Swedish women played like a team hunting podium gold, while defending World Cup champs U.S. women “played like world-class chumps” in opening play at the Tokyo Olympics, Huffington Post reported on July 21, 2021 (read story here). NBC Sports said the U.S. team “will probably have to beat New Zealand on Saturday” to advance in the games (story here).
The 3-0 loss ended a 44-game U.S. winning streak in international play, and revived memories of the 2016 Rio Olympics, where Sweden knocked the U.S. women out of the games in quarterfinals by handing them a 4-3 loss. This week’s game had been billed as a “revenge” match. Some “revenge.”
It’s noteworthy because U.S. women have dominated international soccer for years, medaling “in every World Cup and Olympic tournament … from 1991 to 2015” and winning 4 World Cups and 4 Olympic gold medals during that period (per Wikipedia, here).
Why they suddenly fell apart on the field will no doubt become endless grist for sports commentary in the months and years ahead.
Photo: Ticker-tape parade in NYC for women’s soccer team in 2015; no ticker-tape this time.