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Paris Olympics
In the women's soccer final, the U.S. defeated Brazil 1-0 to win their fifth Olympic
silver medal
, also announced the return of the U.S. women's soccer team to the Olympic summit since London 2012. Led by Head Coach Emma Hayes, the U.S. went undefeated in its first international tournament, culminating in the trophy.
The turning point of the match came in the second half when Mallory Swanson scored the only goal of the match in the 57th minute, a crucial strike in her 100th international match for the U.S. team. In stoppage time, U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Neher made a heroic save when she made a one-handed save on a header by Brazilian forward Adriana to secure the U.S. victory.
For Brazil and their legendary star Marta, the loss was certainly a crushing blow. A six-time Miss World Soccer winner, Marta has never tasted the title at the Women's World Cup or the Olympics. This could be the last major international tournament of her career and it was saddening to see her fail to finish with a gold medal.
This is the third time that the U.S. women's soccer team has beaten Brazil in the Olympic final, after they defeated Brazil in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008. The Brazilian women's soccer team has never been able to break the spell of the runner-up in the Olympics.
The U.S. met their Waterloo in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and three years ago they won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. The victory in Paris not only added to the U.S. women's Olympic journey, but also marked their dominance in the world of women's soccer.
In the audience, the presence of Tom Cruise and former U.S. women's soccer superstar Megan Rapinoe added even more star power to the women's soccer extravaganza. Since the debut of the women's soccer program at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the U.S. women's soccer team has been a perennial favorite on this stage, and their stellar record will go down in history.
