USA Vs. France, 2012 Olympics: USWNT Come Back To Win 4-2

The United States women’s national soccer team played in a thrilling six-goal opening game on Wednesday, pulling out an impressive win after falling behind by two goals. Their 4-2 victory over medal contenders France was wild and unpredictable as it happened, but in retrospect, there isn’t a single thing about the game that we shouldn’t have seen coming.

Everything that was seemingly surprising, either pleasantly or unpleasantly, should have been predictable. Somehow, even the most dedicated followers of women’s soccer failed to see the writing on the wall. In no particular order, here’s everything that that should have been entirely predictable before the match, even if no one said it out loud.

Everything went according to plan for the big sides on Day 1 of the women’s football tournament at the 2012 Olympics, though some looked much better than others. Japan, the United States, Brazil and Sweden looked like medal contenders, while Great Britain were made to struggle in their win.

In their first ever Olympics appearance, hosts Great Britain were well on top throughout against New Zealand, but only managed to hit the back of the net once in a 1-0 victory. After a scoreless first half, Stephanie Houghton broke the deadlock with a beautiful free kick goal in the 64th minute to give her team the win.

Umm, whoops.

My less than concerned attitude comes from the fact that North Korea probably shouldn’t even be at these Olympics. After all, five players tested positive for PEDs at World Cup 2011 and the team is banned from the next World Cup in 2015.

For a five-minute stretch of their Olympic opener, France dominated the United States. They managed two goals in that period of time, but were poor for the rest of the match. It appeared that the USWNT were in for a stunning defeat at the hands of France early, but they stormed back and were dominant in the final 75 minutes of their 4-2 victory.

Gaetane Thiney opened the scoring with a 25-yard screamer in the 12th minute, beating Hope Solo easily. Solo should have done more to stop the shot, but didn’t appear to get off her feet well to lunge towards the shot. She made up for that error with a spectacular and flawless performance throughout the rest of the match.

The United States women got off to a horrible start in the first 15 minutes of their Olympic opener against France, but fought back to level the match. Both teams will have plenty of adjustments to make in the locker room after a wild half that ended 2-2.

Gaetane Thiney got Les Bleues off to a terrific start with a 12th minute stunner. The United States was well on top in the opening 10 minutes of the match, but the game was turned on its head by Thiney’s fantastic goal. She unleashed a rocket from 25 yards out and Hope Solo didn’t explode upwards like she usually does. The U.S. goalkeeper got a hand to the ball, but couldn’t keep it out of the back of the net.

The United States and France begin their campaigns for a medal at the 2012 Olympics against each other in one of the marquee matchups of the tournament. These are two of the strongest teams in the world, and this match could be a big indicator of whether or not either team is strong enough to win gold. Marie-Laurie Delie gets the nod up top for France over Eugenie Le Sommer, while the United States has picked both Tobin Heath and Megan Rapinoe over Heather O’Reilly.

France Lineup (4-2-3-1): Bouhaddi; Franco, Renard, Meilleroux, Bompastor; Abily, Bussaglia; Thomis, Nécib, Thiney; Delie

The women’s Olympic football tournament begins on Wednesday before all other Olympic events, with all 12 of the participating teams in action. The hosts play the first match of the day, followed by a slate of five other overlapping games. Great Britain, a fringe medal contender, gets their tournament underway against a New Zealand team that won’t roll over, but that they’re expected to beat.

The day’s two marquee matches both kick off an hour later. The United States face off against France in a potential preview of a medal-round match. France finished fourth at last year’s World Cup and their players have the advantage of playing yet another year at the highest club level possible, while most of the United States players did not play high-level club football this year. At the same time as that match, defending world champions Japan take on Christine Sinclair and Canada.

Canada have a lot of very good women’s soccer players. Their semi-pro domestic league is a respectable level of play, almost all of their players go to play alongside future USWNT stars in the NCAA, and a number of their best players have spent time playing professionally in Scandinavia and the United States. They were tipped as possible dark horse semifinalists at the 2011 Women’s World Cup because of all of this, and they finished dead last.

It’s tough to pick out a Canadian player other than Christine Sinclair who didn’t underachieve in that tournament. Canada redeemed themselves by qualifying comfortably for the Olympics, but in the final of the CONCACAF Qualifying tournament -- which Canadian fans will likely dismiss as an exhibition, due to the fact that the semifinals were the qualifying round -- Canada was poor again in a 4-0 loss to the United States.

Entering last summer’s Women’s World Cup, there were legitimate questions about just how good the U.S. Women’s National Team was. Make no mistake, there was never any doubts about the talent, but during the run to the tournament, they hadn’t looked like their usual dominate selves. Add to that the increased quality of other national teams, and it’s easy understand why there were doubts.

Looking back now, we can point to that win over Brazil as the moment the belief of USWNT supporters was restored and the lofty expectations usually associated with the team returned. Abby Wambach’s insanely dramatic equalizer in the 122nd minute, so brilliantly described by ESPN’s Ian Darke, gave the team a moment that will live on in annals of American soccer history.

The United States begins its quest for a gold medal repeat at the 2012 Olympics on Wednesday, and the draw has handed them one of the medal favorites in their first game. France, the fourth-place finishers at the 2011 Women’s World Cup, should be at least as strong as they were in Germany.

France and the USWNT met in the semifinals of the World Cup, with the United States winning 3-1. In that semifinal France started a different central defender alongside Laura Georges for the third consecutive game, and that instability at the back ultimately proved to be their downfall. France held on to a 1-1 draw until very late in the match, when they were taken apart by the United States forwards. Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan scored two goals late in the game to put away Les Bleus and guide their team into the final.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup was just one year ago, and most of the teams that participated in that tournament are still intact. Japan, the United States, Sweden, France and Brazil will be bringing their best players from last summer to London in an attempt to win a gold medal. The best team not participating in the tournament is Germany, who missed out on a spot via their upset quarterfinal loss to Japan in the World Cup. UEFA did not have a qualifying tournament and instead took the two best placed teams from the World Cup, Sweden and France.

A top women’s football competition without Germany seems very, very weird. Also unfortunately missing are Equatorial Guinea, who were disqualified from CAF qualification for fielding an ineligible player. They weren’t going to contend for a medal, but that unfortunate mistake has robbed us of the opportunity to watch the unstoppable Genoveva Añonma for three games.