Olympic Video games: These 5 groups pose the most important risk to the U.S. girls’s nationwide soccer staff’s quest for gold

For the reason that addition of ladies’s soccer to the Olympic Video games 28 years in the past, it’s simply been assumed that in terms of the medal stand, the United States is a lock to win gold after which [insert nation here] to gather silver and bronze.

However after faltering within the 2016 Summer season Video games in Rio, one can now not assumed that the U.S. nationwide staff is the preeminent No. 1. In reality within the aftermath of a roster change, and a brand new coach in Emma Hayes, time will inform if this can be a U.S. staff that may even discover itself on the medal stand.

The expertise is there to take action, however the remainder of the world has caught up or are rounding the nook on being on par with a U.S. staff wanting to get again to that high spot in FIFA’s girls’s world rankings (the U.S. is at the moment fifth-best).

In reality, throughout the 16-nation area for the Olympics, three groups Spain (No. 1), France (No. 2) and Germany (No. 3) sit above the U.S. within the rankings — with the Germans in Group B with the People alongside Zambia and Australia.

Ought to they get out of the group stage, there might conceivably be the likes of Japan, Brazil, and Canada — the reigning Olympic champions — ready in anticipation to knock the People out.

Right here’s a have a look at every staff and what they bring about to the desk in a quest for gold.

Picture by Manuel Queimadelos/High quality Sport Pictures/Getty Pictures

Spain

FIFA world rating: No. 1

Coming off a historic win — and the scandal that adopted — within the 2023 FIFA World Cup, Spain is poised to chase Olympic gold and introduced a lot of the identical roster that gained the world title in New Zealand final yr. Keep watch over Aitana Bonmatí, because the Barcelona ahead has a knack for profitable massive titles. Along with the World Cup, she guided Spain to a UEFA Nations League title and a Champions League title with Barcelona.

France

FIFA world rating: No. 2

Amandine Henry fuels this French offense for a staff that continues to nip on the heels of Spain. This can be Henry’s third Olympics getting her begin on the Rio Video games in 2016. Defensively, Wendie Renard will bolster a backline wanting to carry a medal to the host nation. Additionally, search for gamers like Grace Geyoro and Marie-Antoinette Katoto for creativity.

Picture by Craig Mitchelldyer/Getty Pictures for Soccer Australia

Canada

FIFA world rating: No. 8

The Canadians are one of many hottest nations on the soccer sphere proper now. The boys’s staff simply completed a powerful exhibiting on the Copa Ameríca and the ladies are getting into the Summer season Video games because the defending champions and a bump as much as a Prime 10 rating on this planet. Nonetheless, the staff will accomplish that with out its greatest participant, stalwart Christine Sinclair, who retired from worldwide competitors following the 2023 FIFA Ladies’s World Cup.

Picture by JOSE JORDAN/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Japan

FIFA world rating: No. 7

The Japanese have lengthy been a thorn within the facet of the U.S. girls’s staff. They play artistic soccer, that bodily and have aim scorers. Nonetheless, Japan is in robust Group C with the likes of Spain, Nigeria and Brazil, all groups that would trigger issues as they give the impression of being to emerge from the group.

Picture by Chico Peixoto/Eurasia Sport Pictures/Getty Pictures

Brazil

FIFA world rating: No. 9

If there was ever a time to be apprehensive about Brazil, it’s at these Summer season Video games. The nation can be enjoying for its greatest-ever girls’s participant Marta, who introduced she deliberate to step down from worldwide competitors following the Olympics. Marta, who will compete in her sixth competitors, is the all-time main girls’s scorer and has lengthy been an envoy for the ladies’s recreation.