The USWNT wrapped up their Olympic soccer tourney with gold draped around their necks. They nipped Brazil and the retiring Marta, 1-0, in a thrilling final. The semifinal was only a little less pulsating, with the U.S. women slipping past Germany, 1-0, After Extra Time (AET). Those consecutive clean sheets were guaranteed by great goalkeeping in the form (and slightly lucky foot) of Alyssa Naeher, and a staunch defense led by Naomi Girma. And just imagine: Girma only made her pro debut in 2022.
“She’s the best defender I’ve ever seen. Ever,” head coach Emma Hayes claimed after the semi win by shutout over Germany. Girma is the definition of a complete defender, in the words of Hayes: “She’s got everything. Poise, composure, she defends, she anticipates, she leads. [She’s] Unbelievable.” What’s more: she runs like crazy while constantly robbing opponents of that precious commodity known as the ball.
What Girma Has to Say about Olympic Gold
Veteran keeper Naeher compared Girma to the legendary USWNT defender Becky Sauerbrunn, who ran out 219 times for the national team while serving as the rock of the team’s defense. “I think the world of Naomi. I think she plays just with a calmness and a steadiness, and she reminds me a lot of Becky honestly–just [her] demeanor and the way she goes about and carries herself, and digs in deep and gets the job done,” Alyssa affirmed.
She’s come a very long way in a short time, after kicking it in collegiate ball with the Stanford Cardinal. Naomi was an integral part of the U.S. team that nosedived out of the Women’s World Cup only a year ago. The Yanks bowed out then in the quarterfinals, the earliest exit ever by a U.S. female team in any major global competition. Now Girma’s clearly tickled to see the USWNT returning to the lofty levels that she and her running mates knew they could and should reach.
“I think last year a lot of us were transitioning in, and now we’ve been on the national team. We played at the international level for a lot longer and understand what it takes to win here. I think it’s just been us all working together, relying on each other to get to this point,” enthused Girma.
That Girma is hard-working and humble is no surprise to her squad mates like Sophia Smith who slotted home the winner against the Germans. “She’s insane. She’s the best defender in the world. No one can get past her. She’s the glue to our team. She really locks it down. And I know that everyone on the field feels so confident that whenever the ball is in and around the box, we’re going to get it out because we have Nae back there,” Smith exclaimed.
Why Girma Goes Top, Besides Insanity
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Back in the 1970s, when the world’s best player Pelé arrived on U.S. shores to grace the New York Cosmos, soccer was called an ‘immigrant’ game. Now it’s as mainstream as it gets: the most popular team sport by far for American boys and girls, along with men and women. The unrivaled success of the USWNT over the last 30 years is a big reason why.
It’s ironic that the best defender on display in the 2024 Paris Olympics then is a first-generation American. Her parents, both Ethiopian immigrants, met and married in the Bay Area. Girma also has an older brother named Nathaniel.
Girma Aweke is Girma the defender’s dad (in Ethiopia, children take their dad’s first name as their last name). As a teen, he managed to escape Ethiopia during the “Red Terror” in 1977, a horrific civil war that resulted in the deaths of a million or more. Aweke ultimately found his way to the U.S. as a refugee. He also made his own way through school, toiling as a busboy and dishwasher, and eventually becoming an electrical engineer.
Seble Demissie, Girma the soccer star’s mom, came to the U.S. for her education, and managed to stick around after graduation. She got a job in a bank and met Aweke courtesy of the Bay Area’s Ethiopian community. The community also spawned Saturday get-togethers for the adults to enjoy coffee (most likely the strong Ethiopian type whose history dates back to the Horn of Africa a few thousand years ago) and the kids to indulge in a rowdy kickabout.
At the time, Girma the soccer whiz and her family didn’t know anything about the pay-to-play system prevalent in U.S. youth soccer. There, dominant clubs have turned into the main way to gain college scholarships and get access to the national team, in the words of Nancy Armour at USA Today.
Lucky for all of us, Girma initially played for kicks. “I was really just playing for fun, and I think that took the pressure off of me a lot. I didn’t really feel it from my parents, I didn’t really feel it from the outside. I was just playing because I loved it,” the ace defender recalls.
Now, as Girma and the USWNT sit atop world soccer, there’s no need to search deep for answers (like after losing in the 2023 World Cup). Rather, give credit where credit is due. Girma believes that diversity and embracing other cultures have in part led the U.S. to the top of the heap. She claims those are what’s put us ahead for so many years, and things Girma insists we should keep on doing.
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