| June 12, 2015 | 8 PM ET | WNT vs Sweden | Winnipeg Stadium; Winnipeg, Canada | FOX, NBC Universo, NBCDeportes.com |
The USA will meet a blast from the past in its second and most crucial Women’s World Cup group game against Sweden on Friday.
The blasting, however, seems to have begun a few days early.
Sweden coach Pia Sundhage, who led the USA to gold medals in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics before returning to her homeland, made a series of strong and potentially stinging comments about her former players in an interview published Tuesday in The New York Times.
Several of her players also hyped up the clash, insisting they would have no fear about facing the higher-ranked and higher-profile Americans.
Sundhage is a fascinating and unconventional figure who is never afraid to speak her mind. While most coaches adopt a diplomatic policy regarding their former players, Sundhage let rip.
She singled out three key players, starting with U.S. captain and central midfielder Carli Lloyd, whom she said was “a challenge to coach” and could be among the worst players on the team at any time when she doubted the coaching staff’s faith in her, according to the Times.
Sundhage referred to Hope Solo, whose domestic violence controversy came to the fore again this week, describing the goalkeeper as one of the most challenging players she had ever worked with “especially when it comes to trouble.”
The 55-year-old Swede also commented on veteran forward Abby Wambach, who started and played a full 90 minutes in the team’s 3-1 victory Monday against Australia. Sundhage insisted the USA’s all-time leading scorer would be relegated to the bench if she was still coaching the team and said she had even told Wambach so.
Beating Australia was a huge boost for the Americans, but with two games remaining in Group D, the top spot is by no means assured. Four years ago, the USA lost to Sweden in its third group match and was pushed into a tough part of the knockout bracket, where it had to overcome Brazil before reaching the final.
This time a second-place spot in the group likely would mean Brazil again, this time in the eastern outpost of Moncton, a six-hour flight and two time zones away from Winnipeg.
The USA will be a favorite Friday, but Sweden, which also collected a 1-0 win when the sides met in last year’s Algarve Cup, a prestigious women’s tournament held annually in Portugal, is highly confident.
According to midfielder Emma Berglund, Sweden’s players have no sense of a “fear factor” when facing the Americans.
“But not any longer,” Berglund said. “They are good players; they have a good team. You have respect for them, of course it is good to mentally see them as humans.”
“We know we can beat them,” teammate Carola Soberg added. “They are human, too.”
Goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl conceded the Swedes would need to respond strongly after a disappointing 3-3 draw against Nigeria.
“We have beaten them before, and when you’ve been there once, you can do it again,” she said.
Sundhage admitted she did not forge particularly close personal relationships with her players while in charge of the U.S., but it is hard to find fault with the level of success she enjoyed. If not for a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat in the 2011 World Cup final, she would have had a perfect record in major tournaments during her U.S. tenure.
Midfielder Tobin Heath has fond memories of Sundhage.
“I love Pia,” Heath said. “I loved my time with her. We had a good run and we were very successful with her. She is going to be super familiar with us, that’s why were going to have to be so good (on Friday).”
Via- Martin Rogers, USA TODAY Sports