2024 Olympics: USWNT struggles in scorching heat that was ‘perfect preparation’ for France

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. women’s national soccer team spent their last three pre-Olympic days struggling and sweating through 100-degree weather in Washington D.C. They failed to beat Costa Rica here on Tuesday night, drawing their send-off match 0-0. They also sprayed themselves with water bottles, and wrapped their heads in towels, in the thick of a heat wave sweeping the United States.

It was, on one hand, a brutal experience.

It was, on the other hand, “perfect preparation for Marseille,” head coach Emma Hayes said.

The USWNT will fly to France on Wednesday. A week later, it will kick off an Olympics that, for months, have been trailed by concerns related to heat. On July 25, the date of the USWNT opener, temperatures in Paris over the past six years have ranged from the 60s to 109 degrees Fahrenheit. In three of the six years, temps have topped 90.

In 2024, so far, the Parisian summer has been milder. Current forecasts project a high of around 75 throughout next week, when the Olympics begin.

Neither U.S. soccer team, though, will be in Paris, unless they reach gold-medal finals. Both the men and the women will be down on France’s south coast, in Nice and Marseille, for the group stage. In Nice, temperatures are expected to rise above 90 this coming weekend, and into the high 80s next Thursday, when the USWNT plays Zambia.

In Marseille, where the U.S. men play France next Wednesday, the projected high is 91. The women travel to Marseille for Game 2 and 3. “It’s pretty hot down there,” Hayes said Monday.

Their games will all kick off at 7 or 9 p.m. local time. They will train, though, closer to the middle of the day.

“So,” Hayes said here before her team trained on a 99-degree afternoon exacerbated by scorching sun, “this is a great opportunity for us to experience what we’re going to face.”

Twenty-eight hours later, their final friendly before the Games was a slog. At kickoff, the temperature was 95 degrees. As captain Lindsey Horan prepared to step into a pregame huddle, she showered her face with water; her nose dripped as she began to speak to teammates.

The match was slow, largely in part because Costa Rica made it slow. The visitors’ low-block, defensive approach made Tuesday’s battle much less physically intense than the ones the U.S. women will encounter in Paris.

Still, though, players were drenched in sweat. They came to get water during a mid-first-half injury stoppage. During an official “hydration break” less than 10 minutes later, several draped towels around their necks; Emily Fox grabbed a second towel and wiped her face; Sam Coffey wrapped her towel around her entire head.

Rose Lavelle didn’t even make it through warmups. She was slated to start, but was then removed from the lineup due to “leg tightness.” It’s unclear how much, if at all, the tightness or the decision to “not risk it,” as a U.S. Soccer official said, was due to the conditions. (The pitch at Audi Field was also dreadful.)

As for the game, the USWNT was unimaginative. It dominated, as expected, with roughly 80% possession and plenty of opportunities. But it lacked precision in the final third, and will head to the Olympics having scored just one goal in two tune-ups against inferior opposition.