The U.S. soccer team is golden again!
For the first time since 2012, the United States took home a gold medal, defeating a tough Brazilian team 1-0 on a goal by Mallory Swanson in the 57th minute.
The gold medal goal came off an assist from Korbin Albert, who passed the ball to the forwards, who had positioned themselves behind the Brazilian defence.
No player from the gold medal-winning team was in Saturday’s squad in Paris.
Sophia Smith didn’t touch the ball due to a possible offside, but Swanson was in position, allowing her to put the ball into the net with relative ease.
Mallory Swanson scored the gold medal goal in the 57th minute against Brazil.
The U.S. team won a gold medal in women’s soccer for the first time since 2012 in London
Brazil has already been held to a scoreless draw in two Olympic finals by the United States, the other in 2008, the only two instances of such a shutout in history.
On several occasions during both halves of added time, American goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher made some great saves to deny the Brazilians a goal.
The final will also likely represent the last major tournament for Brazilian football legend Marta, who entered the game as a second-half substitute.
This was Emma Hayes’ first major tournament at the helm of the U.S. women’s team.
Hayes won a Women’s Super League title in her final season in charge of English club Chelsea before moving to the United States.
The United States team was disappointingly eliminated in the round of 16 at last summer’s World Cup.
In Hayes’ first 10 games in charge of the U.S. women’s national team, the Yankees did not lose a single game and held eight teams scoreless.
Swanson had to miss the 2023 World Cup due to a major knee injury, and she got a bit of redemption by leading Team USA to victory on Saturday.
This is the fifth Olympic gold medal for U.S. women in the eight times the competition has been held at the Summer Olympics.
The U.S. women had appeared in every gold medal game until 2016, missing the last two before Saturday’s triumph.
The Olympic triumph comes a year after U.S. soccer fans were disappointed when the team was eliminated in the round of 16 of the World Cup by Sweden on penalty kicks.
That performance led to the dismissal of Vlatko Andonovski, who replaced coach Jill Ellis, a two-time world champion.