57th minute. Brazil loses possession due to sloppy defending, giving the ball away in the center half of the pitch. Luckily, Korbin Albert intercepts and threads a perfect pass between three Brazilian defenders to Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith, both making smart runs. Rather than passing, Swanson goes solo, skillfully slotting the ball past Lorena to score the USWNT’s only goal and secure the gold medal. You surely know the goal. But you don’t know the story behind it!

“I remember the ball was played and I was telling Soph [Smith], ‘Do not touch it,’ because she was offside,” Swanson began, recounting the moments leading up to her game-winning goal in the Paris Olympics final on the latest episode of ‘The Women’s Game’ podcast with Sam Mewis.

Had Smith touched the ball, the linesman would have raised the flag for offside. However, it was Mallory who took over from Albert, something which she wasn’t prepared for at all!

“The ball came to me and then I was like, ‘Oh s**t, I just told her to not touch it so I need to put this away’,” continued the Chicago Red Stars forward, realizing she had to find the goal herself because, from her point of view, Smith had made the run quite earlier, making her completely offside. Luckily, Sop heard Mal, who left the ball for her fellow No. 9 to poach instead while she continued running in support.

The 26-year-old may have been right to shout at Smith for not touching the ball during the counter-attack. However, Swanson herself recalled a moment during the first half, the 25th minute, when she had a similar kind of opportunity. A quick run was made from the left side of the pitch, where she managed to outrun the Brazilian full-back.

Sadly, with one of the center-backs approaching rapidly towards her, Mal had no choice but to ‘toe-poke’ the ball past the goalkeeper, which somehow failed. Reminiscing the exact moment during halftime and later now on the podcast, she admitted, “I was like ‘Dang, I should have done this differently.'” Fortunately, when a similar opportunity arose just after the hour mark, Swanson emerged as the hero of her nation. However, only she truly knows what those final minutes felt like deep down!

Mallory Swanson shares the ‘longest 30 minutes of her life’

Another reason why she was able to score that goal—albeit failing at the first opportunity—was because of her practice. “I feel like that’s definitely a finish that I’ve worked on over and over again so I feel the repetition of practice paid off in that moment.,,that’s really what I was remembering. I was like ‘Oh s**t, I better score this.’ Thankfully, I did,” she added.

Sure she did, but what about after scoring the goal? Well, those certainly weren’t the best moments of her life. “The next 30 minutes were literally the longest 30 minutes of my life. [I just thought] Can this just end, please?” Indeed, a natural feeling, considering the USWNT held on for dear life with a slender lead, which Brazil could have overcome. Sadly, the final whistle blew without any drama and the American ladies won their 5th gold.