Sweden amazes the US football team in the Olympic Opener
CHOFU, Japan – Five years. So long had it been waiting for this game.
Five years ago, the USA women’s soccer team’s hopes for an Olympic gold at the Rio Games 2016 were shattered by Sweden. Five years ago a defeat that forced Americans to look in the mirror and ask difficult questions about their age, dominance and future.
Five years of waiting, only to end up back in the same place.
The United States began the Olympics in Tokyo on Wednesday exactly where it ended the Rio Games five years earlier: after a humble, embarrassing defeat against Sweden.
Then there was a loss of penalties in the quarterfinals. This time it was not so close at all: Sweden dominated the USA, 3-0. By then, Sweden had bunkered down and frustrated the Americans. On Wednesday, it simply dominated from one side of the pitch to the other.
“Did we expect this result tonight? No,” said US forward Megan Rapinoe. “It’s frustrating and it’s frustrating that it’s Sweden.”
“I do not remember when we last gave up a goal,” she added. “So giving up three is not good.”
Defender Kelley O’Hara admitted before the match that she and her teammates had longed for another shot against the Swedes at the games. “It’s what we’ve been waiting for now for five years, to be back here,” she said.
They just never expected it to go like this.
Striker Stina Blackstenius delivered a goal in every half for Sweden, a glance in the nod in the 25th minute and an incredible finish in the 54th that felt like a fair reward for a dominant performance at the head of a Swedish attack that had the Americans on his heels almost as soon as the game started.
The United States tried everything to reverse the trend. Positional adjustments to try to help a midfield that was routinely overrun. Compensation for reshaping a largely toothless attack. Reinforcements to strengthen a defense that was first stretched and then cut apart.
Even the most trusted of veterans hired to help seemed to have little effect. Carli Lloyd and Julie Ertz – in her first appearance in several months – came over for a break, but Sweden soon doubled their lead. Rapinoe was deployed to offer some threats on the wing, but it never happened.
Not even the departure – mercifully, in the opinion of the Americans – of Blackstenius in the 64th minute, was no balm; her replacement, Lina Hurtig, continued only where she left off by rising for an open nod and turning it into Sweden’s third goal eight minutes after coming on.
The defeat was the Americans’ first in 24 matches under coach Vlatko Andonovski and their first against any opponent since the loss to France in January 2019. It will force them to fight to recover in the sprint that is the Olympic tournament: Games against New Zealand (on Saturday) and Australia (on Tuesday) come in quick succession in the first round, and tougher opponents such as Great Britain, Brazil and the Netherlands can wait in the medal round.
“You lose points at the start of a tournament, you’re in a do-or-die mode,” Rapinoe said.
But first, the Americans must find out what went wrong at Tokyo Stadium.
Maybe the defeat should not have been a complete surprise. Sweden is no stranger to the USA – the teams’ meeting on Wednesday was their tenth in a major championship, including matches in the last five world championships – and Sweden could have been forgiven a bit by confidence after it became a strong performance in April against the USA in a draw 1- 1 in Stockholm.
That match at the time seemed to be a rare mistake for an American team where it is cursed to lose. Until Wednesday, a draw in Stockholm had been the only flaw in the Americans’ record under Andonovski (22-0-1).
Wednesday’s win was a much stronger statement, the kind of one-sided achievement that the United States is more used to handing out than swallowing. And it will raise difficult questions about Andonovski’s dependence on an aging core – every forward on the US list is over 30 – and about his commitment to past performance as an indicator of future performance.
While the Olympics were delayed one year due to the pandemic, the US list is relatively unchanged since the 2019 World Championships for women. It includes not only its veteran front but also question marks such as Ertz, whose appearance was her first in any team in months after a leg injury this year, and Tobin Heath, who has recently returned from an injury of his own.
“I do not judge the players by their age,” Andonovski said when choosing his Olympic list. “Either they are good, perform well and can help us win, or they can not.”
He knows it would be a mistake to dismiss his team as a gold favorite after a single performance. Seventeen of the players who applied for gold in Japan, for example, were part of the team that lifted the World Cup in France two years ago. A handful have gold medals from previous games. Now, however, they must summon the kind of gravel that gave these prizes if they are to claim another one, and do so in the crucible of a scorching Japanese summer and the compressed Olympic schedule.
On Wednesday, at least some of the most experienced players preached patience.
“It’s going to be a tough tournament,” forward Christen Press said. “But we knew it was going to be a tough tournament.”
Defender Becky Sauerbrunn, whose evening went worse than most, was ready to move on quickly, even when she admitted that the tournament – at least from an American perspective – had now changed.
“Bad night tonight,” she said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”