The United States women’s football team are heading to Paris with a clear goal in mind: to win the whole thing. Their dominance from 2004 in Greece to 2012 in London was a time of unprecedented greatness, where they only lost one match throughout those three Olympic outings.
With a new coach and an overhauled roster, the Americans hope that Olympics 2024 will finally be the time they take back what’s rightfully theirs.
Climbing back to the top
It hasn’t been exactly sunshine and rainbows with USWNT soccer in the past few years. They were beaten at the round of 16 during last year’s World Cup when they lost against Sweden on penalties.
It was the first time they did not end as champions or podium finishers at the Women’s World Cup; a tournament where they are the most successful nation.
2016 was also a painful memory after losing to the same opposition in the quarter-finals at Rio, where SBOTOP had them as clear-cut favourites to defend their Olympic crown. It did not help their cause that their former head coach, Pia Sundhage, led the Swedes in putting a dent in their four-peat aspirations.
And then there’s the Tokyo Olympics, where they hoped to correct things after an abysmal showing in 2016, only to get absolutely dominated by Sweden and then lose to eventual champions Canada during their semi-final affair.
A consolation prize of bronze was all they could salvage after beating Australia (4-3), with Carli Lloyd and Megan Rapinoe netting a brace each for the Stars and Stripes.
With a few weeks before the games in Paris commence, the feeling is that Emma Hayes will finally be the one to lead the women’s team atop the leaderboard.
The seven-time Women’s Super League coach puts forth a lineup that is both experienced and young, with the most notable change centred on leaving long-time star Alex Morgan at home.
The 35-year-old Morgan has 123 goals and 53 assists throughout her stint at USWNT. Still, Hayes opted for changes that are of the utmost importance if the United States are serious about bringing the Olympic gold back stateside.
Dennis Rodman’s daughter—Trinity Rodman—will play at her first Olympic games along with several notable youngsters such as Sophia Smith, Korbin Albert, and Jaedyn Shaw.
Arsenal’s Emily Fox and Chelsea’s Catarina Macario will be going to Paris as well.
Some familiar names were also retained by Hayes, including Rose Lavelle, Crystal Dunn, and Lindsay Horan. All of whom have 100 caps or more for the USWNT.
The challenge ahead
Despite being favoured by Olympics 2024 odds to win the gold, the path in front is as hard as it gets.
Perhaps their greatest challengers are last year’s World Cup and Nations League winners and world number one Spain. La Roja have been invincible so far, beating everyone that stand their way in any competition as of late.
They have only succumbed twice—3-2 against Australia and 4-0 against Japan—in the entire calendar year of 2023 and are looking scary ahead of Paris.
Real Madrid players Olga Carmona, Alba Redondo, and Teresa Abelleira were also called up to aid Spain win their first-ever Olympic gold at the event.
Arsenal’s Laia Codina and Maria Francesca Caldentey Oliver are on the team as well. With these players, expect Spain to pull off plenty of Olympics 2024 highlights.
Meanwhile, defending champion Canada would need to be at their absolute best if they want to keep the gold up north.
Defence would not be an issue for Canada with Kadeisha Buchanan (Chelsea) and Vanessa Gilles (Lyon) providing top security at the back. San Diego Wave’s Kailen Sheridan and Arsenal’s Sabrina D’Angelo are the Canucks’ last line of defence.
Jessie Fleming (Portland Thorns) and Julia Grosso (Chicago Red Stars) will be tasked with midfield assignments, while former Paris Saint-Germain forward Jordyn Huitema will be Canada’s likely woman at the front.
For Canadian fans, they surely have fond memories of Julia Grasso, who sealed the deal back in 2020 after scoring the penalty to win Canada the gold medal.
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