Sweden curtails U.S. women’s win streak at 16
The U.S. women’s soccer team saw its 16-match winning streak snapped in a 1-1 draw with Sweden on Saturday in Carli Lloyd’s 300th appearance.
Lina Hurtig put Sweden ahead off a set piece in the 38th minute before Megan Rapinoe’s penalty kick pulled the U.S. even in the 87th.
The draw extended the U.S. team’s unbeaten streak to 38 games. Rapinoe’s goal was her sixth this year to lead the team.
The Americans have not lost since January 2019, when they fell to France. Their 16-game winning streak was the third longest in team history.
Lloyd wore the captain’s armband for her milestone game. The only other players to appear in 300 or more games for the national team are Kristine Lilly (354) and Christie Pearce Rampone (311).
The Swedes shocked the Americans in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympics, advancing on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Sweden went on to play in the final in Rio de Janeiro but fell to Germany.
Both teams have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics this summer. The U.S. is the topranked team in the world. In Tokyo, the Americans will seek to become the first women’s team to follow a World Cup victory with an Olympic gold medal.
CLEVELAND — While the NFL expressed optimism this week that in-person OTAs and minicamps will take place this spring, NFLPA President J.C. Tretter and the union are urging players to boycott such workouts amid the ongoing pandemic.
“We’ve been telling them it’s voluntary and we’re not gonna go,” the Browns center said, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
The NFLPA conducted an all-player conference call Friday to inform players they’ll be safer and healthier with a second all-virtual offseason, a league source said.
Details of the offseason program, scheduled to begin April 19, are still being collectively bargained. The source said players want to avoid COVID-19 tests and quarantining during OTAs. They want the freedom to move and travel without restrictions, and to make it to the finish line healthy again.
Therefore, they are pushing for no OTAs and minicamp, and for reporting to training camp in late July or early August like last year.
“The data overwhelmingly shows that perhaps the most dangerous place to be, if you’re a veteran player, is in an offseason program,” NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said on a conference call with NFL beat writers last week.
As Tretter pointed out in a column on the NFLPA website and on the media call, the 2020 protocol enabled the league to complete the season — with 23% fewer missed-time injuries and 30% fewer concussions.
“Over the past five years, the average number of missed-time injuries annually for all NFL teams was 3,524,” Tretter wrote in his column. “For the 2020 season, the number of missedtime injuries decreased to 2,716.”
Tretter also pointed out that in the previous five seasons, an average of 247 concussions a year were reported. Last season, it was 172. Furthermore, the absence of preseason games last year helped cut down on concussions.
“If we’ve identified strategies for reducing concussions by 30% and it doesn’t involve modifying game rules, it would be reckless NOT to implement those changes,” Tretter said.
With the NFL increasing regular season games from 16 to 17 beginning this season, the number of preseason