US women’s football team regrouped and ready to go after dismal World Cup, says Lindsey Horan

NEW YORK – Four-time Olympic football champions United States have put their disastrous Women’s World Cup campaign in the rear-view mirror, captain Lindsey Horan said on July 8, with young talent hungry to top the podium in Paris.

The Americans settled for bronze at the Covid-19-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021 and captured their last gold in 2012. They have pride on the line this time after their worst showing at a Women’s World Cup in 2023 that saw them knocked out in the round of 16.

“After the World Cup, we really regrouped. You look at the young players coming in, the leaders in this team, you know, just (a) big mesh of what we have. I think what you’re going to see and what’s in store for us is incredible,” Horan said in New York.

The team will rely on an array of new faces, with just eight members of the Tokyo team travelling to Paris in the 18-player Olympic squad.

The biggest change of all has been coach Emma Hayes, the successful former Chelsea manager who stepped onto the US touchline for the first time only in June with a promise not to change the “American DNA”.

“We’re very prepared to go into this tournament regardless of the short lead-in time,” Hayes said.

“A lot of that work is being done over the last year, you know, reflecting from the World Cup and then putting the roster together bit by bit, over the course of the year, so much of that has been done.”

Meanwhile, the Americans’ group rivals Australia were handed a boost after midfielder Katrina Gorry declared herself fit after recovering from an ankle injury.

Her availability will lift the World Cup semi-finalists, who are bidding for a first Olympic medal but head into the Games a bit light on leadership without injured regular captain and striker Sam Kerr.

Gorry, capped 107 times, underwent ankle surgery in April and missed the recent friendlies against China but will look to improve her selection prospects in another warmup against Olympic champions Canada in Marbella, Spain, on July 13.

“I knew I could trust my body to get myself back here,” said the 31-year-old. “I’m feeling good, ankle’s feeling really well, so I’m happy to be back.”

She was part of the Australia team that reached the quarter-finals at the 2016 Rio Games but missed their run to the semi-finals in Tokyo while pregnant with her first child, Harper.

She will juggle family duties at her second Games with her partner Clara Markstedt, a Swedish footballer, who recently gave birth to their first child together.

“The national team have been really supportive, so Clara and the kids are here. Mum will meet us over in France just to help out a little bit more,” said Gorry.

Australia face Rio gold medallists Germany, the US and Zambia in Group B at the Games. REUTERS