The United States Women’s National Team completed their Olympics yesterday by defeating Australia 4-3 to win the bronze medal. It completed a 2-year wait for the USWNT to attempt to become the first team to win a gold medal immediately after winning a World Cup. They didn’t achieve the gold medal they were looking for, and it signaled the first time in over 2.5 years that the USWNT played in a tournament and was not the best team. We break down a few of the things we learned about the team during these Olympic games.
The joy was missing
Maybe it was because of the pressure that was placed upon the team or the expectations that they placed upon themselves, but something was clearly missing from the USWNT in Japan: joy.