If this really is the end of an era, or at least the end for some stars of the US women’s national team, it ends with at least a medal and some style points.
The United States took Olympic bronze for the first time on Thursday, rediscovering the joy that Megan Rapinoe and others suggested had been lost after a semi-final defeat to Canada. A 4-3 win over Australia in Kashima, where sweet dreams were shattered just a few days ago (and where the United States and Australia had played a sleazy 0-0 days earlier to close the game of the group), secured a finished third-place finish and saved some face to conclude what ultimately was a disappointing trip to Japan.
Matches for third place have a tendency to go haywire, with the stakes not quite the highest and teams allowed to play freely due to lack of repercussions. It is not to detract from the significance of an Olympic bronze medal, especially for Australia, which has never yet won a medal in women’s football, but there is a different atmosphere and a different kind of pressure that encompasses these types of games, and this has remained true here. For the second time in his career, Rapinoe scored on an Olympic (straight from a corner kick) at the Olympics. The former made it to his first Games, in the 2012 semi-finals against Canada, so this offered a kind of bookend for what should be his last round on this stage.
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What also seemed like a symbolic and appropriate ending was appreciated by Carli Lloyd, who paired Rapinoe with a couple of goals in what should also be his last go-around. Lloyd was sure to check out whoever prematurely calls her a career for her before she can, but at 39 she was the oldest USWNT Olympian ever and if she kept hitting Formiga territory. However, Thursday was an important time for her. She earned her 312nd international cap, single-handedly taking second place in the all-time ranking of international football (US legend Kristine Lilly tops the list with an astonishing 354), and her two goals made her both the first USWNT player to score in four Olympics is the United States’ all-time Olympic goalscorer with 10 goals.
“The way you saw us go out and play, that was the mentality of the United States,” Lloyd said after the game, also admitting that he is “at the end” of his career.
The bronze medal for the USWNT follows four golds, a silver and a quarter-final elimination in the Olympic game, and at least allows the United States to come home with something for their troubles. It is not the gold that his players ask of themselves, but there must have been a relief to regain the swashbuckling, carefree and aggressive approach that defined the modern era for this team.
After the semi-final defeat to Canada, however, the tone surrounding the team had changed, and there’s no denying a semblance of change is on the way. That was to be expected given the composition of this 22-player roster. When he was still at the original 18 players, Vlatko Andonovski’s team was on average over 30 years old. When the IOC expanded squads to allow alternates to be part of the picture, that dropped to just under 30. But the US still depended on Rapinoe and Lloyd, who together are 75, and captained by 36-year-old center-back Becky Sauerbrunn . This does not mean that a bittersweet bronze is due exclusively to their performances, on the contrary, it is not at all; the United States never found a rhythm as a whole, and some other individuals were simply extraordinarily below their standards. Overall, this was just a poorly executed and run tournament, but time and legends pass.
So what comes next? Is it really the end of an era or just a slight transition to a semi-new one? After a medal-free trip to Brazil in 2016, manager Jill Ellis evaluated continuity, bringing 15 of her 18 players to France for the 2019 Women’s World Cup, which the United States won. Andonovski is a different manager with a different methodology, but those expecting a wholesale change will likely be disappointed. The USWNT is a team that has been managed for decades based on seniority and its core is still made up of stars in their prime. It says something when Tobin Heath and Rose Lavelle are brought off the bench in a match for the medal. The amount of depth hasn’t changed and some aging players don’t make this team suddenly lacking in winning talent. But that doesn’t mean an eager next generation isn’t ready to burn out.
The post-Olympic tour that takes place in the United States after the team’s return home will likely feature the same core that played in Japan. At some point, Rapinoe, Lloyd, Sauerbrunn and others will contemplate their international future. Can you resist trying to play for another two years and in another World Cup? Or leave the place to others?
And there are others.
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Catarina Macario, Lyon’s 21-year-old rising star who has been given six minutes of play at these Olympics, will be seen as an attacking spark for the next decade, but she won’t be alone. There’s Midge Purce, the versatile 25-year-old who somehow surprisingly missed the 22-player cut for this competition and can do as Crystal Dunn and play as a full-back. Sophia Smith (20), Trinity Rodman (19), Ashley Sanchez (22) and Mal Pugh (23) —a 2016 Olympian at 18 and a 2019 World Cup winner who stays out to reclaim her national team status— they are among the attackers and attacking the champions who will have to push for time. And don’t forget Lynn Williams, 28, who impressed in her first Olympic match against the Netherlands. Heath (33), Christen Press (32) and Alex Morgan (32) are also not done yet.
The midfield quartet formed by Julie Ertz (29), Lindsey Horan (27), Sam Mewis (28) and Lavelle (26) should remain intact and star of the World Cup in two years, but Andi Sullivan (25) and Jaelin Howell (21) are waiting behind the scenes for their opportunity to contribute.
In the rear, Alana Cook, the 24-year-old center-back, is expected to become more of a fixture and fight for time with Abby Dahlkemper (28) and Tierna Davidson (22), neither of whom have enjoyed a particularly good Olympics. . Versatile Racing Louisville rookie and NWSL 2021 Draft No. 1 pick Emily Fox, 23, is another prime candidate to become a national team fixture.
In goal, 33-year-old Alyssa Naeher may remain number one through another World Cup, but younger Jane Campbell (26 and on the Olympic roster, although she didn’t play) and Casey Murphy (25) could be among those. that push for time.
All of which is to say that the closet isn’t bare even if the change from what has worked so well over the past six years seems daunting and whether winning at the highest level is to be learned by a select few. It’s up to Andonovski to bring the pieces back to the top spot over the next couple of years and, more importantly, to make sure it doesn’t take a third place to rediscover what gave the US its true essence in its time as the world’s leading power.
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