Carli Lloyd was not good enough. Megan Rapinoe was not good enough. Alex Morgan was not good enough. Crystal Dunn was not good enough. Tobin Heath was not good enough. The USWNT was not good enough.
Carli Lloyd running sprints alone after defeat may be the lasting image of the USWNT’s 2020 Olympic run, but her questionable inclusion on the team will be a talking point for years to come.
The USWNT has been far from impressive at the Tokyo Olympics. The defense has been shaky, the midfield often overrun and the forwards unable to stay onside. But Team USA is through to the medal rounds thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, the one constant this tournament.
With a 2-0 win over New Zealand, Sweden locked up top spot in Group G at the 2020 Summer Olympics, rendering Tuesday morning’s 0-0 draw between the USWNT and Australia somewhat meaningless. Both the U.S. and the Matildas will be joining Sweden in the quarterfinals, where the Americans will meet either the Netherlands or Brazil.
The USWNT bounced back, as basically everyone expected it to do, taking care of New Zealand 6-1 on Saturday in Saitama, Japan. After they were crushed by Sweden in the Olympic opener, the Americans needed a response, and this was a pretty good one. It was a fairly straightforward victory, though not necessarily the sort of performance that will scare the other medal favorites in Japan.
One thing Team USA did accomplish was providing one of the few audience members a profound understanding of the intricacies of the offside rule.
The USWNT is the undisputed greatest team of all time in women’s soccer with four World Cups and four Olympic gold medals. But for 90 minutes in Tokyo on Wednesday, the U.S. was absolutely hammered, as longtime rival Sweden outclassed Team USA 3-0 in the Group G opener in the 2020 Olympics.
And no, that score is not a typo. And yes, it could have been much, much worse.
FT: #USWNT 0 Sweden 3
After months of speculation, the USWNT Olympic roster is here. Vlatko Andonovski went about as conservative as possible, picking an old, experienced, veteran squad to represent the Stars and Stripes in Japan this summer.
Soccer coaches are faced with countless unenviable problems every day: How to go about training, how to set the team up for matches, how to meld personalities into a single unit. But one problem every coach would love to have is what Vlatko Andonovski is facing ahead of this summer’s Olympics: How to cut some of the best players in the world.
As much as we at The18 love women’s soccer, it’s a sad fact that the men’s game receives far more attention, whether it’s from FIFA, other media companies, potential sponsors or the fans themselves. (We could spend hours debating why this is the case, but that’s for another story.) Despite this, there are still a large number of women’s footballers who are far more famous than their partners, who are themselves professional soccer players.
The USWNT just completed an expected-but-still-impressive showing at the 2021 SheBelieves Cup, winning all three matches to claim the tournament title for a fourth time in six years. While the exhibition is a good barometer of some of the world’s top national teams, it’s also one of the best chances to evaluate talent ahead of a big summer competition. With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics postponed to 2021, the question is: Who will make the USWNT Olympic roster this summer?
El resultado final fue de 6-0. No se trata de un partido de tenis entre un primer sembrado como Federer, Djokovic o Nadal contra uno de nosotros. Apenas lograríamos tocar la pelota con la raqueta al recibir el contundente servicio de alguno de estos tres colosos del deporte blanco.