By Simon Evans
YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) -Canada won the Olympic gold medal in women’s football by beating Sweden 3-2 on penalties after the final ended 1-1 following regular and extra time on Friday.
Julia Grosso kept her cool with the decisive penalty in sudden death to give Canada their first ever gold in Olympic football after bronze medals at London and Rio.
Stina Blackstenius had put Sweden ahead in the 34th minute, steering home after Kosovare Asllani squared the ball.
But Canada drew level with a Jesse Fleming penalty in the 67th minute after the referee went to the pitchside monitor and ruled that Swedish defender Amanda Ilestedt had brought down Canada striker Christine Sinclair.
Sweden dominated for the remainder of normal time and the 30 minutes of extra time but failed to turn the pressure into efforts on goal.
The United States won the bronze medal on Thursday with victory over Australia.
(Reporting by Simon Evans, Additional reporting by Phil O’Connor; Editing by Ken Ferris)
