USWNT's 'rusty' win over Iceland shows evolution is needed - ESPN

AUSTIN, Texas — On Thursday, the United States women's national team picked up where it left off in August: on the podium. Two hours before kickoff of the team's first game since winning the 2024 Olympics, the 18 players present from that squad filed out onto the field to face Iceland at the Q2 Stadium and stood on an elevated platform to record a prematch TV interview.

Gold was omnipresent around the arena, from the medal around captain Lindsey Horan's neck during the interview, to special «champions edition» aluminum water bottles and spiked seltzer cans. Thursday was, first and foremost, a celebration of the USWNT's fifth Olympic gold medal.

«Just being back with each other is celebration in itself,» USWNT forward Sophia Smith said later, after scoring in her team's 3-1 win.

A few minutes after the smoke had cleared from the prematch fireworks, the whistle blew to start the match and midfielder Rose Lavelle touched the ball into play. With that, the page turned toward the 2027 Women's World Cup.

When Emma Hayes met reporters for the first time as head coach of the USWNT in May she used a common coaching refrain to describe the changing landscape of women's soccer: «What got you here won't get you there.»

She was discussing how the USWNT could bounce back from a poor 2023 World Cup at this year's Olympics, but the phrase rang even more true on Thursday as the USWNT kicked off a three-game victory tour with a goal from a player who wasn't even at the Olympics.

Nineteen-year-old forward Alyssa Thompson, playing in her first international match in nearly a year after regaining form with Angel City FC, smashed a shot off the underside of the crossbar in the 39th minute to give the Americans the lead. It was the first goal