PARIS — The decision, so seismic in the moment, looks so obvious now.
Emma Hayes knew the front line of Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson had the potential to be something special. But they needed to play together, something that, for a variety of reasons, had rarely happened since Smith and Rodman had come into the U.S. women’s national team.
Olympic teams are small, though, just 18 players compared with the 23 for the World Cup and other tournaments. For Hayes to make her vision happen, she had to do something seemingly unthinkable: She had to leave Alex Morgan behind for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Alex Morgan. The USWNT’s leading active goal scorer. One of the women who’s defined not just the USWNT but women’s soccer for more than a decade.
“I wanted to go in another direction and selected other players,” Hayes said after the roster for the Paris Olympics was announced. “Having players on the roster that could play more than one position mattered with squad depth. I also think the players on the roster, in the forward areas, are performing well.”
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That now seems incredibly understated.
Brazil, which the USWNT faces in Saturday’s final, has only one player with multiple goals, Gabi Portilho, who has scored twice over five games.
“I think the second we started getting real minutes together, the opportunity to build on those minutes, and build game after game our chemistry, it’s so much fun and it feels so natural,” Smith said Thursday. “I think from the start, from the first time we played together, it was just so much fun.”
For them. For opponents, it’s a nightmare. Stop one, and you’ve left the other two open. Converge on one, and one of the others will find space.
Just ask Germany how well that works out.
‘That’s hard to defend. I can only imagine,’ said Smith, whose goal in the 95th minute of the semifinal against Germany came after several defenders converged on Swanson, who saw a small opening and threaded the ball to Smith.
Making it even more challenging? The way the three can shape shift.
What the front line did against Australia is not going to be the same thing it will do against Brazil. You can try to plan for them, but it’s a guesstimate, at best.
‘We get to see that every day in training, so it’s nothing new for me. But to see them doing it on a stage like this and to take it all in and then move on to the next game and see what else they can do, what else they can bring — I think for each game, those three are bringing something different,’ captain Lindsey Horan said Friday.
The USWNT went through an extended period when everything seemed to be a slog. They looked burdened and uncertain, their love for a game they’ve played since they were kids seeming very far away. That malaise has since lifted.
Of course it’s easier to be happy when you’re scoring lots of goals and winning. But not since the 2019 World Cup have they appeared to be having as much fun as they are in this tournament. There is a looseness and joy to this team that is not dependent upon results or goals scored.
Hayes has made a point of instilling that in the team. But Rodman, Smith and Swanson, dubbed ‘Triple Trouble’ by former USWNT forward Christen Press, are setting the tone.
They also are sublimely skilled. Rodman has footwork usually only seen in video games. Swanson is like a magician, able to maneuver in the tightest of spaces. Smith is a ruthless finisher.
Best, though, is their unselfishness. Any one of the three would be the offensive focal point on pretty much any team. But none of them feels the need to dominate or demands that the offense runs through her.
By playing off each other and with one another, it’s brought out the best in each of them.
“It’s not like, ‘Mal’s going to do her thing, (same for) Soph and Trin. It was a togetherness of, ‘Mal’s going to make this great run to open it up for Soph to then dummy it to Trin.’ We could see it just meshing consistently,” Rodman said.
“I think it was the consistent part where I was like, ‘OK, this is it.’ Because you can play well with talented forwards, but for it to mesh well together is something special,” Rodman added. “And I think we have that.”
Despite the USWNT’s insistence that they have moved beyond last year’s debacle at the World Cup, where their round-of-16 exit was the earliest ever at a major international tournament, these Olympics are something of a make-up tournament for Rodman, Smith and Swanson.
Neither Rodman nor Smith played particularly well in Australia and New Zealand. Swanson didn’t play at all, tearing her left patellar tendon three months before the tournament.
But last year seems very long ago. All three are delivering on the promise they’ve long had and are having a blast doing it.
“The theme you’re starting to hear a lot is that it’s been fun. We’ve been playing with joy,” Swanson said. “For us, this whole tournament, the big theme is stay present, have joy and just focus on us. Obviously, that’s worked out pretty well for us so far.”
Great for the USWNT, who are one game away from their fifth Olympic gold medal. Their opponents, not so much.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.