The US women’s soccer team isn’t used to losing at the Olympics – before Friday, it last suffered that ignominy to Norway in the gold medal match of the Sydney Games 16 years ago.
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That was true when she came into the game, as extra time progressed and, most painfully, in the penalty shootout that knocked the United States out at the quarterfinal stage for the first time in the history of the Olympic women’s soccer tournament.
Morgan missed the Americans’ first penalty kick, but they got new life when Solo stopped Sweden’s third. The U.S. lost and Sweden won.
For the first time ever, the US women’s national team has failed to make the semifinal of a major worldwide tournament.
“I thought that we played a courageous game”, Solo said.
It was a frustrating loss because we had the possession, the opportunities, and the shots on goal. “I also think we played a bunch of cowards”.
In the 115th minute, Lloyd headed the ball into the back of the net, but the goal was called back. I’m very proud of this team.
But her rant has not deterred Sweden coach Pia Sundhage, who said: “I don’t give a crap. The best team did not win today, I strongly, firmly believe that”.
“They didn’t want to open play”, she said. She had coached the US team through the 2012 Olympics, knew that it was faster and generally more talented than her group and that it would be best for her players to defend, be patient and look for a chance to counterattack. She won two Women’s World Cups and two Olympic golds, retiring after winning the 2004 Games in Athens.
Sweden scored against the United States in 61 minutes when Stina Blackstenius ran on to a defense-splitting pass and calmly slotted the ball past us keeper Hope Solo.
Then just a minute later Lotta Schelin thought she had scored for Sweden, but the goal was also called back.
Solo, who played her 200th worldwide last week, played well in her opening two games, with wins over New Zealand and France, but had a nightmare in the 2-2 draw against Colombia and was at fault for both goals. Sweden, who will take on either Brazil or Australia in the semis. She’s only the second woman to sweep the three longest freestyle races at the Olympics and the first one to do it since the 1968 Mexico City Games. It was just her second worldwide goal, and Sundhage reacted by high-fiving her assistants on the bench.
Trailing 1-0 in the second half, the Americans managed to get the equalizer from Alex Morgan. However, both teams had only recorded one shot on goal. The ex-American coach is now 2-0-2 in four tries against her former side after deciding in 2012 to return home to her native Sweden. And then, there’s the high-profile labor dispute between players and the U.S. Soccer Federation. We had that style when Pia (Sundhage) was our coach. “And the fact that there were only two goals and it went to penalty kicks said something about our defending”.
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Maya Moore scored 12 points, and the US routed Canada 81-51 Friday to clinch Group B in women’s basketball.
