WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. women’s national soccer team spent its final three pre-Olympic days struggling and sweating in 100-degree weather in Washington, D.C. They were unable to beat Costa Rica here Tuesday night, drawing 0-0 in their farewell match. They also doused each other with water bottles and wrapped towels around their heads in a rainstorm. Heat wave sweeps across the United States.
It was, on the one hand, a brutal experience.
“It was perfect preparation for Marseille,” said coach Emma Hayes.
The U.S. women’s national team will fly to France on Wednesday. A week later, it will kick off an Olympic Games that, for months, has been followed by Heat-related concernsOn July 25, the opening day of the U.S. women’s national team, temperatures in Paris have ranged from 15 to 42 degrees Celsius for the past six years. In three of the six years, temperatures have exceeded 32 degrees Celsius.
In 2024, the Parisian summer has so far been milder. Current forecasts project a high temperature of around 75 degrees during the next week, when the Olympics begin.
Neither U.S. soccer team will be in Paris, however, unless they reach the gold medal final. Both the men and women will be on the southern coast of France, in Nice and Marseille, for the group stage. In Nice, temperatures are expected to top 90 degrees this coming weekend, and reach the mid-80s next Thursday, when the U.S. women’s team faces Zambia.
In Marseille, where the U.S. men will face France next Wednesday, the expected high temperature will be 91 degrees. The women travel to Marseille for Games 2 and 3. “It’s pretty hot there,” Hayes said Monday.
All matches will start at 7 or 9 p.m. local time. However, they will train closer to midday.
“So,” Hayes said here before his team practiced on a 99-degree afternoon compounded by a scorching sun, “this is a great opportunity for us to experience what we’re going to be up against.”
Twenty-eight hours later, the final friendly before the Games was a grueling slog. At kickoff, the temperature was 95 degrees. As captain Lindsey Horan prepared to enter the pregame meeting, she splashed water on her face; her nose was running as she began talking to her teammates.
The match was slow, in large part because Costa Rica played it slow. The visitors’ defensive, low-block approach made Tuesday’s battle much less physically intense than the ones the Americans will face in Paris.
The players, though, were drenched in sweat. They came to get water during an injury break midway through the first half. During an official “hydration break” less than 10 minutes later, several wrapped towels around their necks; Emily Fox grabbed a second towel and dried her face; Sam Coffey wrapped his towel around his entire head.
Rose Lavelle didn’t even make it through warmups. She was scheduled to start but was then pulled from the lineup because of “leg stiffness.” It’s unclear to what extent, if at all, the stiffness or the decision to “not take any chances,” as one U.S. Soccer official put it, was due to the conditions. (The field at Audi Field was also dreadful.)
As for the game, the U.S. women’s team didn’t show much imagination. They dominated, as expected, with about 80% of the possession and plenty of chances. But they lacked precision in the final third and will arrive at the Olympics having scored just one goal in two warm-up games against inferior opponents.