A US soccer player consoled Australia's top star after their final Olympics match - and now they've gone public as a couple

• The US women's soccer team bested Australia in a 4-3 thriller to win bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
• The US's Kristie Mewis sat on the pitch and comforted the Aussie star Sam Kerr after the final whistle.
• The two appear to be dating, based on photos from after the game and their Instagram interactions.

The US women's soccer team took bronze at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, besting a respectable Australia team and leaving the Matildas without a spot on the podium.

After the final whistle brought the 4-3 thriller to a close, many devastated Aussies stuck around on the field to mourn their loss. The superstar striker and Matildas captain Sam Kerr, who became Australia's all-time leading goal scorer with a 17th-minute equalizer, was among the most dejected out on the pitch.

Fortunately, someone was ready to offer her a shoulder to cry on - but somewhat unusually, she was wearing different colors.

The US midfielder Kristie Mewis made her way over to comfort Kerr. Fans had already suspected that the international soccer stars were dating based on their interactions on social media, and photos from Thursday's bronze-medal match offered further evidence that Mewis and Kerr may be one of the newest power couples in sports.

Mewis, 30, only recently made her way back into the national-team ranks after a six-year hiatus. Had the games been held in 2020, she likely wouldn't have been in the running for a spot on the roster. But with three goals and an assist under her belt heading into the Olympics, it appeared as though the Houston Dash star might just punch her ticket to Tokyo.

Kerr's appearance at the games was never in doubt. The 27-year-old has long been considered one of the world's top soccer players; Insider placed her fourth in its 2020 rankings of the 50 best players. A lethal attacker, Kerr has become the all-time leading scorer in both her home country's W-League and America's National Women's Soccer League.

Kerr has since taken on a new challenge in England's FA Women's Super League, where she's scored 21 goals in 22 appearances for Chelsea.

She and Mewis have exchanged many a flirtatious message in Instagram comments. "Glad to see you're committing to your new number," the American midfielder commented on a photo of Kerr and some Matildas teammates holding up peace signs at the start of the Olympics. Kerr responded, "Committing to you more then 2."

Despite Mewis and Kerr's rather public courtship, it was unclear whether their comments were in jest. Neither has confirmed the status of their relationship, but a photo Kerr recently posted of the pair kissing offered a not-so-subtle hint that they were romantically involved in some capacity.

Many women's soccer fans expressed excitement on Twitter - and some made jokes at the expense of those who'd assumed they were just friends.