USA vs Zambia Preview & Prediction | Paris 2024 Olympics | Women’s Football | Group Stage
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The Olympic spirit and Olympic quality is perhaps not remotely better shown or expressed in the United States and the USWNT will be expected to add another gold medal to their overall tally. They kick off their campaign against Zambia, who were knocked out in the group stages in Tokyo three years ago.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Thursday 25th July, 2024, UK – 8:00pm / US ET – 3:00pm / US PT – 12:00pm
HOW TO WATCH THE PARIS OLYMPICS ON TV: UK – BBC is the main broadcaster while some event will be televised on Eurosport / US – NBC is the main broadcaster while some events will be shown on NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network and Telemundo
HOW TO WATCH THE PARIS OLYMPICS ONLINE: UK – BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website & Eurosport Player / US – Events can be streamed on the relevant streaming platforms of NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network and Telemundo
USA PREVIEW: GETTING THEIR GOLD BACK
The United States’ national women’s team have and do generally remain the dominant force in women’s international football but they have underperformed at recent global events. That includes failing to win the gold medal in this tournament since London 2012.
Now, coached by former Chelsea boss Emma Hayes, they are embarking upon what is expected to be another successful era and it remains a strong and experienced squad, albeit 224-cap forward Alex Morgan has been left out.
ZAMBIA PREVIEW: A WEAK ZAMBIAN SIDE
In a 12-team women’s Olympic tournament, it should be quite a closely fought competition but Zambia are one of the unusually weak sides. The ‘Copper Queens’ are currently ranked 64th in the world by FIFA and they are expected to find the jump in quality quite difficult.
The Zambians come into this one on the back of a 1-1 draw against a similarly average New Zealand side in their most recent outing a couple of weeks ago. They have, though, now suffered just one defeat in their last seven matches.
USA VS ZAMBIA PREDICTION
As mentioned, in what appears to be quite an even tournament on the face of it, we will have some one-sided and lopsided scorelines in the opening phase of the competition and this is expected to be one of those occasions. The United States are by far the better of the two sides and they will be expected to win this game and win it handsomely. It is not necessarily a case of if Team USA get three points but by how many they defeat Zambia by in the process.
USA VS ZAMBIA TIP: USA TO WIN -1 HANDICAP
