Mallory Swanson scored in the 57th minute and Alyssa Naeher made four saves to lead the U.S. women’s national team to its fifth Olympics gold medal with a 1-0 victory against Brazil in Paris on Saturday.
While the gold medal was its first since 2012, the U.S. also has a silver and a bronze in the eight Olympic tournaments. The only time the U.S. did not medal came in the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Naeher made a spectacular leaping save with her right hand in the 90+4 minute on a header by Adriana to preserve the win.
On the Swanson goal, Brazilian defender Thais gave away the ball to Korbin Albert at midfield and she fed a through ball to Swanson to start the break.
Sophia Smith was offside but she wisely stayed out of the play, and she and Swanson moved toward the goal with no defenders back. Swanson, in her 100th national team appearance, kept the ball and curled a shot from the left side of the box to the right corner for her fourth goal of the tournament.
“I felt the way Brazil plays, a lot of duels, a lot of 1 v. 1, they don’t really want to allow you time and space, so no problem, we’ll turn you and we did that,” coach Emma Hayes told reporters after the win. “We got more aggressive as the game went on. I was encouraging that.”
The U.S. never trailed in the tournament and finished with three successive shutouts. The Americans outscored their six opponents 12-2.
“The heart, the determination, the grit, everything about these players is unbelievable,” Hayes said.
New coach Hayes is 9-0-1 with seven shutouts since debuting in June as the U.S. found redemption after its failure at the 2023 World Cup, when it didn’t reach the semifinals for the first time in nine tournaments, prompting the firing of Vlatko Andonovski.
Hayes credited her decade managing Chelsea Women with contributing to her immediate success with the USWNT.
“I come from a place of wanting players to enjoy themselves and I’d been at a club for 12 years who had had huge success, but I was desperate to do well for this country,” Hayes said.
Swanson paid tribute to the team’s coach when speaking to NBC after the match.
“The one thing we do on the field is have fun. Emma has brought that out of us,” Swanson said. “We’ve been playing with joy, and you can just see it on the field. Before the match, she said it’s just another soccer game with your friends. It was hard but at the end of the day, that’s what it is.”
Brazilian all-time leading scorer Marta, 38, did not start after being suspended the past two matches for a red card in what will be her final international tournament.
The six-time FIFA world player of the year, in her sixth Olympics, entered in the 61st minute.
Marta had twice previously been denied gold by the U.S., losing in extra time in 2004 and 2008. The latter was the only other time a team was shut out in the final (U.S., 1-0)
Naeher made the play of the first half in the second minute of stoppage time with a reactionary save on a half volley by Gabi Portilho from 6 yards to keep the match scoreless.
The U.S. is 33-3-5 vs. Brazil.
Germany defeated Spain 1-0 to win the bronze medal on Friday.
–Field Level Media
