The Emma Hayes era officially got under way Thursday, with the U.S. beating Zambia 3-0 on the opening day of the women’s soccer tournament at the Paris Olympics in a game that was far more one-sided than the scoreline.
Playing on the French Rivera in steamy Nice, wedged between the Mediterranean Sea and the French Alps, the Americans dominated in their new coach’s first competitive game on the sidelines, getting two goals from Mallory Swanson, another from Trinity Rodman and two assists from captain Lindsay Horan — all in the first 25 minutes.
There were few witnesses to any of that since the match drew a gathering so small, players could be heard shouting to one another from the top deck of Allianz Rivera Stadium. Nor, given the quality of the opponent — Zambia is ranked 64th in the world, worst in the Olympic field — were there many conclusions that could be drawn from the result.
But it was a good start for a team trying to erase the memory of last summer’s World Cup, where the U.S. bowed out short of the semifinals for the first time. That led to Vlatko Andonovski’s firing, Hayes’ hiring and the start of what U.S. Soccer hopes will be a new chapter in the program’s storied history.
Hayes’ honeymoon could be a short one, however, because the road ahead gets much tougher for the U.S., which will face fourth-ranked Germany and No. 12 Australia in group play. The Americans are fifth in the latest FIFA world rankings, their lowest ranking ever.
But then the first round Olympic tournament is extremely forgiving with eight of the 12 teams — the top two in each of three groups, plus the two best third-place teams — going through to the quarterfinals. With Thursday’s win, the Americans should clear that low bar easily.
The U.S. peppered the Zambian goal from the start, but sent two of their its tries off the crossbar while another strayed just wide. Rodman finally found the back of the net in the 17th minute, spinning to her right at the top of the box to escape two defenders, her long pink ponytail whipping around with her, before slipping a low right-footed shot past keeper Ngambo Musole to give the U.S. the only goal it needed.
But it wouldn’t be the only one the Americans would score, with Swanson adding two more 70 seconds apart to make it 3-0 after 25 minutes. Things continued to spiral downhill for Zambia with defender Pauline Zulu getting sent off with a red card 12 minutes before the intermission for taking Sophia Smith down at the edge of the penalty area.
The U.S. controlled the ball for 70 of the 90 minutes, outshooting Zambia 27-8, but even with Zambia down a player Musole and a tenacious backline managed to keep the scoreline from getting completely out of hand. In its last two games — a sendoff match with Costa Rica and Thursday’s Olympic opener with Zambia — the U.S. has outshot its opponents 53-10, putting 20 of those tries on target, yet it has scored just three times.
