After opening the 2024 Olympics with a convincing 3-0 win over Zambia on July 25 in Nice, the U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team returns to its training base in Marseille where it will face longtime European foes Germany in the second game of Group B play. The USA and Germany, who enter the match tied atop the Group B standings, are set to square off on Sunday, July 28 at 9 p.m. local / 3 p.m. ET at Stade de Marseille with broadcast coverage available on USA Network, Telemundo and Peacock.
Get ready for the USWNT’s second group stage game with Five Things to Know about USA vs. Germany.
GERMANY DOWNS AUSTRALIA IN OLYMPIC OPENER
Like the Americans, Germany got off to a fast start at Paris 2024, beating Australia 3-0 at Stade de Marseille to open Group B action.
Germany opened the scoring in the 24th minute on a header at the back post from defender Marina Hegering from a service that came off a corner kick. Germany doubled its lead in the 64th minute, again off a corner kick, this time with forward Lea Schuller rising above the defense to head home. Defender Giulia Gwinn tallied assists on both set-piece goals. In the 68th minute, Germany sealed the victory and made it 3-0 with a beautiful team goal in transition. Schuller started the break in the middle of the field and laid the ball off to defender Sarai Linder making a run into the left side of the penalty area. Linder one-timed the ball back across the face off goal for a one-time finish from 21-year-old midfielder Jule Brand.
Germany outshot Australia 17-8 on the day, with a 4-2 advantage in shots on target and finished the game with seven corners compared to five for the Matildas. One of Australia’s best opportunities of the match came in first half stoppage time. Forward Hayley Raso was fouled just outside the area, setting up a free-kick for the Matildas from 20 yards out, but the ensuing attempt went right to German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger.
PATHWAY TO PARIS
After missing out on the 2020 Olympics by virtue of its quarterfinal exit at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Germany qualified for the 2024 Summer Games by beating the Netherlands 2-0 in the UEFA Women’s Nations League Third-Place Match on February 28.
The 2024 UEFA Women’s Nations League Finals pitted the four group winners from League A – France, Germany, Netherlands and Spain – against one another to determine which two nations would join hosts France at Paris 2024. Germany lost its semifinal matchup to France in Lyon 2-1 on February 23, falling behind 2-0 in the first half before pulling one back late in the second half as Gwinn converted a penalty kick in the 82nd minute.
The defeat set up an all-important Third-Place Match between Germany and the Netherlands, with the victor securing a berth in the Olympics. Despite playing on the road in the Netherlands, Germany proved up to the task and grabbed control of the match in the second half. Midfielder Klara Buhl scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 66th minute and Schuller doubled the advantage in the 78th to qualify Germany for its sixth Olympic games.
GERMANS EYE RETURN TO OLYMPIC PODIUM
Germany, which has competed in every Women’s Olympic Soccer Tournament apart from 2012 and 2020, is one of only three nations to have won both a FIFA Women’s World Cup and Olympic gold medal, joining the USA and Norway in that elite group.
After winning bronze in 2000, 2004 and 2008, Germany captured gold at Rio 2016, defeating Sweden 2-1 in the gold medal match. Veteran forward Alexandra Popp is the only member of the 2016 gold medalists who returns to the roster for Paris 2024.
Germany, which won back-to-back FIFA Women’s World Cup titles in 2003 and 2007, has not won a major championship since capturing gold in Rio. Germany lost to Sweden in the quarterfinals of the 2019 World Cup, finished runners-up to England at the 2022 UEFA Women’s Championship and is coming off a disappointing showing at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, failing to make it out of the group for the first time in program history after losing to Colombia and drawing Korea Republic in Group H play.
INSIDE THE SERIES: USA vs. GERMANY
The group stage match in Marseille will be the 36th meeting all-time between the U.S. and Germany but their first-ever meeting in the group stage of a World Cup or Olympics and just the second meeting ever between the teams at the Olympic Games. The previous Olympic matchup came in the semifinals of Athens 2004, which the U.S. won 2-1 in extra time, getting a game-winning goal from 19-year-old Heather O’Reilly in the 99th minute.
The U.S. leads the overall series with Germany 23W-5L-7D, including a 4W-1L-0D advantage in meetings at the World Cup and Olympics. Germany’s only win over the U.S. at a world championship came in the semifinals of the 2003 Women’s World Cup, a 3-0 victory in Portland, Ore. on Germany’s path to its first Women’s World Cup title. The most recent meeting between the USA and Germany at a world championship came in the semifinals of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which the USA won 2-0 on the way to its third World Cup title.
