Mallory Swanson scored a pair of goals just moments apart in the first half and the United States opened their Olympics campaign with a 3-0 victory Thursday night over Zambia, giving new coach Emma Hayes a win in her first major tournament with the team.
Trinity Rodman also scored for the US, who are hoping to add a record fifth gold medal to their Olympic collection.
Overmatched from the start, Zambia were reduced to 10 players in the 33rd minute when Pauline Zulu was sent off with a red card. Hayes’s team dominated the early portions of the game, keeping 70% of the ball and posting 13 shots with a 3.4 xG in the opening 25 minutes.
Zambia, overflowing with attacking talented, struggled to create any opportunities before they found themselves in a three-goal hole. Star forwards Barbra Banda and Racheal Kundananji failed to register a shot in the first-half, and could muster only three efforts on goal across 90 minutes.
Banda is a proven scorer, with 12 goals in 12 games this season for the Orlando Pride in the National Women’s Soccer League. At the Tokyo Games, Banda had a pair of back-to-back hat-tricks in the group stage.
Hayes took over the US team in late May after finishing out the season with Chelsea in the Women’s Super League. She shook things up a bit with her Olympic roster, leaving star forward Alex Morgan, a veteran of three Olympics, at home.
Hayes is charged with leading the Americans as they seek to distance themselves from the disappointment of last summer’s Women’s World Cup, when they crashed out in the round of 16. It’s been a strong start. In her first four games in charge, the US have kept four successive clean sheets. That defensive solidity was matched with attacking flair in the the coach’s first competitive game in charge, with the US finishing with eight efforts on target.
Rodman, making her Olympic debut, scored in the 17th minute. US captain Lindsey Horan passed to Rodman, who deftly shot around onrushing Zambian goalkeeper Ngambo Musole.
Swanson scored twice within 70 seconds in the 24th and 25th minutes to give the Americans a 3-0 lead in the Group B match in Nice.
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The match marked the fourth-straight game the USWNT have kept a clean sheet under Hayes.
US forward Sophia Smith left the game with what appeared to be an ankle injury late in the first half and was replaced by Lynn Williams. Williams was originally an alternate on Hayes’ Olympic roster, but Catarina Macario was unable to play in France because of minor knee irritation.
It was the first time the US have faced Zambia on the international stage. Next up is Germany on 28 July in Marseille, while Zambia will face Australia in Nice on the same day.
