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The United States are going to the World Cup final. The Americans defeated the No. 1 ranked team in the world, Germany, 2-0, in front of a near capacity crowd in Montreal to move to the bring of a record third World Cup title.
The U.S. nearly scores minutes into the match when Julie Johnston got loose on a free kick, but her shot from close range was denied by Nadine Angerer. It wasn't long after that Alex Morgan was played in on goal for a golden opportunity, but her shot was a little too near Angerer and the Germany goalkeeper made an excellent save to deny the Americans.
Even without the two golden chances, the U.S. played well in the opening half. Their tactical changes surprised Germany and allowed the Americans to dominate the first 45 minutes and they really should have been ahead at halftime.
The second half didn't start nearly as well. The Germans adjusted and began to get more and more of the play. Then, they nearly went ahead and should have gone up a player. Johnston committed a foul in the box and denied a clear goalscoring opportunity, but while the ref did award the penalty, she chose to only give Johnston a yellow card when a red card was deserved. Then, because fate was on the Americans' side, Germany missed their penalty wide.
The soccer gods continued to smile upon the U.S. when Morgan was fouled right outside the box. The ref got it right in whistling for the foul and showing a yellow card, but then she inexplicably pointed to the spot. She thought the foul was in the box, which it wasn't, but the U.S. wasn't going to complain. Carli Lloyd stepped to the spot and buried the penalty kick for a 1-0 lead.
Germany pushed for an equalizer, but the U.S. held strong and continued to keep the Germans out. Then, a beautiful bit of play saw a cross come in for Kelley O'Hara, who was right in front of goal and overpowered a defender to knock the ball into the back of the net. The U.S. weren't just 2-0 up, they had a foot in the World Cup final.
The final goal killed Germany. They looked defeated and, not long after, the final whistle went. They were defeated and the U.S. had toppled the top ranked team in the world to move within 90 minutes of the World Cup title.