She’s managed in her homeland and the United States.
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Germany faces Sweden on Friday at Rio’s legendary Maracana Stadium in the Olympic women’s soccer final.
On Friday, she will have a chance to lift her third gold as Sweden take on Germany at the Maracana Stadium. “We have to and we will do everything to win another bronze medal and relive that experience”. Outspoken, brash, a bit off-the-wall, there is a lot to adore. It has to be expected that Neid will have studied Sweden’s past two games intently and formulated a plan to break down the resistance of Sundhage’s side. On paper this should be a winnable game for the two-time world champions, but as Sweden have shown, the games aren’t played on paper.
Later she chatted with fans before heading into the dressing room, where all the Brazilian team were in tears.
“As we got lucky against Australia, they did against us”.
It was here that the Selecao suffered the defeat to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup final that remains a wound in the national psyche. The Canadian side rebounded a couple days later to win 1-0 in Ottawa.
One game being decided from 12 yards was bad enough, but fast-forward a few days and 120 and Sweden were going to their second successive shoot-out.
Germany is the second-ranked team in the world, but for much of the tournament the team did not look like one of the world’s best. Not the sort of route the Swedish were used to taking.
Marta inspired the 5-1 group stage thrashing of Sweden with two goals, but despite their dominance the ball would not go in for the hosts as Marta, Beatriz and Debinha all came close. After finishing third in Group C, the Swedes faced off against the mighty Americans in the quarterfinals. Brazil had 33 shots on goal to Sweden’s six, but neither team could find the back of the net.
“There’s no structure here for her”, says Marques, who feels she missed her shot of playing professionally by not applying for scholarships in U.S. universities. It may be negative, and it may not be attractive, but it worked. “To play that way, we have to know exactly what we’re about”. Scoring through Stina Blackstenius, holding on for penalties and relying on the excellence of goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl to save Alex Morgan’s spot-kick.
Germany had better hope that the women’s Olympic soccer final Friday against Sweden doesn’t come down to penalty kicks. She scored 71 goals in 146 appearances with Sweden’s national team from 1975-96.
Sweden coach Pia Sundhage’s contract is up on December 31, and she has not given an indication of what she might do. Afterward, U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo drew attention for calling Sweden “a bunch of cowards” for its style of play. “I can only say that I feel frustration”, said Brazilian coach Vadao.
The Swedes beat Brazil in the semi-finals with defensive tactics. If Canada 2015 was the tournament of Carli Lloyd and Germany 2011 was about Homare Sawa, this year’s competition has been more like London 2012, where no single statistic defined the tournament.
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On a handful of occasions, a game is more than a game.
