Press: Olympics will be chance for USWNT player to become face of team

The 2024 Olympics will provide the U.S. women’s national team with a chance for redemption after a disastrous World Cup last summer, but it will also give individual players an opportunity to become the face of the team.

That is according to Christen Press and Tobin Heath, who both agreed that the current iteration of the USWNT — unlike most moments in program history — is missing a true superstar.

The USWNT will kick off the 2024 Olympics on Thursday with a match against Zambia, with further group-stage games to come against Germany and Australia.

Emma Hayes’ side will be looking for its first major tournament win since the 2019 World Cup — a competition in which Press and Heath starred — after falling short at the Olympics in 2021 and the 2023 World Cup.

Speaking on The Re-CAP show , Press said that Hayes’ exclusion of Alex Morgan from the Olympic roster will provide a chance for a new face of the team to emerge.

“You’re talking about the face of the team, and that’s a role and that’s a responsibility,” the Angel City FC forward said. “So you’re talking about a player that not only has to perform and be outstanding and generally score goals, but also has to really represent the team off the field.

“It’s the person who gets all the sponsorships, it’s the person that does all the press conferences. There’s kind of a plight to that and then there’s obviously a lot of economic upside and stardom and fame, so there’s good and bad and ugly.

“Alex not being on the roster is a very interesting place for the team because if you think of the U.S. women’s national team history, you’ve got Mia [Hamm], Abby [Wambach], Alex and all of these players really bled into each other and before the player rolled off, the next one had already emerged.

Jul 24, 2021; Saitama, Japan; United States forward Christen Press (11) celebrates her goal against New Zealand with forward Alex Morgan (13) during the second half in group G play during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Saitama Stadium. Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Network

“But with the last World Cup performance being so poor, and without any of the players really having that big moment, there’s kind of this vacancy and it’s a huge opportunity looking into this tournament. Who’s going to rise to the occasion?”

Heath echoed the sentiments of Press, saying that the Olympics will be a chance for the USWNT to provide the country with a player it can truly embrace.

“I think our country craves having a superstar,” Heath said. “We don’t have teams where like, everybody’s just kind of good and some players will kind of be better at some point than others. No, our country is born on sports superstars. And right now, that’s up for the taking in my opinion. Our superstar could be made.”

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