Sophia Smith powers U.S. women’s soccer to a 4-1 rout over Germany at the Olympics

So many times during last year’s World Cup, it seemed like if the U.S. women’s soccer team could score just one more goal, the floodgates would open.

The second game of the tournament was a perfect example. When Lindsey Horan leveled the score against the Netherlands, there were so many chances for a winner, but it never came. That started the Americans’ fall in the tournament, culminating in an historic exit in the round of 16 after two later scoreless ties.

On Sunday, Sophia Smith found herself in a different soccer cauldron, more than 10,000 miles and just under a year away from that fateful stage Down Under. Near the edge of an 18-yard box, the ball bounced to her, and she swung at it and missed. But the ball stayed nearby, and Smith corralled it. Then she cut to her left, dribbled, and swung again.

This time, she connected, and her shot hit a German defender, then looped high into the air. It came down, hit the right post, and bounced toward the goal line.

And this time, fate decreed, it went in.

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That goal was the USA’s third, and Smith’s second, of a 4-1 rout of Germany.

There is still a long way to go for this U.S. team, and all 12 teams at the Olympics women’s soccer tournament have been electric. But as Smith screamed with joy and her teammates mobbed her, it felt like the Americans had finally cast off some demons — and taken a big step toward regaining their ancestors’ throne.

The game was billed as a heavyweight fight of women’s soccer’s two longest-standing superpowers, and while neither has the title belt anymore, they both still know how to swing haymakers.

Smith opened the scoring in the 10th minute on a spectacular team play. It started with a give-and-go sequence down the right flank that involved Emily Fox, Rose Lavelle, and Trinity Rodman, the last of whom sprinted behind the German back line.

Rodman spun a low curler through the 18-yard box, Mallory Swanson let the ball roll under her, and Smith gave it a first-time, left-footed escort into the net.

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Germany answered 12 minutes later with a 26-yard thunderbolt from Giulia Gwinn, seared low on the grass to the farthest inch of Alyssa Naeher’s far post. Naeher didn’t look great on the play, but the strike was outstanding.

Swanson gave the U.S. the lead back just four minutes after that, with Smith having a key role in the play.

Smith won a duel with Germany’s Kathrin Hendrich 35 yards out, drove hard at Germany’s back line, and ripped a 19-yard shot that German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger could only knock down. Swanson sprinted forward as Smith let fly, got to the ball before Berger could, and slammed it in from the doorstep.

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Smith’s second goal came in the 44th, a brutal moment to score with halftime so close.

That moment also brought the Americans’ biggest downside of the game: the exit of Tierna Davidson due to a knee-to-knee collision in the 40th with Germany’s Jule Brand. Davidson was subbed out for Emily Sonnett, and there’s no word yet on what the exact injury is. At least she didn’t look too bad as she walked off the field under her own power.

Though Germany had some significant chances in the second half, the U.S. did just enough defensively to bend but not break. Naeher made three saves in the frame, with Rodman pitching in on a goal-line clearance in the 62nd.

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U.S. manager Emma Hayes waited until late in the game to make further substitutions. Lynn Williams replaced Smith in the 85th, and in the 90th Jenna Nighswonger replaced Rodman and Casey Krueger replaced Fox.

Williams finished the scoring in the 89th with a calm finish past Berger, her Gotham FC teammate. That drew a big cheer from Gotham fans who watched the game on big screens at Subaru Park’s Union Yards brew hall before their team beat the Washington Spirit, 1-0, in Chester on Sunday evening.

The U.S. now finds itself in prime position to win its group. The finale will be Wednesday against Australia (1 p.m., E!, Telemundo 62, Peacock), a team that has given up eight goals in in its two games so far.

Five of them came in an extraordinary 6-5 win over Zambia on Sunday. Zambia had a 5-2 lead thanks to star strikers Barbra Banda (three goals and one assist) and Racheal Kundananji (two goals), but the Copper Queens’ weak defense couldn’t keep the deeper Matildas squad at bay.

The U.S. hasn’t won its group at a major tournament since its 2019 World Cup triumph. That tournament was held in France, including a quarterfinal in Paris. If the U.S. wins its group this summer, it will earn another quarterfinal in what’s now these Olympics’ host city.

Again, there’s still much to be done. But there were some familiar echoes floating on Marseille’s harbor on Sunday night, and they sounded like they could stick around for a while.

» READ MORE: Sophia Smith isn’t Alex Morgan, but the USWNT’s whole attack is different, too

1. United States, 6 points (2-0-0), +6 goal difference

2. Germany, 3 (1-0-1), 0 GD

3. Australia, 3 (1-0-1), -2

4. Zambia, 0 (0-0-2), -4