Projo Sports Blog

By Dan Baynes
Bloomberg News

The U.S. beat Brazil 1-0 in the Olympic women's soccer final in Beijing to win its third gold medal in four attempts.

Carli Lloyd got the only goal six minutes into the first period of extra time after the teams tied 0-0 in regulation at the Workers' Stadium. The U.S. also defeated Brazil in extra time four years ago in the Athens final.

The U.S. has now won three gold medals and one silver since women's soccer became part of the Olympic program in Atlanta in 1996. Norway prevented a U.S. sweep of all four titles by beating the U.S. in the 2000 final in Sydney.

U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo stopped Brazil from taking the lead in the 72nd minute when she denied Marta with a one-handed stop from point-blank range after the women's world player of the year had beaten two defenders.

Lloyd put the U.S. ahead in the 96th minute when she collected the ball on the edge of the penalty area before angling a left-foot drive across Brazilian goalkeeper Barbara and into the far corner of the goal.

Lloyd almost made it 2-0 with three minutes of extra time remaining, when her shot struck a goalpost and rebounded away. Solo sealed the victory in the final minute by tipping away a cross from the right in a crowded penalty area.

Germany earlier took the bronze medal by beating Japan 2-0.

 Tags  Brazil Olympics women's soccer

Leave a comment

Name:

Email:

URL:  

Remember personal info?

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.