NICE, France – Let the domination of Colorado women at the Olympic Games begin.
Mallory Swanson, Lindsey Horan and Sophia Smith saw no need to wait for the torch to be lit at the Opening Ceremony to start kicking butt and taking names on the soccer pitch.
Three stars born and raised in our little corner of the world shook Zambia with some Rocky Mountain thunder in a rousing 3-0 victory that was more sublime than French champagne.
“It definitely felt electric,” Swanson said Thursday.
After a rocky transition period pockmarked by an unraveling culture and littered with tearful farewells to red, white and blue legends such as Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd, the U.S. women’s national team is back, baby.
With a single word packed with all-caps punch, I can tell you why a once-dominate program that has slipped to No. 5 in the world rankings is rediscovering its groove as a legitimate gold-medal contender:
COLO-RAD-OH!
You don’t need a state map to connect the dots on how this opening-round match in Group B was won.
Swanson, born in Littleton, scored two goals faster than you can say “Casa Bonita” midway through the opening half to blow open a 1-0 game that Team USA had dominated with shots that thwacked the frame or missed by a whisper of bad soccer luck.
Swanson broke the mounting frustration, then she raised her hands toward heaven. The gesture was not fueled by swagger. It was an expression of thanks, straight from the heart.
“I’m just super grateful. That was the main thing that keeps coming in my mind as I’m driving into the stadium,” Swanson said. “I’m super grateful where I’m at.”
Not long ago, Swanson wondered if she would be here in France, wrapped in hugs by fellow Coloradans on the pitch that celebrated her triumphant return to major competition for the first time since a gruesome injury to the patellar tendon in her left knee way back in April 2023. It was a daunting and painful journey, requiring soul-searching and months of rehabilitation that left her participation at these Games in doubt until earlier this year.
Swanson’s welcome-back score found the back of the net in the 24th minute, after she collected a perfectly weighted pass from Horan, who’s the pride of Golden.
And a scant 71 seconds later, Swanson danced around Zambia keeper Ngambo Musole in the box to score on a lay-in with his left foot, this time after a beauty of an assist from Smith, a native of Windsor.
"So proud of her," said Horan, lauding Swanson. "It's going to give her a burst of confidence."
OK, truth be told, nobody confuses 64th-ranked Zambia with Spain, France or England, the current big three in women’s world soccer.
“I like winning,” Horan said, with a streak of irritation that reveals she’s a captain unafraid to chew on her teammates and demand more.
The first goal of the match, however, was the stuff of smiles all around.
Trinity Rodman gathered a ball from Horan in the box and broke the ankles (and maybe the spirit) of two defenders with a heel pass to herself. She dubbed it the "Trin Spin." It was a shining example of the creativity that has been missing from the American side for too long.
“Trin-stinct, baby,” Rodman quipped. “It was an instinctual thing.”:
The hire of new USWNT coach Emma Hayes, a Londoner who built Chelsea into a powerhouse in the FA Women’s Super League, has infused a young American squad with fearless aggression. That attitude promotes a free-flowing but possession-oriented style that can be both breathtaking in the final third, as well as hair-raising when an opponent counter attacks.
In a veddy Briddish way, with an almost defiantly stiff upper lip, Hayes describes herself as persnickety, a word that evokes Charles Dickens and means she’s also a coach unafraid to give her players the dickens.
“If you asked me at the beginning of the game if I’d be happy with a 3-nil win,” Hayes admitted, “I’d probably said no.”
Yes, this leisurely and less-than-perfect romp over Zambia should be graded as a soft launch. It was a day at the beach in the French Riviera. The competition, however, is about to get fiercer Sunday, when the foe is Germany.
But it was sweet to hear the acres of empty seats in Allianz Riviera stadium rattle with the sound of a small but raucous crowd chanting: “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
“We have a lot to prove to ourselves.” Rodman admitted.
Oh, yeah?
Well, I needed to know. Prove what?
“We’re more than everybody thinks,” replied Rodman, with a powerful hankering to show soccer made in the USA can be more than the devastating boom ball that used to shatter the competition with all the subtlety of a jackhammer.
“We’re not just a fast team with athletic forwards. I think we’re much more than that. And we need to believe that deep down. We can break down teams by passing (the ball) up and laying it off and moving off each other.”
With chips on their strong shoulders, this is a great American comeback story the U.S. women’s national team is writing. with more than a little help from their friends from Colorado.
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