The U.S. women’s national soccer team is set for an Olympic showdown against Germany on Sunday in what is expected to be a tough match between two teams that are eager to restore their reputations after disastrous World Cup appearances last year.
The American team has had a fall from grace since its 2019 World Cup win, its second consecutive FIFA World Cup title. The squad failed to make headway in the subsequent Olympic Games in Tokyo and then put forth a pitiful performance in last year’s World Cup, knocked out in the round of 16.
It was the earliest exit from a World Cup in the history of the women’s team, which is now in year five of a drought without a major trophy.
Once considered the world’s darling, the U.S. women’s team has faced increasingly difficult competition as other countries invest in women’s sports. Those investments are also coming to fruition at a time when some of the American stars have begun to age off of the national stage, including former champions Megan Rapinoe, Ali Krieger, Kelley O’Hara and Ashlyn Harris.
Roughly half of this year’s squad have never played in an Olympics before, though the young athletes have proven themselves to be eager on the field.
On top of the relatively fresh squad, the coach is also new. Emma Hayes took over the program in May after more than a decade at the helm of Chelsea. Hayes made waves after turning over much of the Olympic roster to younger players, but it paid dividends when the Games kicked off last week.
In its opening match against Zambia on Thursday, the U.S. women’s team offered an aggressive offense and ultimately secured three goals with a 3-0 win. Zambia played the entire second half a player down because of a red card ejection late in the first half, yet Team USA failed to score a single goal in that time.
Hayes offered measured praise after the victory.
“If you’d have asked me at the beginning of the game, would you be happy with a three-nil win? I’d probably said no,” the coach said. “However, for the performance and the chances created and finding the back of the net the way we did, I don’t want to be too hard on the players.”
Germany’s women are also entering the Olympics with their own chip on their shoulders, having embarrassingly exited last year’s World Cup in the group stage. That came just a few years after the team failed to qualify for the Tokyo Games.
If Thursday’s match was anything to go by, the German team is eager for redemption on the world stage.
Germany won its own 3-0 game against Australia with a tight defense and persistent offense that pounced on opportunities. The Germans also took significantly fewer shots than the Americans did in their opening match despite ending with the same score.
Critically, each team’s amassed goals will become a factor in which one moves out of the group stage if Germany and the U.S. tie in their game. Every missed shot in the U.S. opening match risks becoming a haunting “what if?” moment for a team whose international prestige has lost its luster.
