USA vs. Japan: Match Preview & Game Notes | 2024 Paris Olympics

The USA and Japan will open play at 9 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. local in the quarterfinals at Parc des Princes in Paris, followed by Spain taking on Colombia at 11 a.m. ET / 5 p.m. local in the Lyon in the other quadrant of the bracket. Canada and Germany square off at 1 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. local in Marseille with the winner going on to face the winner of USA-Japan in the semifinal. Hosts France take on Brazil at 3 p.m. ET / 9 p.m. local to close out quarterfinal play in Nantes.

Of the eight teams in the knockout rounds, five have previously reached the podium at the Olympics. The U.S. has the most Olympic gold and most total medals in the history of the competition, winning four golds, one silver and one bronze. Germany, the 2016 gold medalists, has also won three bronze medals while Canada, the 2020 champions, has two bronze medals to go with the gold from last tournament. Brazil has two silver medals while Japan took silver in 2012, finishing runners-up to the USA.

MARQUEE MATCHUP

Saturday’s match at Parc des Princes will be the seventh meeting all-time between the USA and Japan in the knockout rounds of a World Cup or Olympics, passing USA vs. Brazil to become the most played knockout-round matchup in the history of women’s world championships.

It will be the fifth meeting between the USWNT and Japan at the Olympics, tying Brazil vs. Germany for the most-played match in women’s Olympic history.

Along with the gold medal match at London 2012, the USA and Japan also squared off twice at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing – a 1-0 win for the Americans in the group stage and 4-2 USA victory in the semifinals – as well as the quarterfinals of the 2004 Olympics in Athens, a 2-1 win for the U.S. enroute to its second gold medal.

The USA and Japan met in back-to-back FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in 2011 and 2015. Japan prevailed 3-1 on penalty kicks in 2011 to win its first-ever World Cup title after the teams were level at 2-2 through the end of regulation and overtime. Four years later in Canada, the USA earned its third star in a match for the ages, winning 5-2 behind a hat-trick from Lloyd in the opening 16 minutes. The teams also met in the quarterfinals of the 1995 World Cup, a 4-0 victory for the U.S., preceded by a 3-0 USA victory in the group stage of the inaugural Women’s World Cup in 1991.

With the penalty kick shootout officially listed as a draw, the U.S. has an overall record of 7W-0L-1D when facing Japan at world championship events, including a 4W-0L-0D record when facing the Japanese at the Olympics, tied for its most wins against any one opponent at the Olympics.

INSIDE THE SERIES: USA vs. JAPAN

The quarterfinal clash in Paris with be the 41st meeting all-time between the USA and Japan and the second matchup between the teams this year.

The U.S. and Japan faced off in the semifinals of the 2024 SheBelieves Cup in Atlanta on April 6. Playing in front of a crowd of 50,644 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium – the largest crowd to watch the USWNT on home soil since the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final – the U.S. came back from an early deficit to win 2-1 and advance to the SheBelieves Cup final, where it went on to hoist the trophy for the fifth consecutive year. Japan scored just 31 seconds into the match, taking the lead on a goal from Kiko Seike, but the Americans equalized in the 21st minute with a strike from distance by Jaedyn Shaw and Lindsey Horan converted the game-winning penalty kick in the 77th.

The last four meetings between the teams have come at the SheBelieves Cup – a 2-2 draw in 2019 followed by three consecutive wins for the Americans (3-1 in 2020, 1-0 in 2023 and 2-1 in 2024). Overall, the USA leads the all-time series against Japan with a record of 31W-1L-8D, with its lone loss in the series came during the 2012 Algarve Cup. Since then, the USA is unbeaten in the last 13 meetings between the teams, with nine wins and four draws in that span, including victories in the 2012 Olympic Final and the 2015 World Cup Final. The U.S. has scored multiple goals in eight of its last nine matchups with Japan.

RETURN TO PARC DES PRINCES

The USWNT heads into Saturday’s match in Paris having won each of its last 11 games in France, a streak that dates back to the start of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Two of the victories during the USA’s run to the 2019 title came at Parc des Princes, beating Chile 3-0 in the second group stage match on June 16 and then besting hosts France 2-1 in the quarterfinals in one of the most memorable matches of the tournament.

