A karaoke machine has played a key role in keeping the U.S. women’s national team loose through this Olympics run.
Ahead of the gold-medal match against Brazil here in the French capital on Saturday, through a tournament that has felt like an intentional exercise in suffering, Emma Hayes and captain Lindsey Horan’s pre-game press conference quickly, and delightfully, derailed into debating who was the best performer on the mic.
“It’s between Mal (Swanson) and Rose (Lavelle),” Hayes said, adding they have “the Taylor Swift moves.”
Horan and Hayes couldn’t help but laugh when asked what their own go-to songs would be. Hayes playfully pushed at Horan’s shoulder saying she’d never seen her perform. It’s not in Horan’s plans (without the influence of certain beverages anyway), but her pick was Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You”.
And for Hayes? Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby”. An old standby, apparently.
While the debate was a fun respite the day before the tension of a major tournament final, it was more than just refreshing to see. At the previous Olympics in Japan three years ago, the main outside critique was that the U.S. women were playing without any joy. That has not been a problem this time around.
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How USWNT head coach Emma Hayes brought fun to the Olympics: Karaoke, Lego and nails
