It was the first time that an Olympic women’s match had gone to penalties.
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The USWNT lost the match in penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw in regulation at the Summer Games.
It was the earliest the United States had ever been eliminated from the Olympics since women’s soccer became a sport in 1996.
Nadal and Lopez came back from a break down in the third set and claimed the last three games to beat Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau of Romania 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in the final.
“According to Hope Solo, I think you should define what is a good team”, Sundhage said afterward.
Solo was in the nets Friday when the USA was eliminated by Sweden on penalty kicks after the teams had played to a 1-1 tie in regulation and extra time.
“I thought we played a courageous game”.
“But I also think we played a bunch of cowards”, Solo added. Solo could not hide her disappointment in the result and said she did not think the best team won the match.
The US lost to Sweden in the quarterfinal following a heartbreaking penalty shootout. They will next face either Australia or host Brazil.
Sweden Coach Pia Sundhage, who coached the American team to gold in both 2008 and 2012, had stronger words for her former player.
Solo, who had already been taunted mercilessly by the Brazilian fans over social media posts about the Zika virus, caused another stir in the aftermath of the loss by criticizing Sweden’s defensive stand against the top-ranked Americans. “I’m really bad at it”. Solo called for time, waved to the referee, peeled off her gloves and asked an assistant coach for another pair. Lindsey Horan, Lloyd and Morgan Brian all beat Lindahl before Press faltered, floating the ball over the net.
Solo took her time, making Dahlkvist wait.
“I said to the players no words at this point are going to take away how they feel at this moment”, Ellis recounted.
The U.S. came out early with intent and in the 4th minute, they fired a warning signal, Carli Lloyd with a handsome pass that doesn’t quite reach the wings but comes out for a corner. Solo called the Swedish team “cowards” because of the tactics they used to play the game. Her USWNT squads won two Olympic gold medals and was second at the World Cup. The US had been the defending champions. “It’s been happening for centuries, in fact”, she said. The only times the Swedes formulated much of an attack were counterattacks on US slipups.
As Sweden celebrated the victory, captain Carli Lloyd crouched in defeat on the field at Mane Garrincha Stadium.
Solo, who endured crowd abuse and indifferent form in these Olympic games, was incensed at the manner of her team’s exit.
“It’s always hard to swallow losing in PKs”.
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The top-ranked Russians won their first four bouts and seven of nine, and top-ranked fencer Sofya Velikaya went undefeated as they nabbed their seventh overall medal in fencing so far. “We’ve got to hold our heads high”.
