Soccer – 'Anybody's ready' USWNT enjoys tough Olympic draw
Expanding(Reuters) – Emma Hayes' first official game as coach of the U.S. women's team will be at the Paris Olympics against either Morocco or Zambia, but the U.S. is in a tough group with Germany, one of the African teams, and Australia. We tied with B.
The British coach started work about two months before the four-time gold medalists opened in Nice on July 25, playing against Germany in the same city three days later and Australia in Marseille on July 31. do.
“I think it's going to be a very, very strong Olympics … and frankly, it's going to be tough for every group,” interim coach Twila Kilgore told reporters Wednesday.
“It would be a mistake to underestimate our opponents, but we are ready for anyone. We take everything head on, we love adversity, we love pressure, and with an opponent like this That’s great.”
Morocco and Zambia will play a two-game playoff in early April to determine which of the two teams will advance to France.
The USWNT played Australia twice at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, drawing 0-0 in the group stage and defeating the Matildas 4-3 in the bronze medal match.
Matildas coach Tony Gustafsson said he was resigned to a tough draw given the quality of the 12-team tournament.
“The way to know the quality of the teams that are participating in this competition is to look at the teams that are not participating,” the Swede told reporters.
“Sweden missed out, England missed out, the Netherlands missed out, but this is a huge opportunity for women's football.
“This is going to be a very, very, very exciting group.”
Australia's run to the final four at the Tokyo Olympics was their best Olympic performance, but at last year's Women's World Cup, they reached the semi-finals, the USWNT were eliminated in the last 16, and Germany failed to make it out of their group.
Germany, who open the tournament against Australia in Marseille on July 25, won their only Olympic title in Rio in 2016, but failed to qualify and were unable to defend their title in Tokyo.
Horst Hrubesch, who took over as Germany national team coach from Martina Voss-Tecklenburg last November, said he was extremely happy with the draw.
“You know what's going to happen against Australia, but it's definitely going to be a physical game,” he said in a news release.
“We know what's going on against America, so a third game in Zambia or Morocco would actually be very suitable for us.”
(Reporting by Nick Mulvaney; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
