America girls’s soccer crew is lastly No. 1 once more.
Earlier than this summer time’s Olympics, the Individuals had been at their lowest, actually. FIFA had the USA at No. 5, its worst ever ranking. Something aside from first is a disappointment for the head of worldwide girls’s soccer, however the crew solely had itself accountable.
Settling for bronze within the 2020 Olympics and a quarterfinal exit in final 12 months’s FIFA Ladies’s World Cup allowed energized, in-form European squads to overhaul the crimson, white and blue. A brand new head coach and a significant event this summer time gave the USWNT an opportunity to show it belonged again on high.
The Individuals gained their ninth main event with a gold medal on the 2024 Paris Olympics and, subsequently, are again at No. 1 in Friday’s FIFA world rankings. Their fifth Olympic medal and first since 2012 symbolizes the start of one more dominant period.
The squad rebounded from its should susceptible interval ever regardless of being beneath the management of latest head coach Emma Hayes for under three months. The following main event isn’t till the 2027 World Cup, giving Hayes time to spherical out her squad and combine the techniques that gained her sixteen titles with Chelsea.
The dynamic and harmful front-line trio of Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson are solely a mean age of 24-years-old. The “Triple Espresso” mixed for 10 of the USWNT’s 12 targets at this summer time’s Olympics. On the opposite aspect of the ball, Hayes known as 24-year-old heart again and vice captain Naomi Girma the “best defender (she’s) ever seen.” These younger superstars are the hallmark of Hayes’ long-term imaginative and prescient.
The brand new World Rankings make for an intriguing battle on the high. Former No. 1 and 2023 FIFA Ladies’s World Cup winner Spain disappointingly left Paris with out a medal, and former No. 2 and Olympic host France misplaced within the quarterfinals to eventual silver-medalist Brazil. Consequently, England moved up a spot to No. 2, even after Nice Britain did not qualify for this summer time’s event.
The English, winners of the 2022 Euros and the 2023 World Cup runner-ups, are the Individuals’ best menace within the Emma Hayes period. Seven out of the final 9 video games between the 2 sides had been decided by one purpose or much less, with their most up-to-date conflict a 0-0 draw at Wembley Stadium in October of 2022.
Hayes returns dwelling to England when the 2 face off at Wembley once more on Nov. 30, 2024.
