Goalkeeper Hope Solo dismissed her opponents as “cowards” following the USA women’s team 4-3 loss to Sweden on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw.
Advertisement
Solo, who endured crowd abuse and indifferent form in these Olympic games, was incensed at the manner of her team’s exit.
“I don’t give a crap”, she told reporters.
“I think we showed a lot of heart”, Solo said.
The U.S. got the equalizer in the 77th minute as Alex Morgan buried a ball that deflected off Sweden defender Jessica Samuelsson right to her left foot.
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.
She also knew that her team is limited going forward and had scored just twice in the group stage, barely squeaking through to the quarterfinals as the last team to qualify, with a 1-1-1 record and a minus-3 goal differential (courtesy of a 5-1 demolishing by Brazil).
“I’ve hit the highest highs and lowest lows with USWNT, but what never changes is the honor of representing the United States of America and love for this team”, Becky Sauerbrunn echoed.
“They didn’t want to open play. It’s a matter of knowing how to use all the resources you have”, said the Englishwoman.
This may well have been Solo’s final big global result as the USA goalkeeper. Not this time. This time she went pure loser and lout. But Sweden won, because it had a better idea for how to win. Foudy said on ESPN Friday.
“I leave (the attention) to Barbara”. In the semifinal Tuesday, the team will have to beat Brazil, which means beating Marta.
For the first time in USA women’s soccer team’s notable history, the team has failed to advance to the semifinals at an Olympics Games.
Solo was asked to clarify her comments and said her issue with the Swedes stemmed from their style of play.
Australia were in the Americans’ side of the draw, but will now face the less fearsome Swedes should they progress from their quarter-final against new tournament favourites Brazil in Belo Horizonte. I think it’s pretty obvious that Sweden took a tactic that most outmatched teams take in soccer, it’s been happening for centuries in fact. Solo called out Sweden as “cowards” for playing a defensive game, and declared the United States the better team, despite losing.
She went “full Ronaldo” here.. “I thought we had many opportunities on goal”, she said, according to Wahl.
Solo’s Games has been dogged by controversy as she received chants of “Zika” from fans across Brazil for Twitter posts on her elaborate precautions against the virus.
Advertisement
Melanie Behringer got the victor for Germany after 76 minutes while Wang Shuang missed a penalty for China with eight minutes to go.
