USWNT Olympic soccer schedule as USA women eye 2024 medal

Now that we have reached the semifinal stage, the USA women’s national soccer team is just two matches away from a record fifth Olympic soccer title.

The USWNT has not won Olympic gold since 2012, and a victory in the 2024 Paris Games would also give the American women their first major world championship since the 2019 FIFA World Cup. But other contenders have also raised their game in recent years with World Cup champions Spain, and European powers Germany still in the mix.

The USA headed into the Paris 2024 Olympics ranked No. 5 in the world, which was its lowest ranking entering any previous Olympic tournament. However, even with a transition to a new manager — Emma Hayes only formally took charge of the USWNT in June — the expectations and pressure to win gold have still followed the U.S. women into this competition.

The good news for USWNT supporters is that the team has already advanced to the Olympic semifinals, and will take on a Germany women’s team that the Americans have already defeated by a resounding 4-1 scoreline in the group stage.

2024 Women’s Olympic Soccer Quarterfinals

2024 Women’s Olympic Soccer Semifinals

USWNT 2024 Olympic Soccer Schedule

USA women’s soccer team moves on to medal round

The American women started the 2024 Olympics in Group B, finishing as group winners and advancing to the quarterfinals to face the Group C runners-up (Japan). The semifinal against Germany will represent the USA’s fifth match in 12 days.

The Olympics present an ultra compact schedule that tests the depth of every participating squad, but Hayes and the USA have thus far managed through it with flying colors and four straight victories to start the tournament. It remains to be seen whether Hayes’ reluctance to heavily rotate the U.S. lineup will prove costly in the later rounds.

2024 Olympic Group B Final Standings

USWNT Olympic Soccer Semifinal

USA have Germany’s number in major tournaments (except for 2003)

Next up for the USWNT is a rematch against No. 4-ranked Germany on August 6 in Lyon after they met just nine days before in the group stage in Marseille. The Americans ran out 4-1 winners in decisive fashion, but there was a distinct impression that the USA didn’t truly get Germany’s best shot. And even with that, U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher still had to come up with some big stops to keep the Germans off the board in some key moments.

The Olympic semifinal marks the fifth major tournament semifinal that these two nations have disputed. The Americans have won three of the previous four (1991 World Cup, 2004 Olympics, 2015 World Cup), while Germany came away with their lone semifinal victory in the 2003 World Cup semis on U.S. soil en route to winning that title.

USA vs. Germany in Major International Competitions

The USA has a 24W-5L-7D all-time record against Germany, including their 2024 Olympic group stage meeting.

After Germany in the semifinals, the path to the 2024 Olympic gold for the USA would go through Spain or Brazil:

USA knockout path to 2024 Gold Medal Match:

• Quarterfinals: Japan
• Semifinals: Germany
• Gold Medal Match: Spain or Brazil

The entirety of the knockout stages will be held in the span of seven days, with the gold medal final held in Paris on August 10. The bronze medal game will take place the day before in Lyon.

USWNT All-Time Olympic Soccer History

Women’s Olympic soccer is more competitive than ever

Women’s soccer was first introduced at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the USA women immediately stamped their dominance on the competition from the start, winning the gold medal on home soil.

The USWNT would go on to win gold in four of the first five women’s Olympic soccer tournaments, last winning the competition in 2012.

The Americans have fallen short of gold in the last two editions, tripping up in the 2016 quarterfinals, and claiming bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

The 2016 tournament represented the only Olympic tournament in which the USA did not earn a medal. Although the USA topped its group in Rio de Janeiro, it fell to Sweden in the quarterfinals in a penalty-kick shootout after a 1-1 draw.

The USWNT has only suffered four losses in 42 all-time Olympic matches, with two of them coming in the last edition in Tokyo. They lost to Sweden in the 2021 group stage and succumbed to Canada in the semifinals of that same tournament.

But there is a distinct sense that the USWNT is a program that’s back on an upward trajectory. With one of the best managers at the helm in Hayes and a new crop of young, emerging stars, there is reason for USWNT fans to believe they could finish off another memorable Olympic run in France.

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