First Major Tournament for USWNT Under Hayes
USA vs Zambia Olympic Soccer Odds: USA Huge Favorites
Zambia on the Rise
Despite only being hired two months ago, Emma Hayes will preside over her first major tournament match as the US Women’s National team coach on Thursday. USA, who have failed to reach the Gold Medal game in two consecutive tournaments, are Olympic favorites regardless. They’ll take on Zambia in Nice to open up their campaign.
Zambia have never won an Olympic match but they have made major strides in the last few years. In any case, the USA vs Zambia Olympic soccer odds price the USWNT as massive -3000 moneyline favorites. Now, we’ll take a closer look at the team news and odds.
USA vs Zambia
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Location: Allianz Riviera, Nice, France
USA vs Zambia Head-to-Head
This is the first-ever meeting between the US Women’s National team and Zambia. On the all-time USWNT schedule, they’re 12-0 against African teams. Zambia did manage to beat CONCACAF side Costa Rica 3-1 at last year’s Women’s World Cup.
New Look USA Ironing out Kinks
The USA managed to win four of the first five Olympic women’s soccer tournaments. Since winning their last gold in 2012, they’ve gone out in the Quarter-Finals and won the Tokyo 2020 bronze medal.
The rest of the world seems to be catching up to the USA, as they failed to make it to the Semifinals of the Women’s World Cup for the first time last year.
Now, it’s up to seven-time FA Women’s Super League winning coach Emma Hayes to help the USA to reverse their fortunes. The current Olympic soccer betting outrights list USA at +170 odds to win their first gold for 12 years but it won’t be easy.
The USWNT does have two-time World Cup winning goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, as well as the experienced midfielders Rose Lavelle and Lindsey Horan. The versatile Crystal Dunn is an important utility player. Meanwhile, it’ll be up to Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith to score goals.
A couple of concerns for the USA are their defense, which is inexperienced at this level, and their finishing. They got off 26 shots in a recent friendly against Costa Rica but couldn’t manage to find a breakthrough. Even though this defensive group hasn’t played much together, they haven’t conceded in four games under Hayes.
Although they’re not as dominant as they once were, the USA have lost only one of their last 31 games, excluding penalties.
Zambia Going for First Olympic Win
This is Zambia’s second straight appearance in the Olympic Games. At Tokyo 2020, they conceded 15 goals in three games and suffered an infamous 10-3 loss to the Netherlands in their opener.
Even so, Barbra Banda managed to score hat tricks against the Netherlands and in a 4-4 draw versus China.
Banda is the joint-NWSL Golden Boot leader and she’s one of the most exciting players at the tournament. Fellow forward Racheal Kundananji is part of a formidable frontline.
While Zambia did suffer 5-0 losses to both Spain and Japan at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, they also managed to defeat Costa Rica 3-1.
Zambia have only lost two of their 14 matches since the World Cup and Banda scored four goals in four Olympic Qualifying matches. The team’s participation is marred by coach Bruce Mwape’s sexual misconduct investigation. Mwape isn’t allowed any private contact with any of his players after allegations emerged.
Despite the off-field issues, Zambia have some good players and will be looking for their first Olympic win. However, they’re in a brutal Group B with the USA, Australia and Germany. Most Summer Olympics 2024 predictions have them finishing at the bottom of the group.
USA vs Zambia Match Analysis & Odds
The USA enter their Olympic opener as three-goal favorites and their moneyline odds are -3000. They’ve never failed to defeat an African team and should be able to get the job done here, barring disaster.
Currently, the USA vs Zambia Olympic soccer odds price Zambia as +4000 underdogs as they go for their first Olympic win.
Zambia +3 sits at even odds but they’ve lost by four or more goals in three of their six major tournament games. USA’s defense will be tested by Banda and Kundananji but they have held up well in their first four matches under Hayes. Germany and Australia will likely present bigger challenges.
A draw would represent one of Zambia’s best-ever results and the USA vs Zambia Olympic soccer odds list one at a +1800 price. Under four goals also show -130 odds but Zambia’s major tournament games have averaged six goals per match.
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