It took two extra-time matches, but the United States women’s national team is back in a gold medal match at the Olympics. The Americans will face Brazil on Saturday in the final in Paris.
The U.S. enters the match as the favorite after the Brazilians upset reigning World Cup champion Spain in a semifinal. The Americans have -275 odds to win the gold medal.
The USWNT has won four of the seven golds at the Olympics. Regardless of what happens in the final, the U.S. will have made six of the eight finals and won medals in seven of the eight women’s soccer tournaments.
Meanwhile, Brazil is looking for its first-ever gold medal in women’s soccer. The Brazilians took silver in 2004 and 2008.
The gold medal game will take place Saturday at 11 a.m. ET at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
USWNT vs. Brazil odds
Odds are for result after 90 minutes and from BetMGM.
Odds
US win
-120
Draw
+240
Brazil win
+320
The paths to the final for these two teams have been a bit reversed.
The Americans mostly cruised through group play, winning all three matches with a plus-seven goal differential. The two knockout matches were both tense affairs that went to extra time after 90 scoreless minutes. The U.S. survived past Japan in the quarterfinals and Germany in the semifinals with 1-0 victories after two hours of play in each match.
Brazil barely made it to the knockout stage. After beating Nigeria 1-0 in the opener, Brazil gave up two goals in added time to lose 2-1 to Japan and then lost 2-0 to Spain. Brazil was the last team to get into the quarterfinals, edging out Australia in goal differential by one goal among teams that finished third in their groups.
In the quarterfinals, Brazil shocked host France 1-0 with a late goal and then blew away Spain in a big upset in the semifinals. Brazil beat Spain 4-2, but it could have, and probably should have, been much worse. Spain was a mess defensively against Brazil and the first goal was truly embarrassing.
Brazil take the lead against Spain in BIZARRE fashion. 😳
A clearance ricochets off Spanish defender Irene Paredes and into her own net to give the Seleção an early advantage! #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/uu9s3w0D6a
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) August 6, 2024
So how do these two teams match up? The Americans are undefeated and have survived some close tests, but will that extra hour of play affect the Americans in the final? These teams have been playing every three or four days for the duration of the two-and-a-half-week tournament, and USWNT coach Emma Hayes has received criticism for not rotating players or using subs earlier in matches. Nine Americans have started every match and that number might have been 10 if not for Tierna Davidson getting injured in the second group game against Germany.
Of course, that’s all there is to complain about when Hayes is undefeated since taking charge of the team in June. The U.S. has eight wins and a draw under Hayes.
Brazil also gets a boost in the form of Marta’s return. The legendary forward was suspended for both knockout games after getting a red card in the previous meeting with Spain in group play. This is Marta’s final year before retiring from international play so her team will be plenty motivated to send one of the all-time greats out with a gold medal.
This isn’t even the first final these teams have met in this year. In March, the U.S. beat Brazil 1-0 in the final of the W Gold Cup in San Diego. The USWNT has won the last seven meetings against Brazil and has gone nine straight without a loss. Brazil last beat the Americans in 2014.
(Photo of Naomi Girma: Claudio Villa / Getty Images)
Source link : https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5684832/2024/08/07/uswnt-brazil-olympics-gold-medal-game-odds-paris/
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Publish date : 2024-08-06 22:00:00
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