Sweden had only beaten the United States five times before Friday’s quarterfinal meeting, which the team won 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw.
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For the first time in its distinguished history, the US women’s soccer team has failed to advance to the semifinals of a major tournament.
Hope Solo is a legend.
The only cowards in the most recent mess left by Solo, the ultimate Olympic ugly American, are U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati and U.S. national team coach Jill Ellis, who continue to let this national embarrassment represent the U.S. on the worldwide stage.
The United States were the better team throughout but Alex Morgan and Christen Press missed penalties after the game ended 1-1 after extra time. We had that style of play when Pia (Sundhage, Sweden’s coach) was our coach.
Solo’s gripe was that Sweden, under the guidance of Pia Sundhage, had sat back for much of the game, content to let the Americans push the action. They would not like to pass the ball.
Brown, along with the rest of Carroll’s soccer players and coaches, can relate to the feeling of losing in penalty kicks.
US manager Jill Ellis refused to back her goalkeeper’s post-quarterfinal comments. The delay brought a small smile to Dahlkvist’s face, before she easily beat Solo with the game-winning tally.
Solo went on to say; “I’m very proud of this team, But I also think we played a bunch of cowards”. And I think to take us to penalty kicks is probably a good strategy, because then it becomes a crapshoot, right?
Solo, who has endured near-constant taunts of “Zika!”. Perhaps American dominance is waning, although that’s a precipitous fall from last summer’s World Cup triumph.
Which is something that Solo should be used to.
After all, this is a woman facing domestic abuse charges in Washington state after allegedly attacking her sister and then 17-year-old nephew in June 2014 in a Seattle suburb.
After winning four gold medals at the Rio de Janeiro Games and looking unbeatable, Phelps finally ran out of steam in what was the final individual race of his career – unless he decides to come out of retirement again.
Fox Sports and Big Ten Network analyst Danielle Stanton, another former Solo teammate, said Solo needs to learn from the loss. In the shootout, the USA had two shooters miss.
After heading into extra time tied 1-1, the United States appeared to take the lead, only to have Carli Lloyd’s goal ruled out, curiously.
Sweden responded with some pressure on the US defense through the counter attack, but could not create any concrete opportunities. I think we showed a lot of heart.
“We had a conversation: If you look at the women’s national team, what do you want [people] to see?”
Germany, who beat China 1-0, and Canada, who overcame France by the same margin, also advanced to the semi-finals.
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Friday’s shootout opened with Swedish goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl stopping US forward Alex Morgan. Dunn dribbled inside the area and found Lloyd, who scored, but the goal was disallowed for offsides. The Americans won the silver that year. Guessing correctly on Sweden’s third shot, she leapt to her right to swat away the ball. “I’m going to Rio, she’s going home”, reports Sports Illustrated.
