However, Hope Solo, the controversial United States goalkeeper, executed soccer’s version of blocking the kicker at the end of Friday’s penalty shootout against Sweden. She had learned from that loss, from trying to play with a better team.
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As Sweden celebrated the victory, captain Carli Lloyd crouched in defeat on the field at Mane Garrincha Stadium.
It was a stunning ending for the USA women, who had dominated play against a team no one thought was their match. Christen Press missed the next shot for the United States, Lisa Dahlkvist converted for Sweden and, just like that, the United States was eliminated after winning the last three Olympic tournaments.
Muhammad peppered Ekaterina Dyachenko with touch after touch, 10 in all, until the US found itself with an improbable 35-34 edge.
Sundhage coached the USA team for five years and led the squad to gold medals in Beijing and London. Because it’s a coach’s job to optimize her team’s chances of winning. And I think to take us to penalty kicks is probably a good strategy, because then it becomes a crapshoot, right? “I also think we played a bunch of cowards”. Both teams had goals called back in extra time on extremely questionable offsides calls.
Stockholm’s Sportsbladet newspaper used an image of Solo’s hand giving a thumb’s up in her glove, then listed off the results of Team USA’s past six Olympic runs.
Sweden play Brazil in the semi-final on Tuesday and, despite the fact Brazil beat the Swedes 5-1 in the group stages, Sundhage insists she has full faith that the Swedes could pull off a massive upset. “This evening Sweden figured out how to beat us”. “It falls I think into the category of sportsmanship”.
So when faced with an impossibly deep roster of American attacking talent, Sundhage set up a team that you might call cynical, or perhaps even cowardly.
The reigning World Cup champions, who are also four-time Olympic champions, had not dropped a match this year. And were it not for a fluky break in the 77th minute – when a ball fell fortuitously for Alex Morgan off the face of an opponent who didn’t properly read a high ball headed on by Crystal Dunn – the game might well have been lost in regulation. “And we took some big steps”, Ellis said.
“We played a creative game”.
Sweden had won only five matches against the United States.
It started with a loss, of game and dignity, from a classless goalie who never should have been on this Olympic team.
MAKING HISTORY: When Simone Manuel woke up Thursday, she was just another Olympic swimmer. “Just playing against the USA on paper you think, ‘Oh my God, this is going to demand something special from me, ‘” Lindahl said. Just moments later, she had another that was off target, too, as the United States struggled to finish throughout the match.
This isn’t the first time Hope Solo has fired off insults to her detriment.
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Given her track record, consequences would have been the furthest thing from Solo’s mind when she unleashed her shocking outburst.
