Megan Rapinoe scored an incredible goal from a corner kick as the US defeated Australia for the Olympic bronze medal in the women’s football tournament.At London 2012, Rapinoe became the first player, male or female, to score an Olimpico during the football tournament at the Olympic Games. She has now repeated the feat as she opened the scoring against Australia with an incredible effort from the corner.Rapinoe stepped up to take the corner in the eighth minute with the score at 0-0. Her resulting cross swerved into the Australian goal, evading the flailing arms of goalkeeper Teagan Micah.The US wildly celebrated what has already been branded the “goal of the tournament”. Their delight was short lived, however, with star striker Sam Kerr scoring an equaliser for Australia just minutes later.But Rapinoe was soon back on the scoresheet, slamming a first-time volley into the back of the net in the 21st minute. Carli Lloyd then made it 3-1 to the Americans just before half-time.The US looked set to win the clash comfortably after Lloyd got her second goal in the 51st minute. But Caitlin Foord then scored for Australia in the 54th minute, before Emily Gielnik grabbed a goal just minutes before full-time to produce a nervy conclusion to the game.The American team managed to hang on to earn their sixth medal of the Olympic women's football tournament.

It has been a disappointing Olympic tournament for the US, who had been looking to bounce back from a quarter-final exit at Rio 2016.

They were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Sweden in their opening match at Tokyo 2020, before making amends with a victory over New Zealand and a draw over Australia. The US then edged past the Netherlands on penalties in the quarter-finals, but their dream of a gold medal ended when they lost 1-0 to Canada in the semi-finals.

Canada and Sweden will now contest the gold-medal match tomorrow. The game was moved from 11:00 local time to 21:00 (13:00 BST) on request of both teams, who were concerned about playing in extremely high temperatures and humidity. 

Neither Canada or Sweden have earned an Olympic title in women’s football. Sweden came close at Rio 2016, finishing with silver after losing to Germany in the final. Canada have two bronze medals so far, placing third at London 2012 and Rio 2016.