Solo Becomes THE Story As U.S.Women Eliminated

Once again Hope Solo has taken over the story.

As everyone knows by now, the United States women shocked the soccer world by being eliminated  in the Olympics quarterfinals by Sweden in a shootout after a 1-1 tie.  The game ended when Lisa Dahlkvist made her shot in the firth round after Christen Press had sent hers over the crossbar.   And suddenly there would be no third straight gold medal for the Americans, in fact no medal at all.

After praising her team for tying the match in the 75th minute, Solo then said that the Swedes played "like a bunch of cowards" for employing a defensive game plan and not attacking.  “The best team did not win today,’’ she added, according to Jay Schreiber in the New York Times.  “I strongly and firmly believe that.’’

Solo, fans will recall, created an uproar in 2007 when she criticized then-Coach Greg Ryan for playing Brianna Scurry instead of Solo in a loss in the World Cup semi-finals.  She has also come under scrutiny for her personal life, especially her arrest in 2014 on charges of assaulting two family members.  The charges were later dismissed although according to KING-5 television in Seattle, they were later reinstated and are pending.

KING also reported that Solo is unlikely to face any punishment for her remarks.  Nor should she.  Although in bad taste and showing poor sportsmanship, they were in the heat of the moment and the product of frustration.  Maybe the U.S. did outplay Sweden.  But the bottom line is Sweden made one more penalty kick than did the U.S.  As Swedish (and former U.S.) coach Pia Sundhage put it, according to the Times, “It’s O.K. to be a coward if you win.’’  “They played more attacking football than we did. We defended very well.’’  And Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl quoted Sundhage as saying "I'm going to Rio.  She's going home."  Amen to that.

Former U.S. player Julie Foudy, now a TV commentator, said "It’s clearly not the tradition of our national team to react that way," and added, "She's not the first to lose a big game."  She agreed that Sweden's strategy was effective and said, "The U.S. team did not have enough in the attacking third to break it down.”

Wahl's article on-line, provided (as he always does) an astute analysis of the match and Solo's comments.  For example, he noted that of 27 shots by the U.S., only six were on goal.

Concerning Solo's comments, Wahl wrote that the keeper was not necessarily inaccurate in her description of the Swedes' game plan.  "But is cowardly too strong a word for what Sweden did?  Yes. It’s not like we don’t see such tactics on a fairly regular basis in this sport, and the onus is on the attacking team to break down the defense.  Finally, were Solo’s comments lacking grace and a sense of the Olympic spirit? Yes, they were. I’m convinced that they reflected her honest opinion, but they didn’t have to be said. "

Not surprisingly, Carli Lloyd took the high road.  Wahl quoted her as saying, “It’s always hard to swallow losing in PKs. It’s gonna hurt. But we’ve got to hold our heads high. This team is not going to crumble. We’re going to work that much harder.”

U.S. Coach Jill Ellis also refused to knock Sweden.  "The game is the game,” she said to Wahl. “Tactically, that’s a coach’s prerogative, a coach’s choice. They look at their personnel and determine a gameplan based on that. To take us to penalty kicks is probably a great strategy, because then it becomes a bit of a crapshoot.”

Carli and U.S. Ready For Olympics

My favorite U.S. player, Carli Lloyd, has scored the winning goal in the last two Olympic goal medal games.  How to top that? people asked.  Carli answered with a hat trick in the World Cup final.

So another Olympics starts this Wednesday against New Zealand, two days before the official opening ceremony.  Jonathan Tannenwald of the Inquirer has a piece about Carli and Olympic prospects in today's print edition.  If you go to the Philly.com site, in addition to that story, there is an expanded version of his interview with Carli, also worth reading.

Tannenwald says the game to watch is against France on August 6 at 4 p.m.  The last group match will be August 9 against Colombia.  The gold medal game is August 19.  Look for Carli and her teammates to be there.

FIFA Women's Olympics website is here.

Carli Lloyd Update

Last saw Carli two weeks ago at the Philadelphia Sportswriters Association banquet when she accepted the Athlete of the Year award.  Pretty cool seeing that, and also my old high school buddy, Dave Montgomery of the Phillies, receive the Ed Snider Lifetime Distinguished Humanitarian Award.

Only had a chance to briefly say hi to Carli before the dinner and then got in a short line to get her to sign the program to my granddaughter, Allison.

Back on the soccer field, Lloyd scored the only goal last night as the U.S. women beat Mexico, 1-0, to clinch a spot in the semi-finals of the Concacaf Olympic qualifying semifinals February 19 in Houston.  The winners of the semifinal matches on February 19 will qualify for the Rio Olympics.  The New York Times ran an AP story of the game.

And finally, here's an in-depth interview Seth Davis did with Carli on Campus Insiders on February 11. 

U.S. Soccer Sues Women's Team

Nothing like a lawsuit to take the glow off a World Cup.

