By Amy Tennery
PARIS (Reuters) – The United States insisted they have put their ill-fated 2023 Women’s World Cup campaign in the rear-view mirror on Tuesday, as the team prepare to kick off their Paris Olympic campaign against Zambia on Thursday in Nice.
The four-time Olympic champions suffered their earliest World Cup exit in the round of 16 last year, a bitter memory that reporters were quick to bring up again before the fifth-ranked team’s first group stage match on Thursday.
“This team is past that. I think this team is firmly focused on, you know, creating a new history together,” said head coach Emma Hayes, who hopes to lead the four-time gold medallists back to the top of the podium for the first time in 12 years.
“Our motivation isn’t always about righting the wrongs. Far from it. We’re excited. We’re prepared.”
U.S. fans hailed Hayes as a saviour when she took the reins this year, as she arrived stateside just after collecting her seventh WSL crown with Chelsea.
No opposing team has found the back of the U.S. net through Hayes’ first four games in charge, but a 0-0 draw against 44th-ranked Costa Rica in the Americans’ final Olympic tune-up match sent a shiver through U.S. fans’ spines.
After a productive week of training in Marseilles, Hayes said she had full confidence in the team, which features eight returning members from the Tokyo squad.
“The team is exactly where it needs to be at this stage. And for us it’s just so, so important we continue to focus on that process,” she said.
Their Group B opponents on Thursday, Zambia, are a distant 64th in the rankings and have little Olympic experience, after making their Games debut in Tokyo.
But Hayes, who previously called Zambia captain Barbra Banda the most in-form striker on Earth, is leaving nothing to chance.
“It isn’t a shoo-in to get somewhere,” she told reporters. “It has to be earned.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Paris; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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