USWNT Closes Out Group B against Australia

Following an emphatic 4-1 win over Germany to clinch a spot in the knockout rounds with one game left to play, the U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team will close out Group B action on Wednesday, July 31 against Australia. The teams will square off at 1 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. local at Stade de Marseille with broadcast coverage of the match available on E! Network, Universo and Peacock.

The group stage finale in Marseille features two of the top offensive teams at Paris 2024, with the Americans leading the way with seven goals through two games and the Matildas ranking second in goals scored this tournament following a wild 6-5 victory over Zambia on the second matchday of group play.

Needing a win or a draw to clinch first in Group B, the U.S. looks to make it three wins in three group stage games for just the second time in eight Olympic appearances and first since the gold medal-winning campaign in 2012.

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AMERICANS SHINE IN SHOWDOWN WITH GERMANY

The U.S. joined 2023 FIFA World Cup champions Spain as the first teams to clinch a spot in the knockout stages of the 2024 Olympic Women’s Soccer Tournament with an electrifying 4-1 victory over fourth-ranked Germany on Sunday night in Marseille.

Playing against a higher-ranked opponent for the first time in nine years, the Americans proved more than up to the task, opening the scoring in the 10th minute with the first of two goals on the game from forward Sophia Smith. After Germany equalized in the 22nd minute, the U.S. wasted no time responding, with Mallory Swanson netting her third goal of the tournament in the 26th minute and Smith completing her brace in the 44th. Reserve Lynn Williams rounded out the scoring with a goal in the 89th minute to give the Americans back-to-back wins to open the tournament and their largest victory over Germany at a World Cup or Olympics since 1991.

U.S. OLYMPIC WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB)

GOALKEEPERS (2): 18-Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage), 1-Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)

DEFENDERS (6): 12-Tierna Davidson (NJ/NY Gotham FC), 2-Emily Fox (Arsenal FC, ENG), 4-Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC), 6-Casey Krueger (Washington Spirit), 13-Jenna Nighswonger (NJ/NY Gotham FC), 14-Emily Sonnett (NJ/NY Gotham FC)

MIDFIELDERS (4): 3-Korbin Albert (Paris Saint-Germain, FRA), 17-Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC), 10-Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon, FRA), 16-Rose Lavelle (NJ/NY Gotham FC)

FORWARDS (6): 7-Crystal Dunn (NJ/NY Gotham FC), 5-Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), 15-Jaedyn Shaw (San Diego Wave FC), 11-Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC), 9-Mallory Swanson (Chicago Red Stars), 8-Lynn Williams (NJ/NY Gotham FC)

ALTERNATES (4): 20-Croix Bethune (Washington Spirit), 22-Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), 19-Hal Hershfelt (Washington Spirit), 21-Emily Sams (Orlando Pride)

FRONT THREE OFF TO FLYING START

The USA’s starting frontline of Smith, Swanson and Trinity Rodman are off to fast start at Paris 2024, scoring or assisting on all seven of the USWNT’s goals this Olympics.

Swanson, the only player in this trio who entered the tournament with any prior Olympic experience having represented the USA as an 18-year-old at Rio 2016, is tied for the tournament lead with three goals, tallying a brace in the opener against Zambia and following it up with a goal and an assist against Germany. Swanson’s three goals are already tied with Abby Wambach (2012) for the most ever by a USWNT player in an Olympic group stage and the 26-year-old now has four career Olympic goals – one in 2016 and three in 2024 – tied for seventh all-time in USWNT Olympic history.

With her brace against Germany, the 23-year-old Smith, who also scored twice against Vietnam to open the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, became just the fifth USWNT player with a multi-goal game at both the Olympics and World Cup, joining Carli Lloyd, Tiffeny Milbrett, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe.

The youngest of the front trio at 22-years-of-age, Rodman scored in her Olympic debut against Zambia and tallied her team-leading fourth assist of 2024 on Smith’s opening goal against Germany. Rodman has quickly established herself as a mainstay for the USA, appearing in all 32 of the USA’s matches since the start of 2023.

TOURNAMENT PICTURE TAKING SHAPE

Leading Group B with six points and a plus-six goal differential, the USA can win the group with a win, a draw or even a loss against Australia. For Germany or Australia to overtake the Americans in the table, both teams would need to win their respective matches and overcome the USA lead in goal differential. If level on goal differential, the next tiebreaker is total goals scored. Germany squares off against Zambia in Saint-Étienne at p.m. ET / 7 p.m. local, simultaneous with USA-Australia in Marseille.

