2024 Olympics: Soph Smith & Sam Coffey are in!
Soph Smith and Sam Coffey are headed to their first ever Olympics - the Portland Thorns superstars are heading to Paris.
U.S. Soccer officially released their 18-player roster for the 2024 Olympics and two Portland Thorns have made the roster: Soph Smith & Sam Coffey.
Although it was a foregone conclusion and just a formality to see their names on the roster, it is one that they have both dreamed about their entire lives. Both Smith and Coffey will be headed to their first ever Olympic games and looking to bring back gold.
The honor to represent your country on the biggest stages is one they both deserve.
Check out their awesome announcement video with narration by Fortune Feimster!
When does soccer start at 2024 Summer Olympics?
The women’s matches will kick off July 25, the day before the opening ceremony with the gold medal match on Aug. 10.
Group B
United States
Zambia
Germany
Australia
Women's schedule *All times ET
Group stage
July 25
Group B
Germany vs. Australia - 1 p.m.
United States vs. Zambia - 3 p.m.
July 28
Group B
Australia vs. Zambia - 1 p.m.
United States vs. Germany - 3 p.m.
July 31
Group B
Zambia vs. Germany - 1 p.m.
Australia vs. United States - 1 p.m.
Knockout stage
Aug. 3
Quarterfinal No. 1 - 9 a.m.
Quarterfinal No. 2 - 11 a.m.
Quarterfinal No. 3 - 1 p.m.
Quarterfinal No. 4 - 3 p.m.
Aug. 6
Semifinal No. 1 - Noon
Semifinal No. 2 - 3 p.m.
Aug. 9
Bronze medal match - 9 a.m.
Aug. 10
Gold medal match - 11 a.m.
My takes:
- No Morgan is 10000% the right call, even though I'm surprised that she didn't make the roster. Great career, but she's no longer effective enough to make an 18-player roster at a competitive tournament. Macario is simply a better player.
- If you're going to bring Krueger (also the right call imo) over Morgan, I would have brought Williams over Dunn. Williams is a better attacking player straight up, and bringing Krueger means that Dunn's versatility at LB is less valuable. That's really my biggest gripe with the roster.
- Aside from the obvious bigot-related issues, Albert is only there because of how shallow the 6/8 pool is. I understand bringing her because she's been called up recently, but on form both Hershfelt and Flint deserve that spot more. Yohannes clearly isn't ready to make a decision yet and Hayes respected that.
- Again: SO proud of Sam. She had a limited window as a non-youth system product to claim her spot and absolutely grabbed it with both hands.
I was playing around with the Fbref scatter plot data analyst tool for my recap this week and found a very interesting factoid: The entire Thorns midfield --Coffey, Fleming, and Hina-- have the three best ratios of times dispossessed per 90 to progressive passes played per 90 in the entire league. Not sure I would have predicted that!
(Chart shown in the following link: https://ibb.co/09YRCBV)