US and Japan to face off again in Olympic final

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Japan and the United States made it through the semifinals of the women's Olympic football tournament Monday, setting up a rematch of the World Cup final won by the Japanese just a year ago.

Japan beat France 2-1 in London and the United States defeated Canada 4-3 in extra time in a thrilling match at Old Trafford in Manchester.

The U.S. will be going for revenge and its third-straight gold medal. Japan will be playing in its first Olympic final to try to show its World Cup win was not a fluke.

Japan opened a two-goal lead against France and then held on for the victory, surviving a missed penalty kick by the French in the final minutes.

The U.S. came from behind three times to send the match against Canada into extra time, then got an injury-time winner from Alex Morgan to advance. She headed the ball into the net after a cross by Heather O'Reilly as time was about to expire, putting the U.S. in the gold medal match for the fifth straight time.

"This team refuses to lose and always finds a way to win," U.S. coach Pia Sundhage said. "There is something special, about this team."

Christine Sinclair scored for Canada in the 22nd, 67th and 73rd minutes, but the U.S. rallied with goals by Megan Rapinoe in the 54th and 70th minutes and by Abby Wambach from a penalty kick in the 80th.

"If I'm sitting in the stands watching this game and not rooting for any team, it's fantastic, it's entertaining," Sundhage said. "This is when it really matters, it's not a friendly, it's the semifinals of the Olympics."

The Americans have played in the gold medal match in every Summer Games since women's football was introduced in Atlanta in 1996.

Canada was trying to secure its first top-three finish at an Olympics or World Cup. It was also trying to end a 26-match winless streak against the Americans. It had been eliminated by the U.S. in extra time in the quarterfinals in Beijing four years ago.

Canada coach John Herdman loudly complained of the refereeing of Christiana Pedersen of Norway, especially in the penalty awarded to the United States. He didn't think it was a hand ball and was in awe that Pedersen awarded an indirect free kick against goalkeeper Erin McLeod for holding the ball inside the area for more than six seconds. The indirect kick led to the hand ball.

"Two bizarre decisions. I've never seen a decision like that given. An indirect free-kick without a real warning or a yellow card, just a bit random," he said. "And then the handball when something just gets blasted at you."

Japan reached its first Olympic final with the win over France at Wembley. Its best result so far had been a fourth-place finish in 2008 in Beijing, when it lost to the U.S. in the semifinals.

"Since 2008 we have had an objective to win a medal at the Olympics," Japan coach Norio Sasaki said. "The attitude of the players to win this game was strong. The mental part makes the difference at this stage."

It was the first time the Japanese entered a tournament as one of the main title favorites following their World Cup triumph in Germany last year. They had eliminated Brazil, silver-medalist in the last two Olympics, to make it to the semifinals in London.

The Japanese looked set for a comfortable win over the French after goals by striker Yuki Ogimi in the 32nd and Mizuho Sakaguchi in the 49th. France pulled one closer with substitute Eugenie le Sommer in the 75th and had a chance to equalize with a penalty kick just a minute later, but midfielder Elise Bussaglia rolled her spot kick wide of the right post.

"I feel horrible. It is a shameful feeling," Bussaglia said. "I opened up my body too much and the ball went wide. We miss the final now so it is a big disappointment and it's shameful."

Wendie Renard and Louisa Necib each had chances in the final minutes but couldn't get the ball into the net, ending France's hopes of advancing to its first final in a top women's competition.

France was playing in its first Olympics, but it also reached the semifinals of last year's World Cup, when it lost to the United States. The French eventually lost the third-place match to Sweden, so it can still do one better here and leave with the bronze.

"Today was even more disappointing than the World Cup," France coach Bruno Bini said. "In the last 20 minutes we played very well and were even better than Japan. They barely reached our side of the pitch."