Hayes: U.S. defender Girma 'best I've ever seen'

LYON, France — The forwards on the United States women’s national team have gotten much of the attention during the run to the Olympic gold medal game, but Naomi Girma — the ever-present force in the heart of the team’s defense — might be the team’s most important player.

Without Girma’s steady demeanor and always-on-time tackling in the past two knockout games, the Americans almost surely wouldn’t have been in position to pull off their pair of dramatic victories.

“Look, she’s the best defender I’ve ever seen,” USWNT coach Emma Hayes said after the team’s 1-0 semifinal win over Germany on Tuesday. “I’ve never seen a player as good as her at the back. She’s got everything, poise, composure, she can defend, she anticipates, she leads. [She’s] unbelievable.”

Against Germany, Girma was everywhere: clearing crosses from in front of goal, back-stopping when Crystal Dunn surged forward, starting offensive moves (she began the sequence that led to Sophia Smith‘s winning goal) and tackling near goal whenever it was necessary.

Girma and the USWNT defense have allowed just two goals over five games at these Olympics, with shutouts in their past two matches.

Veteran goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher likened Girma to USWNT legend Becky Sauerbrunn, who made 219 appearances for the national team and was the rock of the team’s back line.

“I think the world of Naomi,” Naeher said. “I think she plays just with a calmness and a steadiness and she reminds me a lot of Becky honestly — just [her] demeanor and the way she goes about and carries herself and digs in deep and gets the job done.”

Girma, who was part of the team that crashed out of the Women’s World Cup a year ago, said she’s most pleased to see the USWNT returning to the levels that she and her teammates know they should reach.

“I think last year a lot of us were transitioning in and now we’ve been on the national team,” Girma said. “We played at their international level for a lot longer and understand what it takes to win here.

“I think it’s just been us all working together, relying on each other to get to this point.”

That sort of humility is standard from Girma, but her teammates are less hesitant to highlight just how important she is to them.

Smith, who scored the winning goal Tuesday, just shrugged when asked about Girma.

“She’s insane,” Smith said. “She’s the best defender in the world. No one can get past her. She’s the glue to our team. She really locks it down. And I know that everyone on the field feels so confident that whenever the ball is in and around the box, we’re going to get it out because we have Nae back there.”

The U.S. women will take on Brazil, which beat World Cup champions Spain 4-2 in the other semifinal, in the gold-medal match on Saturday.