Seven players on this Olympic squad – Tierna Davidson, Crystal Dunn, Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle, Alyssa Naeher, Emily Sonnett and Swanson – were on the roster for the 2019 Women’s World Cup. Davidson tallied two assists in the group stage win over Chile at Parc des Princes while Naeher, Dunn, Lavelle and Horan all featured in the quarterfinal victory over France, which the USA won behind a brace from now-retired Megan Rapinoe.

Parc des Princes is home to famed France club Paris Saint-Germain and one of the home venues for Albert, who joined PSG in January of 2023, giving up her final two seasons of collegiate eligibility. Albert had a strong 2023-24 campaign for PSG, appearing in 27 matches across all competitions and scoring three goals while helping PSG win the French Cup and take second in the league behind perennial powers Olympique Lyon. Albert made history in the USA’s July 31 win over Australia, coming on in the second half and scoring what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 77th minute. The strike from distance was Albert’s first international goal, making her the first player in USWNT history to score her first career goal at an Olympics.

Horan, who led Lyon to the league title and this year’s UEFA Women’s Champions league final, kicked off her professional career with PSG, joining the club straight out of high school at the age of 18 and becoming the first American woman to skip college soccer to turn pro. Horan played for PSG from 2012 to 2016 and scored nearly 60 goal across all competitions before returning stateside to play for the Portland Thorns.

EMMA ERA STARTING STRONG

The longtime head coach at Chelsea FC before officially taking over the helm of the USWNT in late May, USWNT head coach Emma Hayes is unbeaten (6W-0L-1D) in her first seven matches with the USWNT, with the first five results coming via shutout.

Hayes is the eighth head coach to lead the USWNT at a major tournament and the first to win his or her first major tournament match by a margin of three or more goals. Hayes joins Anson Dorrance as the only head coaches in USWNT history to win their first three matches at a major tournament, with Dorrance winning all six games with the USWNT at the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991.

Hayes is looking to become just the fourth USWNT head coach to win their first major tournament, with Dorrance leading the U.S. to the 1991 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Pia Sundhage leading the Americans to a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics and Jill Ellis helping the U.S. to its third World Cup title in 2015.

2024 MEDIA GUIDE

The 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Media Guide and the 2024 USWNT Media Guide are now available for download. The Media Guides features all the history and statistics for the USWNT, as well as full bios on technical staff and the current top players, information on the USA’s Youth Women’s National Teams and general important information on U.S. Soccer.

USA TEAM & OLYMPIC ROSTER NOTES

• Four of the players on this roster have 100+ caps, led by midfielder and captain Lindsey Horan with 153. Crystal Dunn has 152 international appearances followed by Alyssa Naeher (109 caps) and Rose Lavelle (104).
• Jenna Nighswonger is the least experienced on the 18-player Olympic roster with 13 international appearances.
• Fourteen of the 22 players on this roster were born after the 1996 Olympics, the first ever Olympics to feature women’s soccer.
• Forward Mallory Swanson is the top scorer on this roster with 37 international goals, followed by Horan with 35, Dunn with 25, Lavelle with 24 and Smith with 22.
• Swanson is tied for third in scoring with three goals at Paris 2024, trailing only France’s Marie-Antoinette Katoto (5 goals) and Zambia’s Barbra Banda (4).
• Horan and Smith have two assists each this tournament, tied for the team and tournament lead.
• Five different players have scored for the U.S. at this Olympics: Swanson (3), Smith (2), Rodman (2), Williams (1) and Albert (1).
• Rodman and Smith either scored or assisted in all of the USA’s group stage games at the 2024 Olympics, the first time a pair of USA teammates had done so in an Olympic group stage since Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach at London 2012.
• Horan leads the U.S. with 1,182 total minutes played in 2024 – the first player to eclipse the 1,000-minute mark this year – followed by Alyssa Naeher (1,110), Sam Coffey (1,083) and Emily Fox (10,34).
• Naeher, Coffey and Naomi Girma have played every minute so far for the U.S. this Olympics.
• Thirteen different players have scored so far for the USWNT in 2024 – led by seven goals from Smith, five goals each from Swanson and Jaedyn Shaw, four from Horan, two goals each from Alex Morgan, Olivia Moultrie, Tierna Davidson, Jenna Nighswonger, Williams and Rodman, and one each Dunn, Albert and Lily Yohannes.
• Rodman and Smith lead the USA with four assists in 2024, followed by Swanson, Horan and Lavelle with three apiece and Midge Purce with two. Seven other players have one assist on the year.
• Overall, 19 different players have been directly involved in a goal for the USA in 2024, led by 11 goal involvements from Smith (7 goals, 4 assists) and eight from Swanson (5 goals, three assists). 

