USWNT Wins Bronze Medal After Beating Australia at 2020 Tokyo Olympics

The United States women’s national team has ended its run at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as winners. On Thursday, the soccer team defeated Australia 4-3 to earn the bronze medal. Carli Loyd made history and she became the USWNT’s top scorer in Olympics history with 10. The U.S. and Australia battled in the group stage last week to a 0-0 draw.

“I feel great about this win. I was so excited to play this game. I’m not just rebranding it for myself to make it something,” U.S. star Megan Rapinoe told Telemundo Deportes, per ESPN. “This is really special. Hardly anyone gets to come to the Olympics to go anything so get the chance to compete for a medal, to get the chance to stand on the podium tomorrow with two other amazing teams in a really difficult year and know how difficult this tournament was for us and how easy it would have been for us to crumble.”

Rapinoe gave the U.S. the 1-0 lead with a goal in the eighth minute. But when Australia’s Sam Kerr scored the equalizer in the 17th minute, Rapino broke the tie, scoring her second goal of the day in the 21st minute. Team U.S. was up 4-1 in the early stages of the second half when Lloyd scored two goals.

“So I was ready for this one,” Lloyd said. She also “just wanted to do everything possible to help this team win a medal.” Lloyd is still playing at a high level but is 39 years old. Is it possible that she could call it a career after earning another Olympic medal? She told Yahoo Sports last month when it comes to making that decision it will be “wanting to start a family with my husband, just wanting to live.”

The U.S. won an Olympic medal for the first time since the 2012 games. In 2016, the squad lost to Sweden in the quarterfinals, and it was the first time in history they didn’t win an Olympic medal. They have already qualified for the 2028 Olympics Games since it will be in Los Angeles.