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Louise Thomas
Editor
A US women’s soccer trio has revealed a new nickname for themselves at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In an interview on the Today Show, forwards Trinity Rodman, 22, Mallory Swanson, 26, and Sophia Smith, 23, revealed to hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb that they had created a nickname for their trio. Smith introduced the nickname, saying, “We also have a name for ourselves. We have an announcement. Trinity, take it away.”
“We have a proposal for our trio name to be ‘Triple Espresso,’” Rodman proudly explained, referencing the trio having joined forces for nine of Team USA’s 10 goals as they made it to the Olympic final. “So we’re going to put that out into the air and let people run with that because we like that as well.”
Set to face Brazil on Saturday, the star players notably came through with their unmistakeable brand of heroics, with Smith scoring the winning goal in extra time off thanks to an assist by Swanson, letting them beat Germany 1-0 in the semifinals. Meanwhile, in an earlier round, Rodman came to Team USA’s rescue by scoring during extra time, giving the team a 1-0 win over Japan that allowed them to head to the semifinals.
One day after Team USA versus Brazil game - the first time the team has been in the run for an Olympic gold medal since 2012 - Smith will be celebrating her 24th birthday on Aug. 11. For her birthday, Smith is hoping the team gets the gold.
“There’s only one thing I want for my birthday,” Smith said. “That would be the best birthday ever, and we would have the best birthday party afterwards.”
The trio were brought in under new head coach Emma Hayes to inject some new lifeblood into the highly-accomplished veteran team, and have quickly established themselves as star players within their own right and out of the shadows of tour de forces Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan.
But the trio of twentysomethings are hardly new kids on the block, with Swanson having made her Olympic debut at just 17 years old at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Meanwhile, Smith and Rodman are a different story. The pair first took their skills on the pitch to the international level when they played for the United States women’s national soccer team(USWNT) team for last year’s FIFA World Cup.
