United States looked lost and confused in Olympic opener as Sweden end its unbeaten run
ESPN ^ | 7/21/2021 | Caitlin Murray
Posted on 7/21/2021, 4:04:23 PM by marcusmaximus
There was a moment early in the first half of the United States women's national team's opening match of its Olympic campaign when midfielder Rose Lavelle, dribbling into Sweden's half with the ball at her feet, looked around furiously and put her hands out, as if she was lost. Even without being able to hear what she said in Tokyo's cavernous Ajinomoto Stadium, it's easy to imagine it was something along the lines of, "Where is everyone?"
That, in a nutshell, was how the USWNT began its 2020 Olympics, looking confused in a 3-0 loss to open Group G.
The defeat was notable, first, because the team rarely loses. It came into Wednesday's match unbeaten in its previous 44, with 40 of them wins. Its last loss was in January 2019, at a friendly in France.
-snip-
the defeat was also notable because of just how bad the loss was. Confused expressions abound as players, including Lavelle, looked for an open American to pass the ball to but couldn't find anyone. As Sweden swarmed, pressing and bossing the midfield, the Americans looked rattled and gave the ball away too cheaply.
-snip-
"We got our ass kicked a bit," Megan Rapinoe said afterward.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...
