Olympic Soccer Scores 2012: Final Results and Recap of Japan vs. France

Defending Women's World Cup champion Japan advanced to the final of the 2012 London Olympics on Monday with a narrow 2-1 victory over France.

Japan, ranked No. 3 in the world headed into the Olympics this year, survived several late scares by the French in Monday's affair, courtesy of 10 saves by goalkeeper extraordinaire Miho Fukumoto and some poor close-range shots by the French.

France got off a whopping 27 shots, including 11 shots on target, but came away with just one goal to show for it.

As for Japan, the side got off only four shots, but converted two of them, in the 32nd and the 49th minute.

France's greatest opportunity came in the 79th minute when Eugenie le Sommer was fouled by Mizuho Sakaguchi in the penalty box. 

But Le Sommer shockingly missed a wide-open shot to the right of goal when Fukumoto guessed wrong and dived the other way.

France had three shots saved in the closing minutes of extra time, some from point-blank range, and the world No. 6 ultimately lost a heartbreaker.

Japan will face the United States on Thursday in a rematch of the 2011 World Cup final, but the defense will have to be better overall if the side expects to capture the gold medal. Japan can't expect Fukumoto to make this many saves each and every game. In the 2-0 victory over Brazil in the quarterfinals, she made seven saves.

After Alex Morgan's thrilling game-winning header against Canada in extra time on Monday, the Americans are gunning for revenge on Thursday.

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