The US men’s U23 team is out of the Olympics, so now it’s down to the US Women’s National Team (USWNT) to bring home a medal from Paris 2024. Fortunately, the USWNT has proven adept at doing just that as we share in our USA vs Japan preview.
But the standard has never been to just bring home a medal. They won bronze at the last Olympics in Tokyo and were seen as having failed. Against Japan on Saturday in the quarterfinal, they have a chance to move one step closer to gold.
USA’s group stage recap
For just the second time ever, the first coming in 2012, the USWNT won all three group stage games at the Olympics. They opened up with a 3-0 win over Zambia, with Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson getting the goals.
Their second game against Germany was probably their best game of the tournament. They took the lead, conceded, and then took the lead again. The final score was 4-1 with Sophia Smith, Mallory Swanson, and Lynn Williams all getting in on the goal-scoring.
Finally, they wrapped up group play against Australia. While the Germany game was probably their best game of the tournament, the Australia game was their toughest. Trinity Rodman opened the scoring just before halftime but the US was made to work for the bulk of the game. Korbin Albert scored a laser beam in the 77th minute to give the US some insurance. But the Matildas refused to go down without a fight and pulled a goal back in the 92nd minute. Ultimately, it proved to be too little, too late and the US topped the group with all nine points.
USA faces a tough opponent
Japan qualified for the quarterfinals by finishing second in Group C. They dropped their opener against Spain 2-1, despite going ahead in the 13th minute. Their second group game against Brazil was the polar opposite, as they scored two goals in stoppage time (including a penalty) to earn a 2-1 victory. They closed group play with a comprehensive 3-1 win over Nigeria.
The US and…
Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/olympics/usa-vs-japan-preview-winner-faces-either-canada-or-germany/
Author : Lawrence Dockery
Publish date : 2024-08-02 17:35:45
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.