Paris Olympics: coach Emma Hayes, new stars point USA’s football women back towards summit
- A year after World Cup defeat ended an era, a fresh team with a new coach and deadly attack have qualified for the Paris final to face Brazil
It felt highly symbolic that the United States’ win over Germany in their Olympic women’s football semi-final on Tuesday should come a year to the day after their humbling early exit from the World Cup.
Precisely 12 months on from a defeat on penalties against Sweden in the last 16 that ended the US’s grip on the World Cup trophy and definitively marked the end of an era, a fresh young team is through to the Olympic final.
They will be favourites to beat Brazil on Saturday and win a record-extending fifth women’s football gold, 12 years after their last victory at London 2012.
That would complete a remarkable turnaround in their fortunes, although the foundations for their success so far at the Olympics were in fact laid going into that World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.