With 14 goals scored and just five goals allowed, only Canada has taken the United States women's soccer team to the wire as the team has cruised to the gold medal match. Their opponent, Japan, has taken a much different route, scoring just five combined goals, relying on a suffocating defense that has allowed just two goals through the Olympics so far.
Abby Wambach has led the United States in scoring with five goals and will be charged with the task of cracking the Japanese defense. Hope Solo and company on defense will have to stop the 2011 FIFA Player of the Year, Homare Sawa, who has surprisingly been unable to find the back of the net in the Olympics after leading the 2011 FIFA World Cup in scoring.
In that World Cup the United States finished with disappointment as an amazing run to reach the final ended with three consecutive missed penalty kicks against Japan.
The rematch of that final at Wembley Stadium is expected to shatter Olympics attendance records and will be one of the hottest tickets of the entire games. The gold medal match will be shown live on NBC Sports Network at 2:30 p.m. ET.
For a complete schedule of events and dates medals will be awarded, visit NBC Sports' official Olympic website. For complete coverage from the 2012 London Olympics, keep checking this StoryStream and visit SB Nation's Olympics hub.