After the U.S. women's national team eked past the Netherlands, the reigning champions of Europe, following a grueling 120-minute slugfest and penalty shootout, it would be tempting to see Monday's semifinal against Canada (4 a.m. ET) as a chance to take things easier. After getting clobbered by Sweden and landing in arguably the toughest quarterfinal of the Tokyo Olympics, Canada is the USWNT's reward, right?
Not so fast.
"This is probably going to be our hardest game: We know that, and we are preparing for it that way," U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski said Sunday.