USA in back-to-back final after beating Germany in Montreal

The USA qualified for their second successive FIFA Women’s World Cup final after a 2-0 win over Germany in Montreal.

The game was defined by two second-half penalties – a miss and hit – with Celia Sasic failing from the spot for Germany while Carli Lloyd tucked away her penalty a few minutes later before setting up Kelley O’Hara for a late winner.

The game between the two highest-ranked teams in the world was unsurprisingly played at a high tempo with the Germans enjoying the early possessions.

the USA, though, had the first real chance of taking the lead through their rampaging forward Alex Morgan. She could have done better in a one-on-one opportunity with goalkeeper Nadine Angerer but was denied after making a well-timed run behind the defence. Morgan then missed another effort from close range shooting wide from an acute angle.

At the start of the second half, Germany had a rare sight of Hope Solo’s goal but Anja Mittag pushed a header just wide.

Then the drama began.

USA defender Julie Johnston failed to deal with a bouncing ball and fouled Alexandra Popp in the process. The referee wasted no time in pointing to the spot, but the tournament top-scorer Sasic failed to find the net with Solo well-beaten.

It was USA’s turn nine minutes later to earn a penalty as Morgan’s dazzling run ended with a foul by Annike Krahn which Lloyd converted with ease.

The world number one pushed for an equaliser but the USA put the game to bed six minutes to the end of the match after Lloyd dribbled into the box before pulling the ball back for O’Hara to fire home into an empty net.

the USA will now face the winner of Wednesday’s second semi-final between Japan and England on Sunday in Vancouver.