For 106 minutes, the United States and Japan slogged through their 2024 Olympic women’s soccer quarterfinal to the point of occasional jeers from the crowd due to the slow, passive nature of the game. To call it a chess match would be generous; tactical wit was offset by technical lapses that prevented a breakthrough.
Then came the inevitable: Trinity Rodman.
Rodman collected a long diagonal ball — a tactic the USWNT largely avoided prior to that — from Crystal Dunn, then cut inside of Japan defender Hikaru Kitagawa and smashed a left-footed shot into the far upper corner to clinch a 1-0 victory.
The goal sent the Americans through to the semifinals and guarantees they will play for a medal next week. It was also a reward for USWNT head coach Emma Hayes’ insistence on patience and steadfast desire to stick with her trusted core of players despite the three-day turnaround of the Olympic matches. The approach produced a performance unlike any other on record for a U.S. team known to play direct and thrive in transition.
The USWNT finished the match with 1,026 passes attempted, the most in a game by any team in either…
