The USWNT should not be considered favorites for gold in Paris Olympics | The Cooligans

Christian Polanco and Alexis Guerreros take the pulse of the USWNT heading into the Paris Olympic Games and discuss what their chances are for winning gold. Hear the full conversation on the “The Cooligans” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

You see the shots, Costa Rica didn't even have a shot on target.

So defensively against the competition that we face in, in this region, we got it like we're, that's not, that's why I'm not criticizing any of those players but the big European countries that have gotten a lot better.

That's what we gotta worry about.

So we are gonna probably, we're gonna give up some goals.

I understand.

But why can't we score more?

That's, that's where I think that the, the, that's the project for Emma Hayes.

How do you unlock this offense?

How do you just get more goals even within Concacaf?

I think, you know, we see the signs that it's gonna happen because the ball's getting into the right spaces.

There's a lot more danger around the opponent's goal and the opponent, the opponent's penalty box than we saw under Vlack go towards the end.

So I'm comfortable with the way things are progressing and these things take time.

Ok?

But you've got Swanson, you got Sophia Smith, we got a ball, the last Olympics was awful.

I mean, we got Ron.

So whatever you think Alex Morgan's at home being like damn it's only knew someone who could score.

She's not scoring either.

So, yeah, that's where my concern is going into these Olympics.

So we'll see how it goes because again, I think they can win gold.

I mean, they're always in that conversation.

Um, but it's going to take a lot more than what we assume they're the favorites.

No, I do, I do not think that I think Spain is the favorite, that at least one of the favorites.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, look, they're not, it's not going to be a breeze and if, uh, you know, if they lose it, yeah, it could be penalties or whatever.

But, um, no, they are not the favorites based on what I've been seeing so far.