The United States girls’s nationwide crew will face Australia, Germany, and both Morocco or Zambia in Group B on the 2024 Paris Olympics, FIFA confirmed on Wednesday on the event draw on the Pulse Constructing close to Paris.
The event will mark the primary aggressive video games answerable for the U.S. for incoming head coach Emma Hayes, who takes over the crew following its worst end in World Cup historical past final 12 months.
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Match play will start on July 25 for the U.S. in Good towards both Morocco or Zambia, who will compete in a two-leg playoff in April. The U.S. has by no means beforehand performed both crew.
The People received 4 of the primary 5 Olympics to function girls’s soccer however are searching for their first gold medal for the reason that 2012 London Video games. They earned a bronze medal on the Tokyo Video games in 2021.
The U.S. just lately fell to No. 4 in FIFA’s rankings, its worst place for the reason that rankings launched in 2003, however was considered one of three seeded groups for the event alongside World Cup champion Spain and host France. England, the No. 2 crew on this planet, didn’t qualify (as Nice Britain) for the Olympics.
The USA holds a 23-5-7 file towards Germany. The 2 groups have mixed to win six of the 9 Girls’s World Cup titles. They’ve solely beforehand met as soon as in Olympic play, a 2004 semifinal that the U.S. received, 2-1 in additional time behind a objective from Heather O’Reilly.
Australia has defeated the U.S. solely as soon as in 34 conferences. The groups performed to a scoreless draw within the group stage of the earlier Olympics and met once more within the bronze-medal recreation, which the U.S. received, 4-3.
Morocco and Zambia every made their World Cup debuts final 12 months. Morocco has by no means certified for an Olympic girls’s soccer event. Zambia made its debut within the event in 2021.
Defending Olympic girls’s champion Canada will face Colombia, New Zealand, and host France in Group A of the ladies’s event. Spain will play in Group C alongside Japan, Brazil and the winner of April’s Nigeria–South Africa playoff.
The boys’s Olympic draw additionally happened on Wednesday, with the U.S. males set to compete on the Olympics this summer season for the primary time since 2008 after failing to qualify for the earlier three editions.
The U.S. males was drawn in Group A alongside host France, New Zealand and the winner of a playoff between Guinea, the fourth-place crew from African qualification, and the fourth-place crew from Asian qualifying.
The Olympic males’s soccer event is a U-23 competitors. Every crew is allowed three overage gamers.