KASHIMA, Japan — The U.S. women’s soccer team had returned to this silent place some 90 minutes outside Tokyo to collect one thing, a singular object that – for a program that has fielded unfamiliar questions and faced unfamiliar doubt during these Olympic Games – communicated so much.
The bronze medal the United States earned in a 4-3 victory over Australia at Ibaraki Kashima Stadium on Thursday measures 85 millimeters in diameter, weighs less than a pound and has a lot to say about the Americans, for an inanimate object. Among its statements: 39 and 36-year-olds are not too elderly to win soccer games. The U.S. women’s soccer team is still worthy of the world’s fear. And – isn’t this better when we’re all having fun?
“Woo!” Megan Rapinoe wailed by way of opening her news conference, compete with a James Brown high kick. “I feel good.”
Rapinoe sang like she played Thursday: with joy. She and Carli Lloyd led a rejuvenated U.S. squad to the program’s sixth Olympic medal – an achievement that came five years after the team was ousted in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and three days after it faced the bitter sting of a semifinal loss to Canada.
The U.S. women did so with a balance of fun and intensity that has been missing from an otherwise perplexing and lifeless run through these Games.
On Monday night, neither Lloyd nor Rapinoe could pinpoint what exactly has been off during Tokyo 2020 – perhaps it was their rotations among an aging roster, perhaps their coach’s tactics, perhaps their chemistry. They staged a players-only meeting following the semifinal, after which Lloyd said she thought the team had grown too complacent with success at the international level.
“At the end of the day, it’s about a mentality that this team has had forever,” Lloyd said. “We may look like the most talented team on paper … but as we all know, talent doesn’t win you championships. And without the mentality, without the heart, the grit, the fight, we won’t win anything.”
On Thursday, it looked as though the meeting had done the trick.
Rapinoe opened scoring in the eighth minute with an arching Olimpico – a goal scored off a corner kick that sails into the net without another player touching it. In the 21st, she found herself in the right spot in the box to flick a leg out and volley in a poor clear from an Australian defender with a high kick.
Lloyd took over from there, scoring a left-footer in stoppage time of the first half and winning a one-on-one duel with Australia’s goalkeeper Teagan Micah. Her first goals of these Games were also the ninth and 10th of her Olympic career, putting her past Abby Wambach’s American record.
“Oh, my gosh. So much more (joy),” Rapinoe said. “… We’ve done, as you can imagine, lots of talking and meetings hashing it all out and doing the autopsy. But I felt like we just got to a good place and it was like, well we’re either going to come out and play great or plays, so we might as well be a little bit more free, trust in ourselves, trust in each other.”
The game was thin on defense from either side and the United States nearly got itself in trouble when Emily Gielnik scored the Matildas’ third goal in the 90th minute with four minutes of stoppage time to spare.
But their late push was for naught. As the U.S. women huddled into a circle after the final whistle, celebration gave way to questions about the futures of the women who helped define this era.
of dominance: Rapinoe, 36, and Lloyd, 39.
Both said they have not yet decided whether this Olympics will be their last tournament with the national squad, though Lloyd approached the Games as if they could be. She made her 312th international appearance Thursday, passing former national team great Christie Pearce Rampone for the second-most international appearances in both the United States’ and international soccer history, regardless of gender.
“I think that I’ve had a different mind-set going into this one,” Lloyd said. “No, I haven’t made any official announcement yet, but obviously I am at the tail end of my career. Physically, I feel really good, but at some point, you have to hang up the boots and live life – I know my husband has been eagerly waiting for me to switch off, because it’s been 17 years of just grinding away.
“So yeah, I took it in, I think that the drive over to the game was different. I was just thinking about a lot of things. Just wanted to do everything possible to help this team win at a medal. It’s not a little chintzy, third-place, World Cup medal. This is a medal. It’s a different color, but we’re going home with that medal, and it’s really special.”
Said Rapinoe: “Only two teams get to do that, really, end with a win. Just so proud of this group.”
For Lloyd, the bronze medal, more than anything else, represented the importance of staying hungry. It’s a lesson she hopes will shape the U.S. women’s program for generations to come, one last part of her legacy.
“As life goes on, this team will continue to go on and be successful,” Lloyd said. “But hopefully, everyone on this squad and people watching and people that have been in the pool remember that we don’t win championships without the U.S. mentality. That probably has been the biggest takeaway from this tournament, and we need to continue to bring that each and every day. Each and every game. … That, ultimately, is our secret weapon.”
When she finally stopped running, finally subbed off in the 82nd minute, Lloyd got a high five or swift embrace from every teammate and coach before Rapinoe wrapped her in a bear hug. That, too, was quick. They’d have plenty of time for celebration when the game was won, for sentimentality and nostalgia whenever they do decide to retire – a whole lifetime of it, stretching ahead.