The USWNT are Going for Gold!
And then there were two: the USWNT get the job done against Germany while Brazil stuns Spain. We recap the semifinals and look ahead to the gold medal match tomorrow!
The girlies are going for gold! After Tuesday’s semifinal win against Germany, the USWNT is heading to an Olympics final for the first time since the 2012 London Games. The cherry on top is that they punched their ticket to the gold medal game just one year to the day after their historically horrifying Round of 16 exit from the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The team, led by Emma Hayes, has bounced back faster than most (including us, we must admit!) expected, and they’re just getting started!
Semifinal Recap: In Girma We Trust
USA 1, Germany 0
Sophia Smith (Mallory Swanson) 95’
This one was hard to watch— we’ll say it! You had to feel for the bulk of our starting 11 who came into this game feeling the impact of four grueling games played in the previous 12 days. This one was far more open than the USWNT’s quarterfinal against Japan’s low block, but more space meant more running, and tired legs made for sloppy giveaways. There was a lack of quality in the final third for both teams, indicative of just how exhausted everyone is at this stage of the tournament. It was clear early on that this game would be a survival of the fittest. USWNT fans watched with anxiety at an all-time high, praying for a stroke of brilliance (like Rodman’s against Japan) to break the deadlock.
The breakthrough goal finally came five minutes into extra time, following a rare moment of collective precision for the USWNT. In a series of three totally not sloppy passes, the girls worked the ball from Naomi Girma in the back to Sam Coffey in the middle to Mallory Swanson up top. Swanson then played a perfectly weighted through ball to Sophia Smith who rounded a German defender with her signature strength and speed, and slotted it home. After another 25 minutes of last-ditch defending and one unreal Alyssa Naeher starfish save, the USWNT officially secured their spot in the gold medal game. PHEW!
Game Highlights
Sophia Smith’s Game Winner
That Colorado connection! Two Colorado natives in Swanson and Smith (who even grew up playing for the same coach!) linked up in overtime for the decisive moment of the match to send the USWNT to Saturday’s gold medal game.
Alyssa Naeher’s Starfish Save
The soccer gods were shining down on Naeher as she did her best starfish impression to block what would have been Germany’s game-tying goal with her tippy toes.
Emma’s Post-Game Celly
In her last press conference as Chelsea manager, Hayes told reporters, “I’ll see you soon. Maybe at the gold medal match!” Knowing that she called her own shot, when most of us didn’t think it was possible so soon into her tenure, makes her misty-eyed post-game celly even sweeter.
Player of the Match
Naomi Girma - We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again (and again, and again, and again…) In Girma We Trust! Sophia Smith may get the glory for her goal, but it was Naomi Girma who kept the USWNT in this game long enough for Smith to do her thing. This was a vintage Girma performance, but in the most important game of her USWNT career so far, her peerless prowess was all the more impressive. Not only was she calm and commanding in the back, breaking up any attack Germany brought her way, but she created two scoring opportunities and started the passing sequence that got Smith her goal.
Looking Ahead
Mallory Swanson Looks Sharp - While the rest of the team appeared to be running through quicksand, Mallory Swanson was somehow still gliding around the field. Her fitness will be huge as we face a far less fatigued Brazil in the final, who’ve played 60 minutes less than we have by avoiding extra time periods in their last two games.
Lindsey Horan’s Bad Run Continues - If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that team captain Lindsey Horan is having a no good very bad tournament. Whether it’s getting her pocket picked in the midfield time and time again, or kicking a valuable set piece straight into her own teammate, girly is starting to become a real liability on the field. We’re not here for the pervasive Horan Hate online, but it was obvious that central to Germany’s game plan was to target her and swarm whenever she had the ball. And you can’t blame ‘em! Hayes’ decision to sub out Horan, (our captain!) before extra time in an Olympics knockout game is telling. These are all signs that our #10 needs to turn it around STAT to help the team take back the mid and to keep her spot.
