U.S. women's national team trounced by Sweden, 3-0, in Olympic stunner

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/07/21/us-womens-national-team-sweden-olympics/



TOKYO — It was all so unfamiliar and unsettling. An ocean of empty white seats greeted the U.S. women’s national team as it marched into Tokyo Stadium on Wednesday. A relentless bunch of Swedes in those neon-yellow kits buzzed around the field and menaced household stars. One of the most dominant sporting forces on Earth had rare access to vengeance, and instead it tumbled into distress.

The United States had not lost in 44 matches over 2½ years, a run of dominance that included a World Cup and survived 15 months of a global pandemic. The opening game of the Tokyo Olympics presented the team with a game it wanted more than most. The Swedes had knocked the Americans out of the previous Olympics, and over the past five years their rivalry had only deepened.

Rather than getting revenge against Sweden, the United States saw its unbeaten streak end as it suffered a 3-0 loss, stunning not for the result but for the thoroughness. In U.S. Coach Vlatko Andonovski’s major tournament debut, Sweden left no doubt about which team deserved to win. The Swedes were faster, stronger and better. Rather than validating itself as the favorite, the U.S. squad suffered an early disruption of its goal to become the first reigning World Cup champion to win Olympic gold medal.

“We got our asses kicked,” Megan Rapinoe said. “Didn’t we?”

They sure did. Sweden, which played the Americans to a draw in an April friendly, thoroughly dominated in a manner foreign to the U.S. squad and its legions of fans, many of whom woke up in the wee hours to watch back home. Sweden outshot the Americans, 17-13, a margin that at one point stood 9-2. It gained nine corners compared with the Americans’ three. Sweden pressured, sprinted past and manhandled the Americans, many of whom spent chunks of the evening picking themselves off the turf.

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