Just seven months after the United States Women's team routed Japan, 5-2, to capture its first World Cup since 1999, U.S. Soccer has sued its most successful and glamorous team. Sort of.  As reported by Andrew Das of the New York Times and Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated, the sport's governing body ran into court in Chicago seeking a declaration that the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the players union did not expire until the end of 2016. 

A declaratory judgment action does not seek damages but merely asks a court to determine the rights of parties.  Declaratory judgment suits are commonly used to interpret insurance policies and other contracts.

The last agreement expired in 2012 but, according to U.S. Soccer, has been extended by a memorandum of understanding signed in March 2013.  But back in December, Richard Nichols, executive director of the players union, said the memorandum was invalid as a collective bargaining agreement and would expire on February 24.  Apparently U.S. Soccer interpreted that as a threat of a strike because the CBA contained a no strike clause.  Nonsense, Nichols told Das earlier this week.  “There were no threats about strikes or work stoppages.”  He aid the players were merely “reserved our legal rights.”

So, apparently, is the organization.  The last thing it needs is for its popular women's team to walk out in an Olympic year.  The women have lost only once in the last year, in a friendly with China back in December.  On Wednesday they begin their Olympic qualifying tournament with a match against Costa Rico in Frisco, Texas.

Gearing Up For the Olympics

Hard to think the World Cup is old news, but yesterday's announcement of the Women's National Team roster for Olympic qualifying matches reminded us it's time to look forward to Brazil.

As Paul Kennedy points out in Soccer America, there is a big turnover from the World Cup team of just six months ago.  Six players have retired and two are pregnant.  Coach Jill Ellis did not select Whitney Engen or Heather O'Reilly.  That amounts to a 50 percent change. 

The biggest surprise seems to be O'Reilly, a veteran with 228 caps, number 7 on the all-time list for U.S. women.  She saw little time in the World Cup and perhaps is just not valued by Ellis.  I'll be interested to see if we read more on this in the coming weeks.

With the Gold At Stake, Who Else But Carli Lloyd?

   It's now been eight years since someone not named Carli Lloyd scored for the United States in the women's Olympic gold medal game.  After notching the lone goal in the 1-0 overtime win against Brazil in 2008, Lloyd today accounted for all the American scoring in a tense 2-1 victory over Japan.

   The match was played before 80,203 at the hallowed Wembley Stadium in London.  It was the fourth gold for the United States in five tournaments.

   Lloyd got the U.S. off to a quick start by heading in a ball in the 8th minute.  Former U.S. men's coach Bob Bradley gave this analysis in the New York Times.  The U.S. dodged a bullet in the 27th minute when Tobin Heath appeared to handle the ball in the box.  But the referee declined to call he penalty.

   Nine minutes into the second half Lloyd scored what proved to be the game winner from 20 yards.  Fer her efforts she was named the Bud Light woman of the match.  After not starting the opener against France Lloyd came off the bench when Shannon Boxx was injured and scored the ultimate game winner, then tallied another goal against Columbia before her heroics today. 

   I was at work and followed the game on both the U.S. Soccer and the Times website.  While the Times does an excellent job covering soccer, it had some trouble with Lloyd''s first goal.  First it reported that Abby Wambach scored it, then said it was Boxx before finally naming Lloyd as the scorer.  But who else would score for the U.S. in the gold medal game?

Olympics - Off to a Good Start

Nice to see Carli Lloyd on the front page of the Inquirer and the New York Times.  And why not?  All she did yesterday was come off the bench in the 17th minute (due to an injury to Shannon Boxx) and put the U.S. up for good against France, breaking a 2-2 deadlock with a goal in the 56th minute.  The last time Lloyd played in an Olympic match, she scored the game winner against Brazil in the 2008 gold medal match.

Yesterday, the Americans got off to a sluggish start and found themselves down, 2-0, just 14 minutes in.  But Abby Wambach headed in a Megan Rapinoe corner kick and Alex Morgan and Alex Morgan took a long punt from Hope Solo in the 31st minute and equalized.  Morgan also added an insurance goal in the 66th minute.

One note pointed out in the Times:  Lloyd started all 19 game sin which she played in 2011 but only 13 of 16 this year and was on the bench when yesterday's Olympic opener began.  Only the injury to Boxx brought her onto the field relatively early.  Sam Borden in the Times quotes Lloyd as saying she is still getting used to not starting but that she is "at peace" with that role.  Apparently no one has asked coach Pia Sundhage what brought about the change in Lloyd's status.

Next up for the women: Colombia, Saturday at noon, Eastern.

Olympics - A Look Back To the 2008 Final

The U.S. women open defense of their Olympic gold medal tomorrow at noon Eastern time, in Glasgow against France.  As everyone in these parts remembers, Carli Lloyd scored the winning goal in the final against Brazil back in 2008.  She reminisces about that dramatic shot 6 minutes into overtime on the U.S. Soccer website.