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Women: United States continue Olympic dominance
BEIJING (SW) - United States, the reigning Olympic champions are about to play their fourth consecutive final. Two of the three previous were won. Here's a short overview on USA's history at the Olympics.
At the very first Olympic Women's Tournament in 1996, the USA had the honour of playing the opening match with Denmark and achieved a simple 3-0 win. Sweden were then beaten 2-1 and a draw with China only meant that the Americans would finish the group in second place.
In the semi finals, the US faced Norway and needed extra time to decide the clash, 2-1.
The final was played in the town of Athens, Georgia on August 1st, and had a 2-1 win over China as result. The American goals were scored by MacMillan and Milbrett.
In 2000, the USA seemed to be on its way to a second victory with group wins over Norway and Nigeria and - again - a draw with China. This time, that was enough for the Americans to win the group while China went out.
Mia Hamm herself scored the only goal in the semi final match with Brazil, but things went wrong in the final versus Norway. Tiffeny Milbrett scored twice in regular time, of which one goal came in the dying minutes to take the match to extra time, but Dagny Mellgren's goal in the 102nd minute meant a victory to the Norwegians.
Revenge was taken in Greece, four years ago. Hosts Greece and Brazil were beaten before drawing with Australia and the US won the group without particular difficulties.
This tournament had a quarter final stage for the first time, and the USA went on to beat Japan 2-1 with goals from Killy and Wambach.
The semi finals may have been the match of the tournament. Kristine Lilly put the Americans ahead in the first half but Isabell Bachor levelled just before the end of regular time. Saviour of the day for the USA was Heather O'Reilly, who scored nine minutes into extra time.
The final with Brazil, also Thursday's opponents, had a similar outcome. Lindsay Tarpley's first-half goal was cancelled out by Pretinha in the 73rd minute but Abby Wambach earned her side its second Gold by netting the 2-1 at minute 112.
Tomorrow's match will tell whether the USA are going to win their third Golden medal at the Olympics.
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