Rodman: Japan goal the best moment of career

PARIS — Trinity Rodman doesn’t remember much about her staggering extra-time strike that sent the United States women’s national team into the Olympic semifinals on Saturday.

In truth, Rodman confessed afterward, the whole sequence from when she received Crystal Dunn‘s pass is a blur.

“I kind of blacked out,” Rodman said after the USWNT’s 1-0 victory over Japan. “The last thing I remember is Crystal playing it and then I was like: ‘Ahhh!’

“That’s the best moment of my career,” she added. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

While Rodman may not have a strong memory of what she did, her goal will be a highlight that figures to linger. After taking the ball down on the right flank, she dribbled inside and blasted a shot that ripped into the upper corner of the far post as the Parc des Princes erupted.

“Of course Trinity is going to do that,” Mallory Swanson, who partners with Rodman and Sophia Smith on the front line for the U.S, said of the moment. “I think sometimes in games like this, it just takes a little bit of magic, a little bit of individual brilliance. And that’s what Trinity did.”

It was Rodman’s third goal of the tournament — tied with Swanson for most among the Americans — and at 22, she became the youngest American to score in an Olympic knockout match in 20 years.

Several of her teammates spoke about how they often see Rodman pull off incredible shots in training, but conceded that to do it on this kind of stage was a different type of accomplishment.

“It’s insane,” Korbin Albert said.

“It was amazing,” Smith agreed. “I just remember feeling so relieved when it went in.”

Manager Emma Hayes was quick to point out that Rodman’s contributions to the team on Saturday went far beyond that one shot. Known as a solid two-way player, Rodman put in a strong performance on both ends of the field, tracking back often to help when Japan counterattacked.

“We should be talking more about what she does off the ball,” Hayes said, and while that may be a reasonable argument, it was also one that had little chance of success given Rodman’s other exploits on Saturday.

Her brilliance was exactly what the U.S. needed after spending most of the match trying to break through the stout low block that the Americans expected from Japan.

“I honestly think that was the only way that we were going to find a goal in that game,” Rodman said. “Obviously we had tried all game long to get in the seams and get in between ’em and it wasn’t working.

“Not all soccer is pretty soccer,” she continued. “But I think we kind of knew that it was going to come down to something brilliant like that. If it came from me or anybody else on the field, we knew that it wasn’t going to be tiki-taka in the box. It was one moment that we had to capitalize on and that’s what happened.”