Well, that was a hell of a match.
After equalizing via second half penalty to force extra time, the Canadian women’s soccer team held off a Swedish push in extra time to force a penalty shootout with the gold medal on the line.
It was a weird, weird shootout, too; Canada missed three penalties in a row, only to see Sweden do the exact same thing, including a horrific miss on a game-winning attempt.
FOR THE FIRST TIME – CANADA HAS WON GOLD IN WOMEN'S SOCCER! 🥇#TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/nj0TwLt8Z9
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 6, 2021
Julia Grosso ended up with the winner, which is obviously huge for the Texas Longhorn midfielder playing in a tournament full of pros. (Hopefully she hadn’t locked herself into any restrictive NIL deal yet, because the terms she could get right now have to be ridiculous.)
Congratulations to Canada on a deserving win. After eliminating the USWNT in the semifinals, they’ve pretty clearly established themselves on the world stage with this win. They have a few years until World Cup 2023, but they’ll certainly be one of the favorites in Australia and New Zealand.
About Jay Rigdon
Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.