Will Team USA Rugby & Women's Soccer Impress, Or Embarrass? (Olympics Day 2 Viewing Schedule & Breakdown)

It is time for Day 2 of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (sort of, it's really Day -1, with the Opening Ceremony marking the start of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad on Friday). Day one, albeit with a small number of opportunities, what a pretty shitty for Team USA as Rugby Sevens got fucking waxed by Fiji, and the Men's Soccer team, in their first Olympics since Beijing 2008, got blanked 3-0 by France. Things can only go up!

Here is what to watch for on Day 2…

TEAM USA WOMEN'S SOCCER BACK FOR REVENGE

It's been a long three years for the USA Women's Soccer team after winning only Bronze in a shocking manner at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and then failing to get out of the Round of 16 at the 2023 World Cup. But they are back and favored to win Gold just ahead of the likes of Spain and host country France.

Unlike with the Men and their weird Under 23 teams that don't always take the best Under 23 players, but sometimes have exceptions like when Neymar played for Brazil at Rio 2016, the Women do bring their best players. So elite, and some very recognizable, names such as Rose Lavelle, Lindsay Horan, Naomi Girma, Sophia Smith, Alyssa Naeher, Crystal Dunn, and Mallory Pugh Swanson (left off the roster in 2021, then injured for 2023) will all be at Paris 2024 for Team USA. But names such as Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Kelley O'Hara, and Julie Ertz will not be on the roster for the first time on a big stage in quite a while.

Since Soccer was added to the Olympics for the Women in 1996, the United States Women's National team has won either a World Cup or Olympics in every four-year cycle. That streak is on the line after losing the previous World Cup Australia this last Summer.

They are the odds on favorites, and they open up their Games today against Zambia, a country tied for the longest odds to win the tournament. So, in theory, it should be a great start for the Team USA Women to get things going. The major tournament debut for manager Emma Hayes comes on the heels of the previous holder of the role Vlatko Andonovski failing to finish better than third in his two major tournament appearances. Following Zambia, the women will take on Germany (Sunday, July 28th), followed by Australia (Wednesday, July 31st) to finish out group play.

YOU NEED TO WATCH RUGBY SEVENS

Seriously, I say it every year! Before getting into the USA's Rugby Sevens chances, let's talk about the sport…

It's a great addition to the Olympics (added at Rio 2016), and I pencil it in as a must-watch. The matches are quick, fast paced, intense, and you can watch a handful in a very short span. Honestly, it's the perfect sport for the TikTok generation!

USA MEN'S RUGBY SEVENS IS DOWN BUT NOT OUT

As you can see below, things started out not so bad for USA Men's Rugby Sevens!

A huge 12-12 draw to open things up against host country France (you could argue they played for the draw, which isn't wonderful) thanks in large part to an awesome try by Lucas Lacamp, and a match-saving tackle & punch out by Orrin Bizer just as France had crossed over the try line.

Bizer then opened the scoring in their next match of the day against juggernaut Fiji.

…and then shit hit the fan.

Uh oh! Team USA is luckily not out of it yet. They need a win in their final pool play match against a beatable Uruguay team tomorrow. They currently have a -26 point differential to France's +7, while France sits at 1-1-0, and the USA at 0-1-1. It isn't out of the realm of possibilities for Team USA to finish second in the group and advance to the knockout round later tomorrow if they can handle Uruguay and, as expected, Fiji beats up on France. Even if they don't pass France, the two best non-second place teams advance, so a 1-1-1 record very well might do it for Perry Baker and the Eagles.

Regardless if the USA advances or not, the knockout round will air on USA Network tomorrow afternoon, and you shouldn't miss a minute of those matches.

GYMNASTICS BEGINS FOR THE WOMEN (SORT OF)

Okay, so technically the Team USA Women's Gymnastics squad, led by Simone Biles, and reigning Olympic All-Around Gold Medalist Suni Lee, begins their Games in Paris on Thursday. But it is just podium training, so nothing crazy, but by the time you are done reading this, it will have already happened, and you can go back and stream the replay if you want to watch Simone Biles do things in the gym that no human should be able to pull off.

SOCCER & FIFA UP TO THEIR USUAL BULLSHIT

Just read this tweet…

So the Argentina vs. Morocco match to open the Paris 2024 Olympics for Soccer (or Football) was fucking insane. A furious Argentine comeback was capped off by a wild goal to make it 2-2 after 15 full minutes… YES 15 MINUTES… of stoppage time. Once the match was tied, fireworks and bottles rained down onto the field, as well as some Moroccan fans. Because of the clear security issue, the match was suspended, and the stadium was evacuated.

Then 90 minutes later, VAR ruled the goal offside! They teams were gone! Players well on their back to the Olympic Village! Then FIFA was like, nah, he was offside. So they marched the teams back, with no crowd, made the match 2-1, and resumed play for 3 minutes, two full hours after the original goal, where Morocco would go on for an impressive victory over Argentina.

Obviously, Men's Soccer at the Olympics isn't taken totally seriously, at least compared around the world to the World Cup, but even this seems to be fucking insane. FIFA, our expectations for you are low, but holy fuck. Figure it out! Imagine if this had happened in the World Cup!

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That's all for today! The Paris 2024 Olympic Games have an off day on Friday in terms of competition as the Opening Ceremony (hosted by Mike Tirico, Kelly Clarkson (?), and Peyton Manning (???) on NBC) takes places on the River Seine LIVE on Peacock around 1:30 PM Eastern. That's right, it will take place on a river, right by the Eiffel Tower, as athletes arrive on boat!

Anyway, go Team USA.