The 2024 Olympic Women’s Soccer Tournament is comprised of 12 teams separated into three groups of four. The top two teams from each group along with the two best third-place finishers will advance to the knockout rounds. The winner of Group B will face the second-place team from Group C at famed Parc des Princes in Paris on August 3 in the quarterfinals (9 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. local) while the second-place team from Group B will face the runner-up from Group A later that same day in Marseille (1 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. local).

Spain currently leads Group C with six points, followed by Japan and Brazil on three points each and Nigeria on zero points. The final Group C matches kick off at 11:00 a.m. ET / 5 p.m. local on Wednesday with Brazil taking on Spain and Japan going up against Nigeria.

In Group A, Colombia and France both have three points while Canada and New Zealand are on zero points, following a six-point disciplinary deduction to the Canadians, which they have appealed. New Zealand faces France and Colombia takes on Canada in the final Group A matches, both kicking off at 3 p.m. ET / 9 p.m. local.

INSIDE THE SERIES: USA vs. AUSTRALIA

The group stage finale in Marseille will be the 35th meeting all-time between the USA and Australia and their fourth meeting all-time at the Olympics. Two of the previous three Olympic meetings came in 2021 in Tokyo, playing to a scoreless draw to close out the group stage and meeting in the bronze medal match. The Americans prevailed 4-3 in that match to claim their sixth Olympic medal overall as Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd tallied two goals each. Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord and Emily Gielnik scored for Australia in the defeat. The USA and Australia also played in the final group stage game of the 2004 Olympics, that ending in a 1-1 draw.

The U.S. leads the overall series against Australia with a record of 28W-1L-5D, with the USA’s lone loss in the series coming in Seattle in 2018. The Americans are unbeaten in all five previous matchups against Australia at world championships (3W-0L-2D), beating Australia in the group stage of the 1995 and 2015 World Cups to go along with one win and two draws in their three prior Olympic matchups.

The teams last met in two friendlies in Australia at the end of 2021. The Americans opened the trip Down Under with a 3-0 win on November 27, 2021, at Stadium Australia in Sydney. Ashley Hatch scored 24 seconds into the match, Rose Lavelle and Lindsey Horan tallied goals in the second half and Casey Murphy made one of the most impressive goalkeeping debuts in USWNT history, making eight saves while recording a clean sheet in her first cap. The teams then played to a 1-1 draw in Newcastle on November 30, with Hatch scoring for the Americans in the fourth minute before Kyah Simon equalized for the Australians in the 88th.

The U.S. is unbeaten in its last six matches against Australia (3W-0L-3D), with all but one of those meetings decided by two goals or fewer.

EMMA ERA STARTING STRONG

The longtime head coach at Chelsea FC before officially taking over the helm of the USWNT in late May, USWNT head coach Emma Hayes is unbeaten (5W-0L-1D) in her first six matches with the USWNT, with the first five results coming via shutout.

Hayes is the eighth head coach to lead the USWNT into a major tournament and the first to win his or her first major tournament match by a margin of three or more goals. Hayes joins Anson Dorrance as the only head coaches in USWNT history to win their first two matches at a major tournament, with Dorrance winning all six games with the USWNT at the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991.

Hayes is looking to become just the fourth USWNT head coach to win their first major tournament, with Dorrance leading the U.S. to the 1991 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Pia Sundhage leading the Americans to a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics and Jill Ellis helping the U.S. to its third World Cup title in 2015.

2024 MEDIA GUIDE

The 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Media Guide and the 2024 USWNT Media Guide are now available for download. The Media Guides features all the history and statistics for the USWNT, as well as full bios on technical staff and the current top players, information on the USA’s Youth Women’s National Teams and general important information on U.S. Soccer.

USA TEAM & OLYMPIC ROSTER NOTES

• Four of the players on this roster have 100+ caps, led by midfielder and captain Lindsey Horan with 152. Crystal Dunn has 151 international appearances followed by Alyssa Naeher (108 caps) and Rose Lavelle (103).
• Jenna Nighswonger is the least experienced on the 18-player Olympic roster with 12 international appearances.
• Fourteen of the 22 players on this roster were born after the 1996 Olympics, the first ever Olympics to feature women’s soccer.
• Forward Mallory Swanson is the top scorer on this roster with 37 international goals, followed by Horan with 35, Dunn with 25, Lavelle with 24 and Smith with 22.
• Swanson’s three goals at Paris 2024 are tied with France’s Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Zambia’s Barbra Banda for the most by any player so far this tournament.
• Horan is tied with Germany’s Giulia Gwinn and Australia’s Steph Catley for the tournament lead with two assists.
• Horan leads the U.S. with 1,092 total minutes played in 2024 – the first player to eclipse the 1,000-minute mark this year - followed by Alyssa Naeher (1,020), Sam Coffey (993) and Emily Fox (971).
• Naeher, Coffey, Dunn and Naomi Girma have played every minute so far for the U.S. this Olympics.
• Twelve different players have scored so far for the USWNT in 2024 – led by seven goals from Smith, five goals each from Swanson and Jaedyn Shaw, four from Horan, two goals each from Alex Morgan, Olivia Moultrie, Tierna Davidson, Jenna Nighswonger and Lynn Williams, and one each Dunn, Trinity Rodman and Lily Yohannes.
• Rodman leads the USA with four assists in 2024, followed by Swanson, Smith, Horan Lavelle with three apiece and Midge Purce with two. Seven other players have one assist on the year.
• Overall, 18 different players have been directly involved in a goal for the USA in 2024, led by 10 goal involvements from Smith (7 goals, 3 assists) and eight from Swanson (5 goals, three assists). 

