2 victory Friday morning after the teams tied 2-2 over 120 minutes in Yokohama, Japan.

Naeher stopped Dutch star Vivianne Miedema’s shot to open the shootout and also shut down Aniek Nouwen in the fourth round. Meanwhile, Americans Rose Lavelle, Christen Press and Alex Morgan converted their attempts ahead of Rapinoe’s game-winner.

“The beauty of this team is when things aren’t going right we get results,” said striker Lynn Williams, who had a goal and an assist in the first half.

The United States faces Canada on Monday in a semifinal after the Canadians edged Brazil with a 4-3 shootout victory. Sweden will face Group G rival Australia in the other semifinal. The Swedes defeated Japan 3-1 while Australia eliminated Great Britain 4-3 on penalties.

With the United States’ victory, three Group G teams reached the medal round.

But the Americans’ placement in the final four was very much in doubt through the second half and two extra periods.

“I felt we grew in the game and dominated most of the second half,” Dutch goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal said through a translator.

The Netherlands had the storied U.S. soccer team on the backfoot in a riveting go-for-broke game featuring the 2019 Women’s World Cup finalists.

“We actually deserved to win,” Netherland coach Sarina Wiegman said.

But then came the penalty shootout, one of the cruelest ways to determine a victor, particularly after 120 minutes of hard-fought play.

The situation was reminiscent of the Rio Games when the Americans were eliminated by Sweden on penalty kicks. It was the first time the United States failed to reach the gold-medal game at the Olympics.

The United States came to the Tokyo Games looking for redemption and a fifth gold medal since women’s soccer was added to the Olympics in 1996.

It came down to Naeher, 33, a former Penn State All-American. Naeher had been Hope Solo’s understudy in the last Olympics. But after the defeat to Sweden, the firey Solo called the winners “cowards” for their defense-first strategy.

U.S. Soccer officials suspended Solo, who never represented the national team again. Since then, Naeher has been the team’s keeper.

Unlike Solo, Naeher doesn’t have a big public persona.

“That calmness is what helps her in goal,” Williams said. “She kept us in the game. I don’t know how she does it.”

Before the game, Naeher told reporters that backing up great goalkeepers helped mold her. She described her years as a backup as invaluable “to try to just continue to hone my craft and find out what kind of goalkeeper I wanted to be.”

Naeher did it with laser focus when stopping Miedema, who appeared in her 100th game for the Netherlands. Stopping the Olympics’ leading goalscorer gave the Americans a boost.

U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski started a surprising lineup keeping stars Rapinoe, Morgan, Press and Lavelle on the bench in the first half. But he said in a news conference he and his staff considered all options, including the one that unfolded Friday at Yokohama International Stadium.

“The players that came were the players who took the penalty kicks,” he said. “That was part of the plan.”

The Dutch dominated the second half after trailing 2-1 at the intermission, backing up their pre-game claims that they weren’t afraid of the vaunted Americans.

The United States defeated Holland 2-0 in the 2019 World Cup finale in France. Two years later the Dutch have caught up.

The United States had two potential game-winning goals disallowed by offside calls. The first came in the 110th minute when Press, a Stanford alumna, had scored.

Moments later it was Cal graduate Morgan’s winner that was nullified. It was the ninth U.S. goal at the Tokyo Games called back because of offside calls.

Naeher led the Americans throughout the game. She saved a strong shot by Miedema in the 103rd minute after a big save of Lieke Martens’s penalty kick with nine minutes left in regulation.

The referee awarded the penalty after Stanford’s Kelley O’Hara brought down Lineth Beernsteyn in the center of the area.

But Holland kept pushing in the final minutes against the United States, which finished Group G play 1-1-1, losing to Sweden 3-0 in the opener. The Dutch were unimpressed.

“We have again scored eight (goals), which I think is also a gesture to show that we are not afraid of America,” midfielder Danielle van de Donk said before the game. “Let them keep [their] form because in my eyes they are not very strong now.”

No. 5 Holland stunned the United States in the 28th minute when Meidema got the ball in the penalty area, turned, and scored just like that for a 1-0 lead.

The U.S. response could not have been better.

Sam Mewis scored on a header between two defenders a minute later to level the score.  The goal-scoring play started when Williams found Mewis in the center of the box from the right flank.

Then it was Williams’ turn in the 31st minute. Williams, from Fresno, originally had been an alternate until Olympic rosters were expanded to 22 players just before the Games opened.

Williams got the ball on a header from Mewis and created enough space to score.

But Meidema got her second goal — and 10th of the Olympic tournament — to make it 2-2 in the 54th minute  The Dutch star got past Santa Clara alum Julie Ertz and fired toward the near post. Naeher dove but couldn’t stop the ball from crossing the line.

Four minutes later, Andonovski sent on Morgan, Press and Lavelle, a move that paid dividends by the time it came to a shootout.

United States’ Carli Lloyd, right, and Netherlands’ Stefanie van der Gragt battle for the ball during a women’s quarterfinal soccer match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Yokohama, Japan. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) United States’ Lynn Williams, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against Netherlands during a women’s quarterfinal soccer match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Yokohama, Japan. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) Netherlands’ Vivianne Miedema, center, celebrates after scoring his side’s 2nd goal during a women’s quarterfinal soccer match against United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Yokohama, Japan. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) Netherlands’ Vivianne Miedema, right, scores his side’s first goal during a women’s quarterfinal soccer match against United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Yokohama, Japan. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)