USWNT – Page 5 – Women's Soccer Express

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.

NCAA: Former USWNT Head Coach Anson Dorrance Announces Retirement from UNC Women’s Soccer

On Sunday, August 11th, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s athletics department announced that Anson Dorrance, long-time head coach of the women’s soccer program at UNC and a former head coach of the United States Women’s National Team, has retired, effective immediately.

Dorrance, as most fans of women’s soccer should be well aware, is the most successful coach in NCAA Division I women’s soccer, winning 21 national titles.

While not the first head coach of the USWNT, in many ways, Dorrance was the team’s founding father. He helped to establish the team’s identity and brought in young players such as Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, and Kristine Lilly. As head coach, Dorrance lead the USWNT to its first FIFA Women’s World Cup title, though at the time, the tournament did not use the “World Cup” moniker.

The press release (goheels.com) stated that Dorrance informed UNC’s Director of Athletics on Friday (August 9th) and notified the women’s soccer team on Sunday.

Assistant head coach Damon Nahas, who is the brother of North Carolina Courage head coach, Sean Nahas, will be the interim head coach.

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: 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.

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.

USWNT: The USA Will Host Argentina on Wednesday, October 30th

Today, U.S. Soccer announced that the United States Women’s National Team will play Argentina in Louisville, Kentucky, on Wednesday, October 30th.

The friendly match is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. eastern time and will air live on three cable channels, TNT and truTV (both English-language) and Universo (Spanish-language). The match will also stream live on Max (English) and Peacock (Spanish).

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.

Olympics 2024: Quarterfinals Recaps and Highlights

Knockout bracket (with quarterfinal results) for the women’s soccer tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics

Saturday’s quarterfinals at the 2024 Paris Olympics did not lack drama:

The USWNT needed a 105th minute goal from Trinity Rodman to defeat Japan’s stifling defense.
Colombia was minutes away from eliminating reigning Women’s World Cup champions Spain, but a late stoppage time goal by Irene Paredes, followed by a strong penalty shootout performance, saw Spain advance.
Canada and Germany went scoreless for 120 minutes, but Ann-Katrin Berger was the hero Germany needed during the penalty shootout as she stopped two kicks and made the decisive kick to see the 2016 gold medalists through.
France had their chances against Brazil, including a missed penalty kick by Sakina Karchaoui, but Gabi Portilho made the most of hers, sending Brazil through to their sixth Olympic semifinal.