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The Olympic hopes for the US women’s football team have reached “do or die” mode after their surprising 3-0 loss to Sweden in their opener, said Megan Rapinoe.
The USWNT loss on Wednesday shattered a 44-game unbeaten streak, but the world’s top-ranked team can still advance to the round of 16 and a medal game. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the United States lost 2-0 to Norway in the opener before winning gold.
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In the opening loss to Sweden, Rapinoe said: “I think we’ve just taken the lead a bit.
“We’re obviously going to watch a movie and all that, but you lose points at the start of a tournament and now you’re in a kind of ‘do or die’ mode. So you have to earn points, otherwise we “come home quickly, and you don’t wanna do that.”
Forward Christen Press said: “We’ve had a long winning streak, and I think we haven’t had a lot of games we have had to come back to.
“I think it was really good to have this game. In 2008 we lost our first game and the team won gold. So I think now we see it as a learning opportunity. the message is already “Watch out, put it behind us, next game. There is no time in a tournament like this to linger. “
It was the first loss for the United States since January 2019, when the team lost 3-1 to France in a friendly. The United States won the World Cup that summer.
The Americans are in contention for their fifth overall gold, more than any other nation, in a sport that first appeared at the 1996 Olympics. They aim to be the first women’s team to win an Olympic title afterwards. a World Cup.
The United States failed to win a medal at the Rio de Janeiro Games after being ousted in the quarterfinals by Sweden. And the Swedes drew 1-1 with the Americans in April, the team’s only non-win this year.
The United States travel to Saitama, where they face New Zealand on Saturday as the group stage continues.
Defender Tierna Davidson said Thursday veteran Kelley O’Hara is assembling the team ahead of Saturday’s game.
“She was like, ‘We have no choice. We have to get the next game out and we have to be absolutely ruthless,” said Davidson. “So I think that’s what everyone has in mind right now.”
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