Disappointing game

The USA - Sweden did not turn out as well as we expected. The US team was flat and lacked any kind of creativity. The defense did not handle well the speed of the Swedish forwards and the American midfielders did not attempt to play together and string together any kind of passes. Instead, they relied on "kick and run" which was not successful at all. We did feel that the Swedes were lucky to get two goals in the first half. The US did have a number of opportunities but did not capitalize.

We were also surprised by the US substitutions in the second half. Instead of emphasizing offense, the US coach put in two defensive minded players out of the three players she subbed in. The subs did not contribute anything at all. There was no momentum.

The spunk and energy that we saw versus Columbia was completely absent in this game. Since the US lost this game, we will not be seeing them play in the quarterfinal game in Augsburg. Instead we will see Sweden Australia. We will be rooting for the Swedes!