The Americans made sure they didn’t go home empty-handed in what might have been the last major game for some of the team’s biggest stars.
KASHIMA, Japan — It could not, even at the end, even when they were nearly across the line, be easy. Not this year.
The United States women’s soccer team came to Japan in search of gold. It is the prize the team always expects, the one it always believes it deserves.
This time, though, the opponents were better, the connections weren’t there, and neither were the results. Until Thursday, when they needed one last win, one last stand, in the bronze medal game to make something out of what could have been nothing.