FIFA announced on Wednesday during the tournament draw at the Pulse Building outside Paris that the United States women’s national soccer team will compete in Group B at the 2024 Paris Olympics against Australia, Germany, and either Morocco or Zambia.
The competition will be the Americans’ first competitive matches under new head coach Emma Hayes. She takes over the squad after the United States had its poorest World Cup result ever last year, losing to Sweden in the round of 16.
“After the draw, we’re excited to have a path and, for the most part, know who we’re playing,” U.S. interim coach Twila Kilgore stated at a press conference.
The United States will play its first match of the tournament in Nice on July 25 against either Zambia or Morocco. The two teams will play a two-leg playoff in April. The Americans haven’t faced either team before.
The United States is attempting to win its first gold medal in women’s soccer since the 2012 London Games, despite having won four of the previous five Olympics in the sport. In 2021, they won a bronze medal in the Tokyo Games.
The United States recently dropped to No. 4 in FIFA’s rankings, which is their lowest standing since the rankings’ inception in 2003. However, the World Cup champion Spain and the host France were the other two teams seeded in the event, including the Americans. The second-ranked team in the world, England, as Great Britain, was unable to secure an Olympic qualification.
The United States’ record versus Germany is 23–5-7. Six out of the nine Women’s World Cup championships have been won by the two teams combined. The last time they had faced off in Olympic competition was in a 2004 semifinal, which the United States prevailed 2-1 in extra time thanks to a goal from Heather O’Reilly.
In 34 meetings, Australia has just once defeated the United States. The teams met again in the bronze-medal match, which the United States won 4-3, after playing to a 0-0 tie in the group stage in the previous Olympics.
Both Zambia and Morocco participated in their first World Cup last year. Morocco has never earned a spot in the women’s soccer Olympic competition. In the competition, Zambia debuted in 2021.
Kilgore was happy to have found the “right type of travel” between Nice and Marseilles in Group B. She stated that she and Hayes will have a face-to-face meeting on Thursday to talk more about the draw and her future goals. Since Vlatko Andonovski resigned after the United States team’s 2023 World Cup exit, Kilgore has been the team’s interim coach.
Hayes will not start working with the team until late May, following her completion of the European club season with Chelsea. Hayes was named the team’s new coach in November.
