U.S. women’s soccer scores Olympic-opening win over Zambia, but bigger tests loom

NICE, France —  The Emma Hayes era officially got under way Thursday, with the U.S. beating Zambia 3-0 on the opening day of the women’s soccer tournament at the Paris Olympics in a game that was far more one-sided than the final score.

Playing on the French Rivera in steamy Nice, wedged between the Mediterranean Sea and the French Alps, the Americans dominated in their new coach’s first competitive game on the sidelines, getting two goals from Mallory Swanson, another from Trinity Rodman and two assists from captain Lindsay Horan — all in the first 25 minutes.

There were few witnesses to any of that since the match drew a gathering so small, players could be heard shouting to one another from the top deck of Allianz Riviera Stadium. Nor, given the quality of the opponent — Zambia is ranked 64th in the world, worst in the Olympic field — were there many conclusions that could be drawn from the result.

But it was a good start for a team trying to erase the memory of last summer’s World Cup, where the U.S. bowed out short of the semifinals for the first time. That led to Vlatko Andonovski’s firing, Hayes’ hiring and the start of what U.S. Soccer hopes will be a new chapter in the program’s storied history.

U.S. coach Emma Hayes gives instructions to her team during a win over Zambia in Nice Thursday.

(Julio Cortez / Associated Press)

“We’re all really starting to come around to the way Emma has wanted us to play, the principles, and it’s been really enjoyable just being able to learn different things and trying to apply them,” Swanson said.

“It’s a good start. But there’s little things within that game, within the play, that we just need to fine-tune.”

Rodman agreed.

“We have a lot to prove to ourselves. So yeah, going off this game, I’m so happy about the performance, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”

Especially since the road ahead gets much tougher with the U.S. facing fourth-ranked Germany and No. 12 Australia in its final group-play matches. The Americans are fifth in the latest FIFA world rankings, their lowest ranking ever.

The first-round of the Olympic tournament is extremely forgiving with eight of the 12 teams — the top two in each of three groups, plus the two best third-place teams — going through to the quarterfinals. With Thursday’s win, the Americans should clear that low bar easily.

The real challenge is what comes after that. With No. 2 France, the Olympic host; top-ranked Spain, the reigning world champion; and Canada, the defending Olympic champion; in the field along with Germany, there will be no easy games in the knockout rounds.

Nor will there be any room for error for Hayes.

After reaching the gold-medal match of the first five Olympics, winning four of them, the U.S. has gone 12 years without playing for a title in the Summer Games. And if it doesn’t make it back to the top of the medal podium this summer that result, combined with last summer’s World Cup debacle, will mark the first time the Americans have gone a full four-year cycle without winning a major international championship.

Hayes’ job is to make sure that doesn’t happen and her team came out flying Thursday, peppering the Zambian goal from the start. But it couldn’t find the back of the net until the 17th minute when Rodman took a pass from Horan at the top of the box, spun to her right to escape two defenders, her long pink dreadlocks whipping around with her, then slipped a low right-footed shot past keeper Ngambo Musole to give the U.S. the only goal it needed.

It wasn’t the only one the Americans scored though, with Swanson adding two more 70 seconds apart to make it 3-0 eight minutes later. Eight minutes after that Zambia lost defender Pauline Zulu to a red card, leaving it short-handed the rest of the way. But even though the U.S. had a 27-8 edge in shots, it didn’t score again, leaving Hayes with some work to do before her team meets Germany on Sunday.

“The first part of the first half was exceptional,” she said. “To come out the way we did, the intention, the intensity, the decision-making, the execution, it should have been at least 5-0 at halftime. There was things within our structure I didn’t like. But that’s easy fixes.

“If we had asked me at the beginning of the game ‘would you be happy with a 3-0 winner?’ I probably would have said no. However, for the performance and the chances created and finding the back of the net, I don’t want to be too hard on the players.”