IN FOCUS: AUSTRALIA | FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

Current FIFA World Ranking: 12
AFC Ranking: 3
Olympic Appearances: 5th (2000, 2004, 2016, 2020, 2024)
Best Olympic Finish: 2020 (Fourth)
Record vs. USA: (1W-28L-5D)
Coach: Tony Gustavsson (SWE)

AUSTRALIA WOMEN’S OLYMPIC SOCCER TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB)

GOALKEEPERS (2): 1-Mackenzie Arnold (Portland Thorns FC, USA), 18-Teagan Micah (Liverpool FC, ENG)

DEFENDERS (5):4-Clare Polkinghorne (Kristianstads DFF, SWE), 7-Steph Catley (Arsenal FC, ENG), 12-Ellie Carpenter (Olympique Lyonnais, FRA), 14-Alanna Kennedy (Manchester City FC, ENG), 15-Clare Hunt (Paris Saint-Germain, FRA)

MIDFIELDERS (6):3-Kaitlyn Torpey (San Diego Wave FC, USA), 6-Katrina Gorry (West Ham United FC, ENG), 8-Kyra Cooney-Cross (Arsenal FC, ENG), 10-Emily van Egmond (San Diego Wave FC, USA), 13-Tameka Yallop (Brisbane Roar FC), 17-Clare Wheeler (Everton FC, ENG)

FORWARDS (5):2-Michelle Heyman (Canberra United FC), 5-Cortnee Vine (North Carolina Courage, USA), 9-Caitlin Foord (Arsenal FC, ENG), 11-Mary Fowler (Manchester City FC, ENG), 16-Hayley Raso (Real Madrid CF, ESP)

ALTERNATES (4): 19-Sharn Freier (Brisbane Roar FC), 20-Charlotte Grant (Tottenham Hotspur FC, ENG), 21-Courtney Nevin (Leicester City FC, ENG),22-Lydia Williams (Melbourne Victory FC)

AUSTRALIA TEAM NOTES

• Australia’s head coach is Tony Gustavsson, who was the assistant coach for the USA under Pia Sundhage in 2012 and under Jill Ellis from 2014-2019, helping the USA win the Olympic gold medal in London and Women’s World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019.
• Gustavsson selected an Olympic roster that strongly resembles Australia’s roster for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, with the glaring exception of Samm Kerr, the program’s all-time leading scorer and one of the best strikers in the world.
• The only players on this Olympic roster who were not a part of the Matildas squad that took their nation by storm and produced the country’s best-ever showing at a World Cup are 36-year-old Michelle Heyman -- a veteran of both the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2016 Olympics – 24-year-old defender Kaitlyn Torpey, and alternate forward Sharn Freier.
• This Australia roster boasts a wealth of international experience with seven of the 18 players having over 100 international appearances. Defender Clare Polkinghorne is the most-capped player on this roster – and in the history of the Australia Women’s National Team – with 168 caps, followed by midfielder Emily van Egmond (147 caps), Steph Catley (128), Alana Kennedy (127), Catilin Foord (125), Tameka Yallop (123) and Katrina Gorry (110).
• Foord, who debuted for the Matildas in 2011, is the top scorer on this roster with 36 career international goals, followed by van Egmond with 31 goals and Heyman with 27.
• After the USA went unbeaten in its first 26 matches against Australia, the last eight games between the teams have produced a 3-1 win for the USA in the opening game of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a 1-0 loss at the 2017 Tournament of Nations, a 1-1 tie at the 2018 Tournament of Nations, a 5-3 U.S. victory during the run-up to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a 0-0 draw in 2021 Olympic group play, a 4-3 U.S. win in the Olympic bronze medal game, 3-0 win for the USA at Stadium Australia in and a 1-1 draw in Newcastle, with the final two meetings coming in November of 2021.