Brazil 4, Spain 2
Brazil goes through to the gold medal game after putting four, we repeat FOUR, goals past Spain in the semifinal. The young, Marta-less squad showed no fear against the reigning World Cup champs, opening the scoring just six minutes into the game when they pressured Spain’s shaky defense into an all-time crazy own goal. A litany of kookoobanoonoo mistakes from Spain’s backline opened the door for Brazil to score two more, before Spain finally entered the chat. Unlike in their quarterfinal against Colombia, the hole Spain dug for themselves in this game proved too big for their flashy combo play to get them out of. For some reason one of their most dangerous attacking threats and Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas remained on the bench until the 77th minute, but subbing her on was just too little too late.
Our biggest complaint from this game was the broadcast’s glaring omission of any shots of Marta celebrating in the stands. Marta was forced to watch her team’s heroics as a bystander for the second straight game as she served her second (and final) game suspension for a red card she received in Brazil’s group stage game against Spain. Thankfully we were given this fan video at the very least:
Gold Medal Preview: Let’s Go, Girls!
USA vs. Brazil
Saturday, August 10th 8AM PT / 11AM ET
It all comes down to this! After a truly crazytown tournament over the last two weeks, our USWNT will play for an Olympic gold medal against Brazil. Emma Hayes couldn’t have dreamt of a better start to her career as USWNT manager, leading her team to a championship match in her first tournament in charge, and on the heels of their shambolic World Cup performance exactly one year ago.
Few people would have predicted a USA vs. Brazil final before the Games began, with Spain the clear favorites, the USWNT in rebuilding mode, and Brazil known for famously flaming out in big tournaments. But here we the hell are, and we couldn’t be more excited. First off, it’s a comfort to know that no matter what happens tomorrow, the USWNT will at the very least finish the tournament with an Olympic silver medal. This is already a better result than Tokyo 2020, in which we walked away with bronze.
Also, how can you not love Marta’s Brazil? We all know this is Marta’s sixth and final Olympics (that’s 20 years, people!!!), and seeing her legacy cemented with her squad’s gritty pizzazz this tournament is objectively heartening. She’s never won a world championship (either the World Cup or the Olympics), and has already lost two Olympic finals to the USWNT, in 2004 and 2008. To say that Marta is going to be playing out of her damn mind tomorrow is sure to be an understatement.
But make no mistake, as Trinity Rodman put it in a recent press conference, WE WANT THAT GOLD.
Key Points
This game is far from the first time the USWNT and Brazil have faced off at the Olympics. The USWNT has herstory on our side with a 3-0 record in those games, but the only thing that actually matters is what happens tomorrow. Seeing how Brazil responded to the adversity of being without Marta for their quarterfinal and semifinal, this losing record against the USA might actually motivate them. They didn’t play scared against France, and they sure as hell didn’t play scared against Spain, so they’re not going to start now.
If you were a USWNT fan watching the Brazil vs. Spain semifinal, you might be a bit concerned to face a Brazil squad that’s riding so high and peaking at the perfect time in this tournament. They beat SPAIN for crying out loud! Who does that? But in many ways, Spain beat themselves, starting off with that cataclysmic own-goal, followed by a shocking list of other errors. Spain was unrecognizably terrible in this game, and that can’t be understated.
It was also apparent in Brazil’s semifinal that most of their players still have gas in the tank. They’ve rotated their players a bunch throughout the tournament, which is in direct contrast to how Hayes has deployed her USWNT troops.
Brazil’s goalkeeper, Lorena, is a real asset to their squad, critically saving France’s PK early in their quarterfinal clash, and making countless other clutch saves all tournament long. But with each game it’s more and more obvious Loren is playing through a painful knee injury, which requires periodic mid-game treatment on the field.
The tournament-fatigued USWNT will have to dig deep to pull this off which is precisely the lesson Emma Hayes has wanted them to learn this tournament. After the semifinal game, she said “I could see today that the players were having to dig to the deepest place within them… I want them to suffer. I want them to have that moment because I don’t believe you can win without it.”
And the bronze goes to… Germany?
Germany 1, Spain 0
The bronze medal game saw Spain officially flame out of the tournament medal-less, while Germany stepped up in the moments that mattered to bring home the bronze. The game was a battle of penalty kick opportunities, with Germany’s Giulia Gwinn converting a penalty in the 64th minute to go up 1-0, followed by German keeper Ann-Katrin Berger saving a last-minute Spanish penalty to secure their win!