Olympics – Women's Soccer Express

DroneGate: Canada Soccer releases findings, Bev Priestman is officially out as WNT head coach, plus new reporting from Radio-Canada

On Tuesday, November 12th, Canada Soccer released a redacted “summary” version of the report of an independent investigation into the drone spying incidents at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

The summary report’s findings are fairly limited, which is positive news for the Canada Women’s National Team. In addition to the 2024 Summer Olympics incidents, the investigation also determined that “surreptitious surveillance” also occurred at two “tournaments” between June 2022 and March 2024 (¶21 to ¶27), but not at the COVID-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics (¶28). However, nowhere in the published report does it directly address the allegation of spying at the Tokyo Olympics that was reported by TSN’s Rick Westhead back in July.

The summary report also stated that the players of the Canada WNT did not watch the footage obtained at the 2024 Summer Olympics, but that is based only on the statement of one person (¶20). Notably, the summary report does not mention whether players of the Canada WNT had seen earlier drone footage, nor does it discuss if any players were aware of the drone spying.

With the release of the summary report, Canada Soccer also confirmed that Bev Priestman is no longer the head coach of the Canada WNT:

The three individuals currently suspended by FIFA will not be returning. The search for a new head coach for the Women’s National Team will commence shortly.

Additional confidential HR measures are being evaluated and will be taken in response to the findings of the investigation.

The “three individuals” are head coach Bev Priestman, performance analyst Joseph Lombardi (the operator of the drone at the Paris Olympics), and assistant coach Jasmine Mander (who was Lombardi’s direct report).

On Monday, the day before the summary report was released, Radio-Canada, the French-language division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, published an article based on interviews with about 20 persons, including at least one Canada WNT player: “Details emerge of Canada Soccer’s ‘obsessed’ culture of drone spying”.

Note: All “¶” citations refer to numbered paragraphs in the summary report.

Good Morning. The USWNT is Back At #1 in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings

The United States Women’s National Team once again has bragging rights to the top spot in the FIFA Women’s World Ranking, thanks in large part to its golden performance at this year’s Paris Olympics.

The USA’s climb would also not be possible without some of the other teams stumbling off of their previous perches:

France (-91.12) had the biggest points drop since the last update on June 14th, primarily due to its 2 losses on home soil at the Olympics as well as a loss during Euro 2025 qualifying against the Republic of Ireland.

Spain also had a large points drop (-78.80), as it also lost twice during the Olympics, against Brazil in the semifinals and Germany in the bronze medal match, and fell to the Czech Republic during a Euro 2025 qualifying match.

Here’s the permalink to the full rankings table.

Olympics 2024: The USWNT’s Gold Medal Ceremony

The USWNT receives their gold medals (Telemundo Deportes)

The playing of the national anthem (Telemundo Deportes)

Olympics 2024: The USWNT Wins 5th Gold, Defeating Brazil 1-Nil

“Three times is a pattern”, as the (not entirely on point) saying goes. For the third time, the United States Women’s National Team faced Brazil in the gold medal match at the Summer Olympics (2004, 2008, and 2024). And, for the third time, the USA claimed gold, while Brazil and Marta had to settle for silver, with Germany securing a bronze medal as consolation. Also, for the third time in as many matches, The USWNT won by the slimmest of margins, 1-nil, on a goal scored by one of the starting front three. Additionally, this is the third time since the introduction of the women’s soccer tournament (1996) that the Summer Olympics was hosted by a European country, and once again, the USA won gold on European soil (2004 in Greece, 2012 in the United Kingdom, and 2024 in France).

2024 Olympics: Germany Claims Bronze, Defeating Spain 1-0

In the third-place match of the women’s soccer tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Spain, after its disastrous semifinals performance against Brazil, had a second chance to secure its first Olympic medal. However, for the third time in a row, Spain had a poor offensive showing. And, for the second time in a row, Cata Coll committed a costly goalkeeping error. And, thus, for the first time since 2008, Germany had an Olympic bronze medal, their fourth.

