PARIS, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Spain came back from the brink of exit to beat Colombia on penalties after the two sides tying 2-2 in regular time in a women's soccer quarterfinal of the Paris Olympics on Saturday.
Thanks to goals from Mayra Ramirez and Leicy Santos, Colombia were 2-0 in front until the 79th minute when Jennifer Hermoso pulled one back for Spain.
The World Cup title holders, who had been seeking an equalizer since then, finally succeeded in the seventh minute of the injury time through Irene Paredes' goal.
Both teams failed to score in the extra time, taking the game into penalty shootout, where Spain held their nerve to outshoot their South American opponents 4-2.
Spain will face the winners between France and Brazil in the semifinals.
In an earlier kick-off, Trinity Rodman scored a goal in extra time to send the United States into the semifinals with a 1-0 win over Japan.
Japan managed well defensively until the end of the first half of the extra time when Rodman picked up a diagonal pass from Crystal Dunn on the right side of the area, and shimmied to her left to wrong-foot Japanese defender Hikaru Hitagawa before unleashing a powerful angled left-foot shot into the top corner of the Japanese goal.
The United States, which enjoyed 71 percent ball possession, made four shots on goal against Japan's one throughout the match.
In the final four, the United States will take on the winners between Canada and Germany. ■
