U.S. women lose soccer opener 30
Unbeaten for 44 games, Americans stunned by Swedes.
TOKYO — Two days before the Olympic torch was officially lit, the U.S. women’s soccer team’s dreams of dominating in Japan went up in flames.
On Wednesday, in the opening game of their quest to regain the gold medal after a nineyear absence, the topranked American team looked flat, rushed and completely overpowered by a heady Sweden team.
The Americans ended up losing 30 to the fifthranked Swedes, putting the U.S. in an early hole in group play.
“We got our asses kicked, didn’t we?” U.S. forward Megan Rapinoe said. “I think we were a little tight, a little nervous.”
The U.S. team had not lost in 44 straight games, dating to January 2019, when it dropped a 31 game to France.
U.S. defender Becky Sauerbrunn noted that the team hasn’t “had a lot of games where we had to come back. I think this was a good learning opportunity.”
The result was so stunningly unfamiliar that you had to reach deep into the recesses of history to recall a time the American women had been so thoroughly outplayed in a major tournament. All the way back to the 2007 World Cup when beleaguered coach Greg Ryan made an illconceived goalkeeper switch against Brazil; his team was pummeled 40 as a result and he lost his job.
The Sweden outcome was worse because you couldn’t blame it on a bizarre substitution or injury. In his first game coaching the team in a major
tournament, Vlatko Andonovski guided a team that was simply and methodically crushed.
“Obviously, we put ourselves in a big hole,” Andonovski said.
It was a shocking result for an American team that had spent five years intent on atoning for an embarrassing loss in the 2016 Olympics.
But this Sweden team was not the team the Americans faced five years ago in Rio. Those Swedes played for penalty kicks, packing defensively in front of the goal to such an extent that U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo famously called them “a bunch of cowards” for not trying to play courageous, offensive soccer.
That was the last postgame comments Solo ever made, as she was kicked off the team in the wake of the controversy. Her replacement, Alyssa Naeher, hasn’t had to do much in the five years since she became the starting goalkeeper. Her team has been dominating, controlling the ball, scoring goals, making it all look so look easy. For example, the U.S. did not trail once on the way to winning the 2019 World Cup in France.
But here was the American dream team, down early to Sweden, the team that ousted the U.S. in 2016, preventing the Americans from making the medal round of a major tournament for the first time in history. But at least that Rio Olympics game was lost on penalty kicks, not in the field of play.
That loss gnawed at the team and even beating Sweden in the 2019 World Cup wasn’t enough. Only a victory at the Olympics could even the scales.
“It was one of the worst results that the senior national team has had in a major tournament,” Sauerbrunn said the day before Wednesday’s game. “From playing in that game, I know how disappointed we all were.
“For me, it has lit a fire.” Yet her team showed no fire Wednesday. At the evening kickoff in Tokyo Stadium — on the site of the original stadium from the 1964 Olympics — it was 90 degrees. But the playing conditions were fine; there was a soft wind and soon the sun had disappeared beyond the edge of the stadium. There were no fans, but that didn’t favor either team.
Sweden totally dominated from the start.
“We were not being free and not being who we are and enjoying it,” said Rapinoe, who spent the first half on the bench, yearning to hold up a mirror to her teammates so they could see how flat they were playing.
“I think we got a little bit in our head.”
Or is Sweden in the Americans’ head? In an April friendly, the teams played to a 11 draw in Stockholm.
“They are one of the best teams,” Rapinoe said. “We got bopped. Now we know exactly what we need to do. There’s no time to think and dwell about whether Sweden is living in our head or not.”
Next up for the Americans is New Zealand at 4:30 a.m. PDT Saturday. And then the final game of group play against Australia. The top two teams from each of the three groups advance to the knockout stage, as well as the next two teams based on points.
The path forward is clear, but it also will be littered with questions: about the average age of this team — almost 31. About Andonovski’s being a novice in a major tournament. About being another year older, another year full of distractions. About whether winning streaks become security blankets.
Even before the Olympics officially begin, one story line has taken a dramatically unexpected turn.