USA's Women's World Cup Foes Criticize Team's Players, Style Of Soccer

It’s a good thing the United States women’s national soccer team traveled to Canada to win the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup rather than to make friends.

Australia and Sweden, two of the United States’ three competitors in Group D, have criticized Team USA in recent days. Australia blasted Team USA’s style of play on its website Monday following the Americans’ win over the Matildas in the teams’ World Cup opener. Sweden head coach Pia Sundhage, who used to oversee Team USA, also made some less-than-flattering comments about American players to the New York Times, which published her interview Tuesday.

Australia outplayed Team USA for a large chunk of Monday’s game but lost 3-1. An unnamed analyst called Team USA “not that good” in his or her first takeaway from the game.

“The US certainly like to talk a good game,” the analyst said. “The reality is they play a fairly rudimentary, bog-standard 4-4-2, were short of ideas going forward and outmanoeuvred tactically. ‘Play it long and look for the head of Wambach’ seems the default game-plan for a team stuck in the past.

“World football has moved, in case (U.S. head coach) Jill Ellis hasn’t noticed. US were outplayed by a better, smarter footballing side … before the Aussies ran out of gas.”

Many Team USA partisans interpret the Australian’s view as sour grapes, but the central premise is valid. Team USA didn’t play well against Australia and won “ugly” because of the individual quality of a few players. I wrote something similar immediately after the game.

Sundhage coached Team USA from November 2007 to November 2012, winning two Olympic gold medals (in 2008 and 2012) and finishing second at the 2011 World Cup. She stepped down from the USA hot seat in order to lead her native Sweden.

Sundhage is familiar with the current crop of Team USA players and spoke of a few of them with thinly veiled contempt.

“Carli Lloyd was a challenge to coach, by the way,” Sundhage said. “When she felt that we had faith in her, she could be one of the best players. But if she began to question that faith, she could be one of the worst. It was so delicate, so, so delicate.”

Sundhage also said Abby Wambach, the 35-year-old all-time leading goal scorer in women’s international soccer history, no longer would be a first-choice striker had she remained Team USA’s coach.

“I said that to Abby,” Sundhage said, “I told her: ‘If I stayed, you would be a sub. The best sub ever. But a sub.’ There was no question about that in my mind.”

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Sundhage’s Sweden takes on Wambach, Lloyd and Team USA on Friday in Group D play.

Game. On.