By Juan Carlos Maygua
The USWNT faced off against Sweden in preparation for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. A game that was very contested from beginning to end, the National team held off and dramatically obtained a draw. This was the first game that the team played abroad since the conclusion of the SheBelieves cup earlier this year. The match also saw Carli Lloyd reach 300 appearances with the National Team, a number that will only keep increasing, and will hardly be beaten anytime soon.
The game
It was a perfect start to the game for the national team. Domination from the wide parts of the field with Christen Press and Lynn Williams orchestrating the attacking plays. Rose Lavelle was the game generating the game from midfield, it looked like a secured win. However, the Swedish team played a very physical game while holding out on defense throughout most of the first 45 minutes. This changed at the 38th minute after Sweden scored off a header from Lina Hurtig. The goal completely changed the dynamic of the game and possibly the halftime team talk.
The second half saw an instant reaction from the USWNT. They created more chances through Lynn Williams, but the team failed to capitalize on chances once again. The team insisted on crossing the ball into the box, or wherever they had opportunities to take shots they didn’t shoot. “There were times where they could have executed better, but again, the things that we did well were going to try to do, and the things we didn’t do well, were going to try to get done right”. Head coach Vlatko Andonovsky said in the post-game press conference. The game changed as Megan Rapinoe came from the bench, substituting Carly Lloyd. Her presence on the field made the final minutes of the game more lethal for the team, the pressure in the opposition’s box was noticeable. The game was decided by a foul on Kelly O’Hara that was ruled a penalty. Rapinoe stepped up once again to tie the game and maintain the unbeaten record going.
Postgame perspectives
Head coach Vlatko Andonovsky gave his impressions of the game and pointed out the low passing accuracy and transitions but he’s confident the team will improve and arrive ready for Tokyo. I had the chance to ask him if he took positive points from the game despite the tough result. “Statistically it seems we dominated the second half, but in the first half, we did things that were good at times. We were not consistent enough in the things that we did well, so obviously I would have liked to see more consistency with some of the combinations”. He went on to praise Sweden and highlight the importance of these games. “Credit to the Swedish team, they did well as the game was going by, every time they saw something broke down for them,they fixed it well. They defended well, they’re a good team organized, disciplined, a top team. Once again that’s why we came here, to play this team, to get exposed to the physicality, tactics, and sophistication, so we can prepare to be the best version that we can be going into the Olympics”. TiernaDavidson also spoke briefly, she pointed out the level of communication the team had despite things not going well at halftime. Davidson acknowledged the team has areas to improve, but they will fix them on time.
Megan Rapinoe
As one of the icons of the National team for her actions on and off the field, Megan Rapinoe left me in a bit of a shock due to her insightful and elaborated answers. It’s as if she knew you on a personal level, and has no problem giving you different perspectives on a single situation. Rapinoe acknowledged that these games were “a punch in the mouth” because they’ll be facing two of the top 10 teams in the world. But if anything,“Tokyo” will be “a punch in the mouth “ to the level of competition in the tournament. My colleague Alonso Contreras asked Rapinoe what the team needs to do to improve for the next game since it’s better to make mistakes now rather than when Tokyo starts.
“I think just in general you can have all the game plan that you want, we’re extremely well prepared as a team, Vlatko and his staff do an amazing job, but sometimes things change. Sometimes teams play a different way or things don’t go that way, or you don’t have the juju that you normally do during a game and that’s when you need to ground yourself. I think it’s easy to get caught in a game like today, so you have to make eye contact or complete one pass to kind of pull yourself out of it a little bit. When we’re in Tokyo that’s what is going to be, there will be games where physically were not at our best because we just played, or it’s really hot, or a team switches tactics, or we’re not playing well that day. So individually but really sort of collectively we need to be able to understand what’s happening at the moment very quickly and adjust. We can’t just play one way all the time, and I think that the games that we’ve played up to this point, we’ve been able to play the game that we want. This one was a little bit different; I don’t think we adjusted quickly enough, but were all world-class players and have the ability to read the game and know when something is not working so we have to figure it out on the fly a little bit better.”
The game against France will be another challenge for the USWNT, and we will see what changes are made. One way or another Tokyo edges closer and the room for error is becoming narrow as the summer approaches.