The U.S. Women’s National Team kicked off its run to gold at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the south of France, opening the tournament with a dominating 3-0 victory over Zambia on July 25 at Stade de Nice.
In her first major tournament and just her fifth match at the helm of the USWNT, head coach Emma Hayes fielded a Starting XI that featured seven first-time Olympians and average just 27.4 years of age, the youngest lineup to start for the U.S. at a major tournament in 16 years.
Unfazed by the new stage, forward Trinity Rodman opened the scoring for the USA in the 17th minute, deftly collecting a pass from Lindsey Horan in the middle of the penalty box, spinning and finishing with her right foot. At 22 years, 66 days of age, Rodman became the first player since Alex Morgan in 2012 to score in her Olympic debut and the youngest player to score for the USWNT in an Olympic or World Cup match since 2019.
The Americans get the pressure on and doubled their lead in the 24th minute with Horan once again playing provider, this time picking out a darting Mallory Swanson making a run into the middle. Swanson took a touch to settle before beating the goalkeeper with a left-footed strike.
Seventy seconds later, Swanson completed her brace, this time off a pass from Sophia Smith, who picked out her fellow Colorado native with an outside-of-the-foot pass. Swanson collected, rounded the ‘keeper and finished into the empty net for her second goal of the game, becoming the sixth player in USWNT history to score multiple goals in an Olympic match.
In the 34th minute, Zambia’s Pauline Zulu was shown a red card and the Americans played with a numerical advantage for the final hour of the match, controlling tempo and possession. Defensively, the U.S. held Zambia to just three shots on goal to preserve the 3-0 shutout victory, opening the Olympics with a win for the sixth time in eight overall appearances.
