Germany will face Canada in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday, while Sweden will face the victor of Friday’s other quarterfinal between hosts Brazil and Australia.
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Hope Solo is “unlikely” to receive an official International Olympic Committee sanction over her comments describing Sweden’s women’s soccer team as “cowards”.
Hope Solo has had an interesting Olympics – to put it mildly.
U.S. and Sweden remained tied 1-1 through the entire 120 minutes of the game, but United States of America ultimately lost after the match went to penalty kicks for the first time in Olympic women’s soccer.
Solo didn’t think it was very sporting or fair for the Swedes to spend much of the game with as many as nine players in front of their own net, less interested in scoring a goal than in preventing one. “The better team did not win”. And I think to take us to penalty kicks is probably a good strategy, because then it becomes a crapshoot, right?
“It’s OK to be a coward”, Swedish coach Pia Sundhage said, “if you win”.
“Losing sucks”, Solo tweeted. “I’m bad at it”. She felt Sweden were happy playing for a draw and was livid when those perceived tactics paid off with a shootout victory. A Swedish player was down on the pitch at the time, but the USA pressed forward and got the equalizer.
Then, Thursday, the team lost to Sweden, and Solo responded by calling them cowards.
The U.S. came out early with intent and in the 4th minute, they fired a warning signal, Carli Lloyd with a lovely pass that doesn’t quite reach the wings but comes out for a corner.
“They didn’t want to open play”, Solo said, according to Sports Illustrated. “They don’t have as quality of players as the American team does or as Brazil does, so they have to play a way that’s going to give them hope to beat a team like Brazil or the US”.
Solo said the Swedes were cowardly for declining to play a more aggressive, free-flowing style of soccer. “We defended very well”, Sundhage said. “Nevertheless, I am so proud of the way we played tonight, our fight, our heart, and the skill we showed”.
As Sweden celebrated, USA captain Carli Lloyd crouched on the field at Mane Garrincha Stadium in disbelief.
The 35-year-old, who is facing domestic abuse charges at home for allegedly beating up her half-sister and nephew, has had a colorful Olympics in Brazil.
“It’s easy to play the little kid in the playground, who gets condescendingly patted on the head and sent away once it succumbs to its inevitable loss”.
Despite being a team sport, going out on penalty kicks makes the loss feel deeply personal.
“We are very surprised they are out of the competition”.
You know who else disagreed with Solo?
The locals did not find her posts amusing and heckled her with chants of “Zika!”.
Solo lets one through in Friday’s penalty shootout.
After a scoreless first half, Stina Blackstenius scored in the 61st minute to give Sweden a 1-0 lead.
The reigning World Cup champions, who are also four-time Olympic champions, had not dropped a match this year. It was on to penalties and Morgan had the first attempt, saved brilliantly by Lindahl.
“The game is the game, so I think tactically that’s the coach’s prerogative, the coach’s choice”, Ellis said. “I felt today could go either way”. The last time the two teams met in the Olympics was at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
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Sundhage coaching Sweden against her former team on Friday. “Zika!” almost every time she touched the ball in the opening match against New Zealand.