The two defining moments of the match both revolved around penalty kicks: In the 65th minute, Giulia Gwinn converted from the spot for Germany after Spain’s goalkeeper, Cata Coll, crashed into Gwinn at the top of the penalty area as both were going for a lofted long pass. And, in the final moments of the match, Gotham FC’s Ann-Katrin Berger, who save two kicks in Germany’s quarterfinal penalty shootout against Canada, was once again the heroine for Germany, as she saved Alexia Putellas’s penalty kick in the 9th minute of second-half stoppage time.

2024 Olympics: The USWNT’s Gold Medal Match Against Brazil Will Air Live on NBC

The United States Women’s National Team should have their biggest television audience of 2024 on Saturday, August 10th, when they play Brazil for the third time in an Olympic gold medal match.

The match, which was originally scheduled for the USA network, has been moved to NBC. The kick-off is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. EDT (8:00 a.m. PDT).

For those who prefer Spanish-language coverage, the gold medal match will air live on Telemundo.

The match can also be streamed via Peacock (subscription required) as well as the NBC Sports app and NBCOlympics.com (both require logging in using a multichannel service provider).

The schedule change was also confirmed in an NBC Sports press release.

2024 Olympics: Updated TV and Streaming Details for the Bronze Medal Match between Germany and Spain

In the United States, the only way to watch Friday’s bronze medal match between Germany and Spain with English-language commentary will be through streaming.

For those without Peacock subscriptions, if you have a multichannel service provider (e.g. for cable, satellite, etc.), in most cases, you should be able to watch the match live using the NBC Sports app or NBCOlympics.com after linking your multichannel service account.

The match, which was originally planned to air on the USA network, is still scheduled to air live on Telemundo, with Spanish-language commentary.

Olympics 2024: The USWNT and Brazil Advance to the Gold Medal Match – Semifinals Recap and Highlights

Rematches in the knockout stage of a tournament rarely play out the same way as the earlier group stage match. The United States Women’s National Team understands that axiom all too well, as they had faced a group stage opponent in a knockout or medal match five previous times at the Olympics, losing only once (2000, versus Norway in the gold medal match).

For the USA, this time around, there would be no dominant victory against their group stage opponent, Germany. But, there would be a victory, thanks to an extra-time heroine, just as there was in the quarterfinal match against Japan.

Reigning Women’s World Cup champions Spain, who were debutantes at this year’s Summer Olympics, got a harsh lesson in that reality when a makeshift and spirited Brazil, buoyed by an early own goal, got their second straight upset win.

2024 Olympics: TV and Streaming Schedule for the Semifinals and Medal Matches

Four teams remain in the women’s soccer tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics: The four-time gold medalists United States Women’s National Team; Germany, who won gold in 2016; two-time silver medalists Brazil; and semifinals debutante Spain.

Tuesday, August 6th

12:00 p.m. EDT: USWNT vs. Germany (TV: USA/Telemundo)
3:00 p.m. EDT: Brazil vs. Spain (TV: E!/Universo)

Friday, August 9th

9:00 a.m. EDT: Bronze Medal Match (TV: USA/Telemundo)

Saturday, August 10th

11:00 a.m. EDT: Gold Medal Match (TV: USA/Telemundo)

For those without cable, satellite, or other multichannel provider, all four matches can be streamed using NBC’s Peacock app (subscription required).

For more information about streaming, see Olympics 2024: Match Schedule with TV and Streaming Details (USA).

Olympics 2024: Why Trinity Rodman’s Goal versus Japan Was Not Offside

In the era of “VAR”, a goal is not a goal until the video assistant referee has their say. As NWSL fans are well aware, this can sometimes mean agonizing waits of multiple minutes for a goal to be officially affirmed or overturned by the center referee. However, this was not the case when the United States Women’s National Team’s Trinity Rodman curled her left-footed shot into the far upper corner of Japan’s goalmouth in the first quarterfinal of the women’s soccer tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics. That goal was conclusively affirmed within 80 seconds of the ball hitting the net.

The main reason why there was not too long of a wait, especially one involving the center referee jogging over to a video review monitor, is that the soccer stadiums at this year’s Olympics all have a specialized computerized system that helps the video assistant referee and her crew analyze potential offside situations. On the women’s side, this system was first used at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The other two main factors involved are the offside rule, itself, as well as how potential offside situations are handled by the refereeing crew.