USWNT faces pressure of history in Olympic final

PARIS — The greatest pressure that the U.S. women’s national team faces often isn’t from their opponents, the fans or even themselves. It’s from history.

So as the current roster of the USWNT prepares for Saturday’s Olympic gold medal match against Brazil, the players are already well-aware of the heavy expectations that await them.

“I grew up watching this team for however long I can remember,” Sophia Smith, who is playing in her first Summer Games said. “And this team has always had a standard of winning — and winning on the biggest stage. I know, for us, we take so much pride in that and want to uphold that.”

Saturday’s final will be the sixth gold medal game for the USWNT (out of eight Olympics where women’s soccer was contested), and they’ve won in four of their previous five appearances.

Add that to the four titles they’ve won at the Women’s World Cup, and it’s easy to understand why this iteration of the team feels the weight of anticipation.

The U.S. has been going through a (relative) down period, having been knocked out of the Women’s World Cup last summer in the round-of-16, while not making it to the final in the past two Olympics.

Mallory Swanson, who is 26, said she and a friend were texting the other day about how they watched the 2012 Olympic final — when the U.S. beat Japan to win gold — on TV at a Buffalo Wild Wings.

Now that’s she’s playing in one, Swanson said: “It’s kind of crazy. I think that kind of full-circle moment is pretty cool.”

Trinity Rodman, 22, doesn’t specifically remember the 2012 match but said the level of expectation around the team is baked into its culture and almost demands that each group have its own “insane moments.”

“Looking up to this team for so long and being in this position to now compete for a gold medal is surreal to me,” Rodman said.

“Now it’s like I feel like there is less pressure, and I think you’re seeing that on the field too. Being alongside [Swanson and Smith] has helped. I feel almost more free now.”