USWNT face Sweden in Tokyo Olympics opener, hoping to avenge loss in Rio
By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer
Following a 12-month delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics finally get underway for the U.S. women’s soccer team Wednesday, when the world No. 1 Americans take on Sweden, FIFA’s fifth-ranked squad, in both countries’ first group-stage match.
The opener couldn’t be more intriguing. After all, it was the Swedes who stunned the USWNT on penalties in the quarterfinals of Rio 2016, denying the red, white and blue a podium finish for the first time in Olympic history. (The match airs live on USA Network and Telemundo at 4:30 a.m. ET.)
"I remember being extremely upset after the game [in Brazil]," veteran U.S. fullback Kelley O’Hara told reporters from Japan early Monday morning. "It’s a game — and a loss — that I thought about a lot the last five years."
The U.S. women are once again the odds-on favorites. Before that shocking loss in 2016, they had won four golds and a silver in the five tournaments since women’s soccer became an Olympic sport in 1996.
The Americans also enter this competition as two-time defending World Cup champions. In France two summers ago, they beat Sweden en route to another crown.
Coach Vlatko Andonovski’s team now has the opportunity to do what no squad before has managed: Win Olympic gold as the World Cup holder.
"I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about that," O’Hara said. "I think most people on the team have."
This U.S. team is different than the one that triumphed in Lyon. Sure, 2019 standouts Crystal Dunn and Rose Lavelle return. But Ali Krieger, O’Hara’s backup in France, is gone. Also back are household names Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, who topped the World Cup scoring charts with six goals apiece two years ago. They, however, are no longer the USWNT’s best players.
That distinction now probably belongs to Samantha Mewis, a two-way midfielder who fronts defensive lynchpins Julie Ertz and captain Becky Sauerbrunn. Mewis’ older sister, Kristie Mewis, forced her way into Andonovski’s plans and is the only member of the original, 18-player roster who wasn’t on the World Cup squad.
Carli Lloyd, at age 39 the USWNT’s oldest Olympian ever, is almost certainly playing the last of her 300-plus matches with the program.
These Olympics are also different. Just three weeks out, a rule change allowed each nation to bring four extra players. The U.S. added goalkeeper Jane Campbell, defender Casey Krueger and forwards Catarina Macario and Lynn Williams. It’s the first senior international tourney for all of them.
"It means everything to me and every athlete, being here," Williams said Monday. "You dream of this as a kid."
Due to COVID protocols, no fans will be in attendance — another new experience for the USWNT.
"We’re gonna be able to hear each other, which typically doesn’t happen when you step onto a pitch in a major tournament," O’Hara noted.
Yet for all the weirdness, "it feels like a big deal," she made sure to add. "It feels like the Olympics, what we’ve waited now five years for. Playing Sweden probably makes it feel more intense and more real right off the bat just because they’re a great side."
They’re not the only one. After Wednesday’s contest, the U.S. closes out its Group G slate against two other physical and experienced teams in New Zealand and Australia, which FIFA ranks ninth. Both know the Americans intimately: The Kiwis are helmed by former USWNT boss Tom Sermanni, and the Aussies are led by longtime U.S. assistant coach Tony Gustavsson.
Wednesday’s game figures to set the tone for whatever happens next. In the first round of the 2015 World Cup in Canada, Sweden held the U.S. to a scoreless tie.
"They have some really great players individually, and they also play very well collectively," O’Hara said. "They’re very organized as a group."
"It’s going to be a hard, tough game," Williams said. "It’s going to be a good first test for both teams."
Assuming the U.S. makes it through to the knockout stage — a safe assumption — they will benefit from not having to face European heavyweights France or Germany, which didn’t qualify – though Japan, Great Britain, the Netherlands and even Brazil are all capable of pulling off an upset in a win-or-go-home game.
Victory is expected but never guaranteed. As everyone involved in these long-delayed Games already knows, things don’t always go according to plan.
"We’re very lucky and blessed to even be doing the Olympics right now," Williams said. "I can’t imagine all the things that have gone on behind the scenes that we don’t even know about to be able to put this event on."
One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
