RIO DE JANEIRO — Germany beat Sweden, 2-1, in the Olympic women’s soccer final on Friday, finding a way through a rock-solid Swedish defense to earn its first gold medal in the sport.
Germany, a two-time Women’s World Cup champion and a three-time bronze medalist, was playing in the gold-medal final for the first time. It took control of a scoreless game with two goals early in the second half, at last cracking open a tightly packed Swedish defense that had frustrated — and eliminated — first the top-ranked United States and then host Brazil in its previous two matches.