The USA and Germany played most recently in two friendlies at the end of 2022, splitting the matches in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. and Harrison, N.J. Germany won the first of the two meetings 2-1 on Nov. 10, 2022, powered by a U.S. own goal and a late game-winner in transition in the 89th minute after the Americans equalized in the 85th on a goal from Megan Rapinoe. The teams then travelled to Red Bull Arena, where the U.S. closed out the 2022 campaign on with a stirring 2-1 come-from-behind victory on Nov. 13. Trailing 1-0 at the half after Brand put the Germans in front in the 18th minute, the U.S. responded with two goals in the span of three minutes early in the second half. Sophia Smith equalized for the Americans in the 54th minute with a powerful shot from 12 yards out and Mallory Swanson – playing her final match for the USWNT under her maiden name Pugh – broke in behind the German defense and netted the game-winner with a low finish in the 56th minute.
INSIDE THE ROSTER: GERMANY
Like the USA, Germany was forced to make a change to its Olympic roster before the tournament even began. Standout midfielder Lena Oberdorf, who was named the EURO 2022 Young Player of the Tournament, suffered an ACL and MCL injury in Germany’s UEFA 2025 Qualifying match against Austria on July 16 and was replaced on the 18-player roster by midfielder Janina Minge. Eintracht Frankfurt's Pia-Sophie Wolter was subsequently added to Germany’s alternate list.
Despite the injury replacement, Germany’s Olympic roster boasts a combination of experienced veterans and up-and-coming players eager to make their mark on the international stage. Popp, a 2016 gold medalist and four-time World Cup veteran, is the most experienced player on this German roster with 140 caps and her 67 international goals rank third all-time in the history of the Germany Women’s National Team. Schuller, who was named the 2022 German Women’s Footballer of the Year, is the second leading scorer on this roster with 43 goals in 63 caps at age 26. Twenty-three-year-old midfielder Buhl is third in scoring with 25 goals in 53 international appearances and was named to the Best XI at the 2022 UEFA Women’s Championship.
Of the 22 players representing Germany at this Olympics, all but four play their clubs soccer in Germany in the Frauen-Bundesliga. Four players – Schuller, Buhl, Gwinn and midfielder Sydney Lohmann - compete for reigning league champions Bayern Munich, while six play for runners up VfL Wolfsburg and five for Eintracht Frankfurt. Two of the four players competing outside of Germany play in the NWSL in goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, who is in the midst of a stellar season with NJ/NY Gotham FC after joining the club this spring from Chelsea, and alternate Felicitas Rauch, who has made 16 appearances for the North Carolina Courage. Defender Bibiane Schulze Solano competes in Spain for Athletic Club Femenino and midfielder Sjoeke Nusken plays for Chelsea FC, helping the Blues win the 2023-24 FA Women’s Super League last season under now USWNT head coach Emma Hayes.
GERMANY OLYMPIC WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB)
GOALKEEPERS (2): 1-Merle Frohms (VfL Wolfsburg, GER), 12-Ann-Katrin Berger (NJ/NY Gotham FC, USA)
DEFENDERS (6):2-Sarai Linder (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim), 3-Kathrin Hendrich (VfL Wolfsburg), 4-Bibiane Schulze Solano (Athletic Club Femenino, ESP), 5-Marina Hegering (VfL Wolfsburg), 13-Sara Doorsoun (Eintracht Frankfurt), 15-Giulia Gwinn (FC Bayern München)
MIDFIELDERS (7):6-Janina Minge (SC Freiburg), 8-Sydney Lohmann (FC Bayern München), 9-Sjoeke Nusken (Chelsea FCW, ENG), 14-Elisa Senss (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), 16-Jule Brand (VfL Wolfsburg), 17-Klara Buhl (FC Bayern München), 18-Vivien Endemann (VfL Wolfsburg)
FORWARDS (3):7-Lea Schuller (FC Bayern München), 10-Laura Freigang (Eintracht Frankfurt), 11-Alexandra Popp (VfL Wolfsburg)
ALTERNATES (4): 19-Felicitas Rauch (North Carolina Courage, USA), 20-Pia-Sophie Wolter (Eintracht Frankfurt), 21-Nicole Anyomi (Eintracht Frankfurt), 22-Stina Johannes (Eintracht Frankfurt)