Look out, Olympic field: The U.S. women have their mojo back.
A 4-1 domination of Germany Sunday was the strongest performance the Americans have had since World Cup 2019. The U.S.'s ruthlessness in front of goal will strike fear into any nation.
Fear factor. For so long, that term was associated with the U.S. women’s national team as it romped to trophy after trophy, getting into opponents' heads before a match had even started and then ripping them to shreds over 90 minutes. In recent years, as the USWNT’s performances dipped, that fear factor faded.
While the fear opponents once felt when facing the U.S. team may not be completely restored, the American front line’s performance in their first two games at the 2024 Olympics suggests that any defense should recognize the impending doom coming its way.
The USWNT’s attacks begin with electrifying dribbles bearing down on goal, lead to unpredictable movements that are grueling to keep up with, and culminate in a strafing of shots that tend to bulge the net. This onerous pattern repeats throughout a match until the opponent is beaten into submission.
Mighty Germany, the two-time World Cup winners, tapped out Sunday after being outclassed by the U.S. 4-1. The eight-time European champions had no answer for the inventive American trio of Mallory Swanson, 26, Sophia Smith, 23, and Trinity Rodman, 22. Smith scored twice, Swanson netted once and assisted once, and Rodman provided an assist. It’s a small sample size — the spry trio, with an average age of 23.6 years, has only played together twice in a major tournament — but trying to stop them, or even slow them down, is like trying to wrestle with a ghost. In those two games, the forwards combined for six goals and three assists. The goalscoring scarcity from last summer’s World Cup? That problem seems resolved.
“I actually really enjoyed the game,” U.S. head coach Emma Hayes said. “The tempo, a high-level game, high-level opponent, high level of tactics, high level of technical execution on our part — that was a mature performance. … They’re a top team, but we were devastating when we needed to be.”
Referring to the frontline, Hayes called them “dynamic as hell, really fun to watch. Most importantly, they enjoyed themselves.”
The two wins seal a knockout spot for the U.S., and the abundance of goals makes finishing anything but first in Group B unlikely (with Australia and Germany having to make up the significant goal difference to top the group).
After going up 3-0 within 25 minutes in their Olympic opener against Zambia Thursday, the Americans again struck early against the Germans. It was a distillation of attacking artfulness in the 10th minute as Rodman traded passes with Rose Lavelle — another player back at her exhilarating best after missing large swaths of last summer’s World Cup — and then found Smith, who cashed in.
Germany equalized in the 22nd minute when Giulia Gwinn ripped a scorcher out of goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher’s reach, but the U.S. was not fazed.
The American attack returned to its swashbuckling best to put the game out of reach. Smith outmuscled her way to claim a 50/50 ball and got a bid off, but Ann-Katrin Berger saved it. The German goalkeeper did not catch the ball. Swanson pounced, clipping it into the back of the net to regain the lead for the U.S. Smith tracked down the ball off a corner, then uncorked a shot that deflected off Germany’s Felicitas Rauch and floated into the goal.
“Soph doing Soph things — plain and simple,” Swanson said. “That first goal felt really good just as a team ... something that was directly from the training ground into our play. That was super special. The second shot, I’ve seen her do that a million times in [the NWSL]. When she’s getting in that position, that’s going to go in.”
The U.S. entered halftime with a comfortable 3-1 lead and added to it with a late Lynn Williams finish.
The performance looked near faultless, especially against one of the powerhouses of women’s soccer and the U.S. had not looked so fearsome since arguably winning the 2019 World Cup — also in France. However, USWNT players stressed there is much more growth needed.
“This is only like 70 percent of what we can do,” said Smith. “The more games we get together, the more we’re going to be playing off each other and just learning each other’s tendencies. It’s so much fun playing with them.”
Hayes, who is only six games into her tenure as head coach, laid out areas she wanted to see improved.
"There’s things I learned about the team tonight — from a character perspective — that I wanted to see — from a resilience standpoint — that I wanted to see," Hayes said. "And then there were moments I could see there were lapses, that we have work to do with them players.”
"I thought that we were our biggest problem… There's still things that irritate me about us, but that's for me to fix."
“We were devastating when we needed to be. We were well-worthy of our lead at halftime,” Hayes added. “There’s still things that irritate me about us, and I say that genuinely, purely because I think we could have controlled it even more. I think we allowed Germany to come back into the game in parts because of our decision-making.”
There are many positives to take from the 4-1 result, but the U.S. knows it needs more than just one good win — the team did not say it was a complete performance — to exorcize years of disappointing displays. Hayes is doing her job: finding areas of the USWNT’s game, as minuscule as they are, and seeking to improve them.
The fear factor may not fully be back, but it is ramping up. The U.S. is also growing into the tournament with its ticket booked to the Olympics knockout stage. And when the U.S. is in full flight, can you imagine how daunting it will be? It is a mouthwatering proposition for any U.S. fan and a frightening concept to the rest of the world.
“We’re playing with more structure and discipline, and then I think we’re having fun too,” Lavelle said. “We have a lot of really special players, and we’re finally starting to connect. But we know we still have another level in us.”