Japan eye gold
- Monday,
World champions Japan have booked a place in the women's Olympic Final after surviving a fight-back from France to win their semi-final 2-1 at Wembley - and now say only gold will satisfy them.
The Japanese will play take on USA the right to be called Olympic champions; but they had to fight for the honour. Yuki Ogimi scored from close range after a mistake from keeper Sarah Bouhaddi to put them ahead and Mizuho Sakaguchi extended the lead with a brilliant header.
But Eugenie Le Sommer pulled a goal back for France with a strike from 10 yards and they came agonisingly close to completing a comeback. Elise Bussaglia should have equalised but her penalty slipped agonisingly wide of the post as Japan held on.
Japan, who beat the USA on penalties in last year's World Cup Final, will contest their first Olympic Final in women's football at Wembley on Thursday.
Japan striker Kozue Ando said: "We go into the Final only wanting gold.
"We are not thinking about silver. We have already shown we can beat anybody. It was such a difficult game and there was a lot of suffering - but we have done it."
