Americans don’t want to disappoint their fans
The U.S. women’s national team had little reason to think anyone was paying attention back home while they were in Germany at the World Cup last summer.
And maybe no one was — until Megan Rapinoe picked out Abby Wambach’s head with a 50-yard cross in the 120th minute with the United States losing to Brazil 2-1 in the quarterfinals. The women’s Twitter followings would never be the same as a nation galvanized behind them.
Heading into the London Olympics, the U.S. women hope to capture hearts again. They know they’ve got more fans than ever before. This time, they also aren’t planning to disappoint by falling short of the objective that is more important than popularity: defending their gold medal from 2008.
All games on NBCSN
| Olympic schedule |
| Wed. vs. France, noon |
| July 28 vs. Colombia, noon |
| July 31 vs. North Korea, 12:15 p.m. |
“We didn’t really know the reception we were getting back in the States when we were in Germany,” defender Becky Sauerbrunn said. “We made kind of a pact to stay in this little isolated bubble and just focus on what the team needed to do in order to succeed. It really wasn’t until we got back that we realized how people had responded to that Brazil game and then making it all the way to the final and losing in [penalty kicks].”
The Japanese team that beat the United States in the World Cup final appeared to be the Olympic favorite after a 1-0 win in Portugal in the teams’ first rematch back in March. But they then tied in Japan in April, and the most recent meeting was a dominant 4-1 U.S. victory in Sweden on June 18, with two goals apiece from Wambach — who missed the 2008 Olympics with a broken leg — and Alex Morgan, who are expected to shoulder the scoring load in Great Britain after racking up 20 goals in the last 11 U.S. matches.
“I think that we respect them so much that it was a little too much,” midfielder Lauren Cheney said after the Japan victory. “… I think going forward we know we can beat them.”
Cheney’s role as the primary playmaker and Morgan’s move into the starting lineup are some of the subtle changes to a roster that features only one player who wasn’t part of the World Cup roster, reserve forward Sydney Leroux. Dumfries native Ali Krieger will miss the tournament as she recovers from a knee injury, and she will be replaced by Amy LePeilbet at right back. The 18-player squad will be tested by quick turnarounds between the matches.
Rapinoe remains dangerous on the wing, and Hope Solo remains feisty and solid in the net. But the U.S. team also makes waves off the field, with Wambach recently posing nude in ESPN the Magazine’s body issue and Rapinoe announcing she’s a lesbian. U.S. coach Pia Sundhage has insisted her team will have fun at the Olympics, too.
But while the women’s pro game has struggled to sustain the momentum, the U.S. women were thrilled with the reception they received in their tuneup matches. More than 18,000 watched them beat China in Philadelphia in May, and nearly 17,000 saw their 2-1 sendoff victory over Canada in Salt Lake City last month.
“The support has definitely increased, and we can feel that,” Sauerbrunn said. “We can feel the excitement. It’s not something that we talk about. We know that we did something special as a team in 2011, and I think we know as a group that we can also do something like that to win the Olympics.”
