The opening day of Women’s football at the Olympics was nothing short of spectacular.
Spain triumphed over Japan with a 2-1 comeback victory, while Canada secured a similar 2-1 win against New Zealand following some unusual pre-match drama. Brazil and Germany had also started strong, with Germany dominating Australia in a decisive 3-0 victory.
The final two matches featured France facing Colombia and the United States taking on Zambia. Our focus will be on the latter game, exploring how the USWNT navigated their way to a rampant victory against this Zambian side.
Emma Hayes’ first competitive game in charge saw no real surprises in her starting lineup with Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith, and Mallory Swanson starting as the front three. The only real selection of note was that Crystal Dunn was selected ahead of Jenna Nighswonger at left-back. Sam Coffey and Lindsey Horan made up the double pivot, and that is where the base of this victory came from.
The US scored all three goals in the first half and were seemingly satisfied with their work before taking their foot off the gas in the second half with the game done and dusted. The added red card to Zambian defender Pauline Zulu made matters even easier for the Americans. A game like this would seemingly have very little tactical depth at first glance, as the US dominated; however, the forward line caught the eye last night.
The front three’s performance was exactly what Emma Hayes had hoped for — Swanson, Smith, and Rodman were all brilliant, showcasing impressive fluidity in their movement and understanding. Hayes encouraged positional interchanges and rotations among her forwards, with Rose Lavelle and Horan in midfield providing support and supplementing the attack.
During the first half in particular, we saw a lot of chances created through interchanges on the left and right wings. The left-winger would usually invert and interchange with the center forward whilst the right-winger held width. In this game, we saw the left-back Dunn make overlapping runs whilst right-back Emily Fox was seen to play a more inverted attacking role. The biggest takeaway we’ve learnt here is that Hayes wants to have combinations in her play to ensure that no player is left constantly isolated and their attack remains unpredictable.
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However, arguably the biggest positive takeaway was Swanson’s restoration to the starting eleven. It has been a long-awaited return, and with recent performances in mind, it was little wonder as to why everyone was clamoring to see her start again.
Swanson’s performance as the left-winger in Hayes’ 4-2-3-1 included a lot of rotations and inward movements that allowed Crystal Dunn to overlap and flank the left wing on her own. Swanson’s naturally a striker but Hayes’ preference to use one inverted winger and one free-flowing, more natural wide player benefits the USWNT because it allows the front two to rotate and create more space for interchanging runs from different players.
All three goals had a high level of interchangeability, with Swanson and Rodman both interchanging with Smith to get into the striker position to score. Looking at Swanson’s first goal, the build-up already had Smith moving out to the left flank, looking to stretch the Zambian defense. The American center-backs were able to bypass the Zambian midfield and gave Smith the ball in acres of space before she passed it towards Horan who also found herself in a lot of space.
The pass from Horan was a touch of class and creativity but it was spotted only because of Swanson’s quick thinking and run-in behind the center-back. Swanson is used to taking that position for her club side and the run itself is a sign of her familiarity with the position and the spaces she needs to take up.
Equally, her second goal was almost a carbon copy of the first, but the main difference here was when Lavelle made her pass to Smith out on the left, Swanson was deeper than both players. Recognizing the situation, she made a straight run for the box that allowed Smith to play a very quick cross in Swanson’s path to finish.
Lastly, Rodman played a crucial role for the USWNT, with her opening goal the catalyst to their performance. She consistently challenged her full-back, skillfully alternating between wide and inside positions to stay unpredictable. While her pirouette in the build up to the goal will rightly make headlines, it’s essential to recognize that the build-up to her goal mirrored the team’s overall strategy: they consistently built up play on the left, gradually moving the ball inside at pace. Rodman’s role was to maintain width, complementing Fox’s more inverted runs.
The gap between the teams was too large for Zambia, even with the blistering speed of both Barbra Banda and Racheal Kunandanji. However, this experience will be valuable for their upcoming matches against Germany and Australia, where we will gain even more insight into Hayes’ tactics.
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