It was the first Olympic women’s match ever to go to penalties.
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It was the first time that an Olympic women’s match had gone to penalties.
Sundhage certainly knows the USA team.
But the firebrand has nevertheless disgraced her team, spat in the face of the Olympic spirit, and solidified a reputation Team USA has tried so long to shake. “I don’t think they’re going to make it far in the tournament”.
“I think we showed a lot of heart”, Solo said. She then made two blunders as the U.S. attracted with Colombia their last gathering round of the competition. Pia Sundhage, Sweden’s coach, effectively shrugged her shoulders and pointed to the scoreboard – 1-1 and 4-3 to Sweden in penalty kicks, for the record. They had a game plan and they stuck to it. “We had many opportunities on goal. I think it’s pretty obvious that Sweden took a tactic that most outmatched teams take in soccer, it’s been happening for centuries in fact”. “No, that’s their choice”. Things don’t generally go the way you need them to.
International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams described Solo’s outburst as “disappointing” during a Saturday briefing in Rio de Janeiro. “We wouldn’t stop their right to express themselves, within boundaries, obviously”.
Lost in all the postgame drama was the spectacular play of Sweden goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl, who plays club soccer for Chelsea. Nearly immediately, Sweden come down the other end and they beat Solo, but again the goal is called back for offsides. “It’s OK to be a coward if you win”.
“But they won. They’re moving on, and we’re going home”. “You saw us give everything we had today”. We had that style of play when Pia was our coach. That left it to Lisa Dahlkvist, who calmly beat Solo in the bottom right corner, the American keeper barely moving for it, sending Sweden to the semifinals and sending the United States to their earliest loss in any major global competition ever.
In the group stage, Brazil beat Sweden 5-1.
Fox Sports and Big Ten Network analyst Danielle Stanton, another former Solo teammate, said Solo needs to learn from the loss.
She said she dealt with it by always encouraging her daughter to be herself. “The U.S. played better in the attack, we played better in the defense”.
Outspoken USA women’s goalkeeper Hope Solo labeled Sweden “cowards” after the world champions’ bid for a fourth straight Olympic gold ended in quarterfinal defeat Friday.
The United States was eliminated by Sweden after a penalty shoot-out.
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Rio de Janeiro: The Olympics body condemned comments from U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo on Saturday after she called Sweden a “bunch of cowards” following her team’s defeat in the women’s football event at the 2016 Rio Games.
