Just 12 days and five games since this all began, here we are. The U.S. women's national team has been redefined in less than two weeks. A new era has begun and, in truth, it's looked a lot like the old one - the GOOD old one, not the recent years.
Narratives have been written and rewritten as a team facing a rebuild already looks as good - better? - than ever before.
All of that in 12 days, but there is still one game remaining. On Saturday, the USWNT will know exactly where they stand, taking the pitch in the 2024 Olympics Gold Medal match against Brazil, which upset Spain in Tuesday's other semifinal. They'll know if once again, against all odds, they are back among the elite teams in the world.
The USWNT took one step closer to the summit on Tuesday, beating Germany 1-0 in extra time in the Paris Games semifinals. The win booked their spot in the Gold Medal game for the first time since London 2012 - and they'll have a chance to show the world what many are starting to believe: the U.S. is back.
The USWNT has the most Olympic gold and most total medals in the history of the competition, winning four golds, one silver and one bronze. But after being shut out of the medal round in 2016 and taking bronze at the 2021 Games, this is their first chance to claim gold in 12 years, thanks to back-to-back 120-minute matches and 1-0 extra-time victories over Japan and Germany.
It hasn't been easy. On Tuesday, they survived another grueling extra time, emerging only thanks to a Sophia Smith goal. It was similar to the quarterfinal against Japan, which required extra time heroics from Trinity Rodman for the victory.
“All I kept thinking as the game’s getting harder was `Dig harder. Suffer a little bit longer,’” U.S. coach Emma Hayes told reporters. “Listen, this is top level, you’re only going to get one shot. You can’t play the same team twice and have it be the same game. So I’m really proud of our ability to just hang in even though it was tough.”
This team is flush with heroes, and Smith is far from the only one who made their mark on this memorable win. GOAL takes a look at the winners and the losers from the USWNT's semifinal victory over Germany, which will play Spain for the bronze medal on Friday at Lyon.