Alex Morgan, far right, scores on goalkeeper Erin McLeod, second from left, in the women's soccer semifinal match at the London Games on Aug. 6, 2012.
The setting was historic: Old Trafford, the pitch that Manchester United calls home. And the game — the women’s soccer semifinal, between the U.S. and Canada — was epic. Canada’s Christine Sinclair and American Megan Rapinoe each traded two goals to tie things up in the second half (Rapinoe scored her first one directly off a corner kick, a rare shot that was dubbed, ironically enough, the “Olympico”). Two minutes after Rapinoe knotted the match at 2-2, Sinclair headed in another in the 73rd minute, giving her a hat trick. A few minutes later, Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod got whistled for holding onto the ball for more than six seconds, a rule that is rarely enforced. And on the indirect free kick, Rapinoe blasted the ball against the arm of Canada’s Marie Eve-Nault. The refs made another debatable call — hand ball — that gave the Americans a penalty kick.
Abby Wambach scored on the penalty, and in the final minute of extra time, as the players and fans were anticipating penalty kicks to decide the match, Alex Morgan headed a beautiful cross from Heather O’Reilly into the net, sending the Americans into the gold-medal game, which the U.S. won, 2-1, over Japan.