In the history of women’s worldwide soccer, the US has been in a class of its own.
Advertisement
“I have a contract that I am bound to fulfil”, Pele told Globo TV late on Tuesday, adding that he was consulting the US company that holds the rights to his brand name whether he can take up the invitation from the Olympic organising committee.
“We would never risk the health or condition of any athlete for a competition”, Mario Andrada, chief spokesman for the local Olympic organizing committee, told the Associated Press (AP). “I don’t know why, but we like to sensationalize everything and scare people and then. when the games go on, everything goes on as planned, ends up being a handsome tournament”. Nobody knows what to expect, with our younger players, with our new talent, with our formation. I sat there in the meeting, and I’m like, look, I’m going to deal with the hotels that aren’t five stars.
Seeking a fourth straight Olympic gold, the Americans are also without Christine Rampone because of injury, while Sydney Leroux and Amy Rodriguez are pregnant.
“It’s about winning”, said Carli Lloyd.
Visa, sponsor of the Olympic Games for the past 30 years, will debut in the Brazilian city its line of “wearables”, a step forward in its mission of making payment devices increasingly safe and simple. “We live in a country that has economic crisis, a country with lots of inequality, with all the problems that we’ve seen, but the city will be much better than it was when we got the games”.
Carli Lloyd has admitted nothing less than gold will be acceptable for the United States women’s soccer team as it prepares to start its Olympic title defense. “So I think that, mixed in with us old folks, we will be all right”.
Noticeably absent from the Rio field is Japan, which played the U.S.in the last two World Cup finals and the 2012 Olympic final.
The 27-year-old Armitstead is the current world champion in the road race. In team sports competition, the NBA-filled basketball team is the only US team predicted to win gold.
Lloyd, the team’s captain in Rio, said the US remains favored to win the title despite the revamped team.
“I don’t play the sport and compete to settle for anything less than gold”, Lloyd said. “No other team should intimidate our team”.
While a labor dispute simmers at home, the US women’s national soccer team is set to travel across Brazil as the favorite to win its fourth straight Olympic gold medal. “It’s just in our DNA”, Lloyd said. The Games are motivating more searches globally than the last World Cup and past two UEFA European Championships. They won a doubles gold medal together at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. But with that, we’re really excited for a great tournament.
After playing New Zealand, the USA faces powerhouse France and then Colombia in Group G of the 12-team Olympic tournament.
Second-ranked Germany, fifth-ranked Australia, sixth-ranked Sweden and host Brazil loom as potential quarterfinal opponents. Heiko Kroeger said, of the German Paralympic sailing team.
Advertisement
Brazil struggled during the World Cup but will be buoyed by home advantage, while No.2-ranked Germany hopes for the chance to atone for its semifinal defeat to the US previous year.
