US women draw Germany, Australia in Paris Olympics
The United States women’s soccer team will face Germany and Australia at the Paris Olympics when incoming coach Emma Hayes looks to get off to a flying start in the job.
The draw for the men’s and women’s soccer tournaments were held at a ceremony in Saint-Denis on Wednesday.
The record four-time gold-medallist was drawn against fifth-ranked Germany and World Cup semifinalist Australia in Group B. Those teams will be joined by either Morocco or Zambia from the African Football Confederation.
Hayes takes up her role as U.S. head coach in May after finishing the season with Chelsea, where she is challenging for a quadruple of trophies in her final year. She has already won 14 major trophies at Chelsea, including six Women’s Super League titles.
The U.S. hasn’t won Olympic gold since 2012 and is coming off a disappointing Women’s World Cup last year when it suffered its earliest exit from the tournament after being knocked out by Sweden on penalties in the round of 16. It had never finished worse than third at previous World Cups.
Hayes has established herself as one of the sport’s leading coaches. She can further add to her record by winning a clean sweep of trophies this season — including the
Champions League, which is the one competition she is yet to deliver at Chelsea.
Defending champion Canada was drawn in Group A with host France, Colombia and New Zealand. World Cup winner Spain is in Group C with Japan and Brazil. Nigeria or South Africa will join that group as another CAF qualifier.
The U.S. men’s team will face France at the Paris Games after being drawn in the same group as the host nation for the men’s tournament.
The U.S. is competing at the Games for the first time since Beijing in 2008 and faces a potentially daunting task after being drawn alongside France, coached by soccer great Thierry Henry, in Group A.
Also in the group are New Zealand and the winner of a playoff between teams from the Asian and the African confederations.
World champion Argentina was drawn in Group B with Morocco, Ukraine and a qualifier to be confirmed from the AFC.
Spain, runner-up in Tokyo, is in Group C along with Egypt, Dominican Republic and another qualifier from the AFC, which is yet to be confirmed.
Group D features Paraguay, Mali and Israel as well as a final qualifier from the AFC.
Men’s Olympic soccer is national Under-23 teams with three roster spots available for players over the age limit.
The soccer tournament will begin two days before the opening ceremony of the Games on July 24, with the women’s final concluding the event on Aug. 10.
It is the first time the women’s final will conclude the soccer tournament.
The soccer tournament will be staged across several venues in France including Paris, Nantes, Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Saint-Étienne and Lyon.
OLYMPIC RUNNER BANNED
A second runner on the Olympic refugee team has been implicated in doping while preparing for the Paris Games.
Dominic Lokolong Atiol has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for trimetazidine, track and field’s Athletics Integrity Unit said Wednesday.
The same banned heart medication got Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva suspended for four years in January in a case that rocked the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
The AIU said it sent Lokolong Atiol — a refugee from South Sudan who lives and trains in Kenya — a notice of the allegation he faces in an ongoing disciplinary case
The 24-year-old runner in the 800 and 1,500 meters is one of more than 60 refugee athletes receiving financial help from the International Olympic Committee ahead of the Paris Games that open July 26.
LIONS DB IS WANTED MAN
Detroit Lions defensive back Cameron Sutton is wanted on a domestic violence warrant in Florida, where authorities on Wednesday asked for tips to help find him.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, which includes Tampa, said on the X social media platform that the warrant is for domestic battery by strangulation, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Sutton may be driving a Jeep Grand Wagoneer with a Florida license plate, the sheriff’s office said.
The department responded to a call about domestic violence in progress involving Sutton, 29, and a female around 5 a.m. March 7, said Phil Martello, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, according to a Detroit Free Press report.
Authorities issued the warrant based on the evidence they found and suspect that Sutton has fled Tampa, Martello told the newspaper. Attempts to contact and call him have been unsuccessful, he said.
“Our detectives have exhausted everything to try and get ahold of him,” he said.