Current FIFA World Ranking: 7
AFC Ranking: 1
Olympic Appearances: 6th (1996, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2020, 2024)
Best Olympic Finish: 2012 (Silver Medal)
Record vs. USA: 1W-31L-8D
Coach: Futoshi Ikeda (JPN)

JAPAN WOMEN’S OLYMPIC SOCCER TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB)

GOALKEEPERS (2): 1-Ayaka Yamashita (Unattached), 18-Chika Hirao (Albirex Niigata Ladies)

DEFENDERS (6): 2-Risa Shimizu (Manchester City FC, ENG), 3-Moeka Minami (AS Roma, ITA), 4-Saki Kumagai (AS Roma, ITA), 5-Hana Takahashi (Urawa Reds Ladies), 6-Toko Koga (Feyenoord Rotterdam, NED), 13-Hikaru Kitagawa (INAC Kobe Leonessa)

MIDFIELDERS (7): 7-Hinata Miyazawa (Manchester United WFC, ENG), 8-Kiko Seike (Urawa Reds Ladies), 10-Fuka Nagano (Liverpool FC, ENG), 12-Momoko Tanikawa (FC Rosengård, SWE), 14-Yui Hasegawa (Manchester City FC, ENG), 15-Aoba Fujino (NTV Tokyo Verdy Beleza), 16-Honoka Hayashi (Unattached)

FORWARD (3): 9-Riko Ueki (West Ham United FC, ENG), 11-Mina Tanaka (Utah Royals FC, USA), 17-Maika Hamano (Chelsea FC, ENG)

ALTERNATES (4): 19-Remina Chiba (Eintracht Frankfurt, GER), 20-Miyabi Moryia (INAC Kobe Leonessa), 21-Rion Ishikawa (Urawa Reds Ladies), 22-Shu Ohba (Ole Miss, USA)

JAPAN TEAM NOTES

• Japan’s head coach, Futoshi Ikeda, took over from Asako Takakura, who is one of the pioneers of Japan women’s soccer and was the first female coach of Japan’s senior Women’s National Team who coached the Nadeshiko from 2016–2021.
• Ikeda, a former professional player for Urawa Reds, is a former head coach of Japan U-20 Women’s National Team. He led Japan to the championship at the 2017 AFC U-19 Championship and qualified for the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, which Japan won. He also a former coach for the Japan U-17 Women’s National Team, making him very familiar with Japan’s young talent and their pathway to the senior side.
• In a testament to the growth of Japanese women’s soccer, 11 of the 18 players on the roster play professionally outside of Japan.
• Japan qualified for the 2024 Olympics via the 2024 AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament, a difficult competition that Japan entered in the Second Round. In Group C of the Second Round, Japan won all three games by an 11-0 aggregate, toping Uzbekistan (2-0), Vietnam (2-0) and India (7-0). That earned Japan a spot in the Third Round where it defeated North Korea 2-1 on aggregate to earn its Olympic berth. Japan tied the first leg 0-0 in a match played in Saudi Arabia before winning the returning leg 2-1 on goals from Hana Takahashi and Aoba Fuino in front of 45,787 fans at Japan’s National Stadium in Tokyo.
• While Japan’s Senior National Team has not reached a world championship final since 2015, its Women’s Youth National Teams – particularly the Under-20s — have had a great run of recent success. Japan won the 2018 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup and finished runner-up at the 2022 FIFA U-20 World Cup contested in Costa Rica.
• Then Eighteen-year-old Maika Hamano won the Golden Ball as the top player at the 2022 FIFA U-20 World Cup and also took home the Silver Boot after finishing the tournament with four goals.
• Japan fell to eventual champions Spain 2-1 in the quarterfinal of the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in a thrilling match that saw three goals scored in the final 24 minutes of the game. They were also eliminated in the quarterfinals of the U-17 World Cup in 2018, falling to New Zealand on penalties.