When Emma Hayes won the Women’s Super League back in May with Chelsea, she sat emotionally at the press conference room with a beer in her hand. As she was leaving the room, she told the reporters she will see them at the Olympic gold medal final. She also mentioned that she has to beat the Spanish at some point.

About three months later, she has made it to the Olympic gold medal final with the USWNT. She won’t be beating the Spanish though, as she’s not facing them. Instead, she will face Brazil who put four goals past Spain in the semifinal.

The USWNT and Brazil have history in the Olympic finals, having faced off twice in 2004 and 2008. Both times, the USWNT won, but it was far from easy as the games went into extra time and the USWNT won by one goal difference.

The USWNT and Brazil also faced off in a final earlier this year, the W Gold Cup final. In a game played in San Diego, the USWNT narrowly won 1-0. 

So Brazil will be hungry for revenge, as well as having the hunger to win their first ever Olympic gold medal. Their women team have yet to win gold at an Olympics or a Women’s World Cup title, so winning this game will give them a strong boost to their program and even make them favorites for the next Women’s World Cup in 2027— which Brazil will be hosting.

If these factors aren’t motivational enough, it will be Marta’s last ever game with the national team.

Marta is not only the biggest legend in Brazil women’s soccer, but arguably the biggest legend in women’s soccer in general. She left the pitch in tears after getting sent off against Spain in the group stage thinking her tournament is over. Now, she will have one more game, and it’s a great opportunity for her to say goodbye at the top with a gold medal.

Brazil also have their own version of of Emma Hayes on the sidelines, Arthur Elias.

He’s been a widely successful manager at the club level with Corinthians, winning 15 trophies in five years.

Brazil decided to give the job to him after the 2023 Women’s World Cup failure, where they crashed out of the group stage under Swedish head coach Pia Sundhage.

Since taking over, Arthur Elias has called up a wide number of players, giving many young players a chance and trying to pick out the best of the best Brazil have to offer in the women’s game. 

In less than a year, he’s already gotten Brazil to play a lot better than they had before. They impressed in the W Gold Cup and despite the final loss, they showed they can compete with the elite teams.

In the Olympic group stage, they did suffer losses to Japan and Spain, the game where they played the second half with 10 men due to Marta’s red card. However, they have been a different beast in the knockout stage, knocking out the host France and then of course, humbling Spain in the semis. 

In this current squad, 10 players are age 27 and younger, and they have been stepping up for Brazil, just like how Marta pleaded them to do so last summer.

Gabi Portilho, Gabi Nunes, Kerolin, Adriana, Jheniffer, Tarciane, Lauren, Angelina, Vitória Yaya, and etc have all been stepping up to carry this team when Brazil’s veterans and most experienced players couldn’t play, like the last game against Spain.

It will be interesting to see how well they can match up against the USWNT, who of course are having a youth revolution of their own and Emma Hayes is getting the best out of them.

Like Brazil, the USWNT enjoyed a very poor spell last summer in the Women’s World Cup, where they only scored four goals in four games and exited at the Round of 16.

Since taking over, Emma Hayes seems to be getting the best out of her forwards— Sophia Smith, Mallory Swanson, and Trinity Rodman.

The trio has scored or assisted 10 out of 11 goals the USWNT have scored in the Olympics so far, and has been massive to the team’s success.

In the last game against Germany, it was Smith who stepped up in extra time to give the USWNT the winning goal, breaking down the resilient German defending and goalkeeping.

Smith had her parents drive her to Denver from Fort Collins for soccer practices when she was younger, which was a three-four hour round trip drive. She would practice for two hours, and then do her homework and eat dinner in the car so she could shower and go straight to sleep when she got home.

She took a risk going professional after two seasons at Stanford University, and unfortunately couldn’t play for a year because the pandemic hit right after she signed for Portland Thorns.

All the sacrifices have now been worth it, as she scored the winning goal in the Olympics to reach the gold medal game.

Another key player for the USWNT this summer is none other than Smith’s best friend, Naomi Girma.

Girma is the daughter of Ethiopian refugees. When she started taking her youth soccer seriously, her parents didn’t have time to take her to practices so the Ethiopian community in San Jose stepped up, with many of them picking her up and dropping her off to practices when they could.

Now, she is arguably the best center-back in the world at 24 years of age, according to many USWNT fans and Emma Hayes. Girma has been a rock at the USWNT defense and if Smith is getting credit for scoring against the Germans, she deserves credit for stopping the Germans from scoring.

Saturday’s final is going to be a lot of fun. With two young managers with club pedigree going at it on the sidelines, two sets of young players hungry for gold, and of course, the last dance of the legendary Marta. 

Some may say the USWNT vs Spain final would have been more interesting, but do not underestimate Brazil. This is going to be a fantastic final and an excellent way to end this Paris Olympics that have been interesting from the start to finish.

The USWNT may be the most successful team in this women’s soccer tournament, but have not won the gold medal since London 2012. Let’s see if Emma Hayes can help them get over the line and break the Brazilian hearts in Paris.