Seth Udinski, FISM News
In the early hours of Wednesday morning U.S. time, the United States Women’s National Soccer Team suffered a shocking 3-0 loss to Sweden in the opening round of the Tokyo Olympics. The U.S. women’s team, widely regarded as one of the best in the world, had not lost a game since early 2019 and is a heavy favorite to capture the gold medal in Tokyo. A loss like this could be devastating for Team USA’s march to the gold. Team USA was knocked out of medal contention by Sweden in the 2016 Rio Games, and now their first crack at another was disrupted by the same team.
The players were visibly frustrated. Megan Rapinoe, Team USA’s starting forward and one of the most vocal American athletes of the 21s century, said,
Did we expect this result tonight? No. It’s frustrating, and it’s frustrating that it’s Sweden.
Striker Alex Morgan said,
It felt like there were holes everywhere defensively. I didn’t feel like we were pressing together, and then when we were on the attack and we’d lose the ball, we didn’t have the numbers around the ball to win it back.
In an all-too familiar footnote that has dominated American sports for the last five years in various ways, all of Team USA’s starters elected to kneel during the National Anthem before the game. The USWNT has been one of the most outspoken engines for promoting liberal political agendas in the United States, so for many American fans, perhaps the loss to Sweden was not so devastating after all.