Team USA soccer is golden again!
For the first time since 2012, the United States has taken home a gold medal, defeating a tough Brazilian side 1-0 on a Mallory Swanson goal in the 57th minute.
The gold-medal winning goal came on an assist from Korbin Albert who passed the ball to the forwards, who had gotten behind the Brazilian defense.
No players from the gold-medal winning team were in Saturday’s squad in Paris.
Sophia Smith did not touch the ball for a possible offsides, but Swanson was onside allowing her to tuck the ball into the net with relative ease.
Mallory Swanson scored the gold-medal-winning goal in the 57th minute against Brazil
Team USA won a gold medal in women’s soccer for the first time since 2012 in London
Brazil has now been held scoreless in two Olympic finals by the United States, with the other coming in 2008, the only two such instances of a shutout in history.
On a few occasions during both halves of stoppage time, American goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher came up big with saves to deny the Brazilians.
The final also likely represents the final major tournament for Brazilian soccer legend Marta, who came into the game as a second-half substitute.
This was the first major tournament for Emma Hayes leading the American women.
Hayes won a Women’s Super League title in her final season leading English club Chelsea before moving to America.
Team USA were disappointingly ousted in the Round of 16 in last summer’s World Cup
In Hayes first 10 games in charge of the US women’s national team, the Yanks did not lose a single same and held eight teams scoreless.
Swanson had to miss the 2023 World Cup due to a major knee injury, getting a bit of redemption by leading Team USA to victory on Saturday.
This is the fifth Olympic gold medal for the United States women in the eight times a competition has been held at the Summer Olympics.
The United States women had appearing in every gold medal game until 2016, missing the last two before Saturday’s triumph.
The Olympic triumph comes a year after US Soccer fans were disappointed that the team were eliminated in the Round of 16 of the World Cup by Sweden on penalty kicks.
That performance led to the firing of Vlatko Andonovski, who replaced two-time World Cup-winning coach Jill Ellis.
