The United States women’s football team secured the bronze medal with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Australia — and while their experienced players thrived, Carli Lloyd admitted that it could be the end of an era for an ageing team.
Megan Rapinoe, 36, opened the scoring with a fitting “Olimpico” — netting straight from a corner — and doubled her tally with a first-time volley. Lloyd, 39, also scored twice, enough to put the game tantalisingly out of reach for the Australians, who threatened a comeback in the second half having been 4-1 down. The Chelsea striker Sam Kerr had earlier cancelled out Rapinoe’s opener to become Australia’s all-time leading scorer.
Both Lloyd and Rapinoe said they would contemplate their future after returning to the US, but Lloyd acknowledged that it was likely to be her final major tournament.
“Obviously I am at the tail end of my career,” she said. “Physically I feel really good, but at some point I have to hang up the boots and live life, and I know my husband is eagerly waiting for me to switch off because it’s been 17 years of just grinding away.”
The bronze medal was something of a success for the US team, after overcoming the disappointment of losing their semi-final to Canada, having been heavy favourites for the gold medal.
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Rapinoe revealed that the team had held a players’ meeting, in which she said they concluded: “We’re either going to come out and play great or play sh*tty. So we might as well just be a little bit more free, trust in ourselves, trust in each other.”
Rapinoe and several of her team-mates are in the twilight of their careers. Lloyd and Tobin Heath are appearing at their fourth Olympics, while the 2019 World Cup winners Christen Press, Alex Morgan, Alyssa Naeher, Becky Sauerbrunn and Kelley O’Hara are also in their thirties.
The head coach, Vlatko Andonovski, must replace experienced legends of the women’s game with emerging talents, with the next World Cup in two years’ time.
Lloyd emphasised that whoever is wearing the US kit must retain the winning mentality that she described as their secret weapon against opponents.
“I’m sure players are going to go home like myself and kind of figure out next steps of what exactly that [future] is,” she said. “But nothing’s a guarantee. I’ve said it all along. The only reason I’m still here is because I’m just grinding it out and you have to continue to perform. I think it’s really hard to get to this level. But it’s even harder to stay here for as long as some of us have.
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“There’s always that chance that it may be [the end] and you don’t know what’s going to happen in a couple of years. Hopefully, everyone on this squad and people watching and people that have been in the [talent] pool, remember that we don’t win championships without the US mentality. I think that probably has been the biggest takeaway from this tournament. We need to push one another because that ultimately is our secret weapon going into every tournament.”
Meanwhile, the gold-medal match between Canada and Sweden has been moved to a later kick-off time and switched to a different venue because of heat concerns. It was due to take place at the main Olympic Stadium at 11am local time tomorrow. But with temperatures set to peak at 32C at midday, alongside high humidity, it will begin at 9pm in Yokohama.
