Tokyo, Japan - Canada stunned the US Women's National Team 1-0 in the Olympic women's soccer semi-finals on Monday to march into the final.

Jessie Fleming's 74th minute penalty settled the game in Kashima against a strong US team that included Alex Morgan, Julie Ertz, and Carli Loyd.

The reigning world champions had won three Olympic women's soccer golds in a row between 2004 and 2012. But this is now the second time in a row that the team has failed to reach the final at the games, after going out at the quarterfinal stage at Rio 2016.

This game was largely in keeping with the USWNT's hesitant performances in Tokyo, where it only won one game in normal time – the 6-1 thrashing of New Zealand. The dramatic penalty shootout victory against the Netherlands in the previous round had brought some hope that a corner was turned.

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But against Canada, the US yet again struggled to create many clear-cut chances. A deluge of crosses into the box was mostly dealt with by the Canadian defense led superbly by goalkeeper. Steph Labbe Carli Loyd's late shot against the crossbar was as close as it got for the favorites.

This didn't come long after the video assistant referee intervened to award Canada a penalty for an unlucky foul committed by Tierna Davidson on Deanne Rose. Fleming's cool finish always seemed like it might be enough for her side to advance to the final.

Australia face Sweden in the other semi-final in Yokohama later today. The USWNT will play the loser of that tie on Thursday for bronze.