Less than a year after the international breakout success of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia, a great variety of that competition’s finest gamers will be back; this time, the international football epicentre will be Paris Olympics 2024 with 12 groups defending the gold medal.
World champs Spain is amongst the favourites to taste magnificence, despite the fact that the group will make its Olympic launching in the French capital, while seasonal heavyweights the United States will be trying to find redemption after suffering their worst-ever World Cup result.
Group USA’s neighbours Canada are the safeguarding Olympic champs after they did the unimaginable at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, beating highly-favoured Sweden in the gold medal match. Disappointingly, the Swedes will not participate in the Paris 2024 Olympics after stopping working to certify.
Joining them on the absentees list will be the United Kingdom, who could not protect an Olympic berth through the inaugural Women’s Nations League.
With senior expert gamers and full-strength teams, the 12-team females’s Olympic football occasion uses a star-studded and leading international football competitors of the greatest quality when compared to the 16-team guys’s occasion, which is limited to under-23 gamers with an allowance for just 3 over-age expert gamers.
The fan interest in ladies’s Olympic football competitors is anticipated to be greater than ever, thanks to the success of the 2023 World Cup, which drew in record international tv seeing figures.
U.S.A.: A group in shift
With a brand-new coach at its helm and a team including upcoming stars, a new-look Team USA will complete at the Olympics.
England’s Emma Hayes has actually been worked with to reverse the group’s fortunes and the knowledgeable coach might be a breath of fresh air that the American females’s video game requirements.
Hayes, who led Chelsea to 7 Women’s Super League titles, took control of the reins prior to the Olympics, although her consultation was revealed late in 2015 after Vlatko Andonovski resigned in the wake of their bitter World Cup exit.
After succeeding victories in 2015 and 2019, the United States was anticipated to finish a “three-peat” of titles at the 2023 World Cup, however the Americans were knocked out in the last 16, losing to Sweden on charges.
The pressure is on Hayes as she handles a group searching for its method back to the cloud nine rankings, having actually slipped to their lowest-ever area (5th). There is likewise pride on the line for the four-time world champs.
“We all understand the primary active ingredients of the American DNA, which will not alter under my stewardship,” Hayes stated in her very first interview as head coach in June.
United States captain Lindsey Horan, who became part of the side that won bronze at the Tokyo Games, stated the group has actually proceeded from their World Cup heartbreak and is opting for gold in Paris.
“After the World Cup, we truly regrouped,” Horan informed press reporters this month.
“You take a look at the young gamers being available in, the leaders on this group, you understand, simply [a] huge mesh of what we have. I believe what you’re visiting and what’s in shop for us is amazing.”
Group USA’s 18-player Olympic lineup includes interesting brand-new skill such as forward Sophia Smith and protector Naomi Girma, while veterans Horan, Alyssa Naeher and Crystal Dunn include quality depth to the team.
In a surprise omission, Alex Morgan, among the last links to the terrific United States ladies’s football group dynasty, was neglected by Hayes. It will be the very first time considering that the 2008 Olympics that the prominent forward will not dress for the nationwide side in a significant competitors.
Group USA has actually won a medal in all however among the 7 Olympics that have actually included females’s football, consisting of 4 gold medals, the last of which came at London 2012.
Goalkeeper Naeher stated the Paris Olympics will offer the group a possibility to start a brand-new chapter, as they want to restore their supremacy on the international phase.
“We’ve talked with this entire year about looking towards the future and turning the page and having this brand-new identity and moving on,” Naeher informed press reporters.
“This is the start of that,” she stated.
“With Emma in here and the complete brand-new personnel and the lineup being set, I believe now this is the chance to formally sort of relocation in that forward instructions. And this is the very first competition for that. You can feel the energy.”
The United States remain in Group B along with 2016 Olympic champs Germany, Asian heavyweights Australia, and Zambia, whose team consists of the world’s most pricey female gamer, Racheal Kundananji.
Can Spain do the double?
Spain became the 2023 FIFA World Champions in Australia and New Zealand in spite of handling off-field problems consisting of an awful gamer revolt. Later on, their title accomplishment was ruined by a scandal set off by ex-Spanish FA chief Luis Rubiales.
Rubiales provoked around the world outrage by kissing star gamer Jenni Hermoso without authorization throughout the medal event after the World Cup last. The disgraced previous authorities is set to stand trial in February 2025, while his close ally Jorge Vilda was likewise sacked as the coach by the Spanish FA.
Unlike the World Cup, Spain will head to the Olympics without interruptions and has the opportunity to end up being the first string to win the Olympic Gold-World Cup double.
The Olympics will be a brand-new experience for the top-ranked Spaniards however having actually won the World Cup and the Nations League in 2015, they understand what it requires to win at a significant competition.
Their team is abundant in first-rate skill, including 2023 Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati, all-time leading scorer Hermoso, experienced midfielder Alexia Putellas and appealing winger Salma Paralluelo.
“We are an enthusiastic group and I am an enthusiastic individual who never ever burns out of winning,” stated Bonmati, who won Liga F and the Champions League with Barcelona last season.
“The most crucial thing now is to concentrate on winning gold.”
Spain, playing under brand-new coach Montse Tome, remain in Group C with 2011 world champs Japan, two-time Olympic silver medallists Brazil, and Nigeria, the top-ranked African group.
Marta steps up for Brazil, Canada high up on self-confidence
Brazil will head to Paris 2024 looking for the gold medal that has actually avoided them, having actually won the silver in 2004 and 2008 Olympics.
Head coach Arthur Elias’s team consists of among the very best gamers of perpetuity, Marta. The 38-year-old will be playing in her 6th and last Games before retiring from global football at the end of the year, and the famous forward would like to lastly include a gold medal to her prolonged list of profession accomplishments.
“She brings a lot to the table, she’s the best professional athlete of perpetuity,” Elias stated of Marta, who is Brazil’s leading objective scorer.
Canada have actually stuck to a significant piece of their gold medal-winning team as coach Bev Priestman gotten in touch with 13 gamers who belonged to the Olympic success in Tokyo.
Captain Jessie Fleming, among 6 females on the 18-player team completing in their 3rd successive Olympic Games, stated the eighth-ranked group are positive of a great efficiency.
The Canadians are the only side to have actually reached the podium in ladies’s football at each of the last 3 Olympic Games.
“We have actually grown a lot in the in 2015 as a group and are positive we can duplicate the success we have actually had traditionally in this competition,” stated Fleming, who took control of the captaincy after veteran skipper Christine Sinclair retired late in 2015.
Canada remains in Group A with hosts France, Colombia and New Zealand.
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You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s devoted Paris 2024 Olympics competition page with all the news and functions, along with occasion accumulation and live text commentary on chosen football, basketball, tennis and boxing components.