When the US Women’s National Team came back from the 2011 World Cup in Germany, the reception from their fans upon returning wasn’t one of disappointment for coming up short in the World Cup Final. There was more of a feeling of joy from the masses who became women’s soccer fans by following the US team throughout a rollercoaster ride of a tournament.
As much as finishing runner-up was eased by the fact that the American women captured the imagination of the country with their heroic performances before the penalty kick loss to Japan in the final, one thing is very clear about the US Women as they head toward this summer’s Olympic Games: anything less than a gold medal will be a failure.
The reigning two-time Olympic champions are the No. 1-ranked team in the world, but the memories of last summer’s disappointment linger, and even for a group of players that has accomplished so much in the past decade, redemption is still a powerful motivator.
“We obviously feel we have some unfinished business after the World Cup,” said US midfielder Heather O’Reilly, a member of the past two gold medal-winning USA teams. “I don’t think I can completely close the door on losing the World Cup, but at the same time we have a great opportunity to redeem ourselves.”
Pia Sundhage is confident that her team has responded well to finishing second at the 2011 World Cup, and she believes the team played well last summer, but she is careful to buy into any talk that the United States is favored to win a third straight Olympic gold medal.
"If you don’t know much about the women’s game you might think that since we did so well against Japan in the World Cup we should win the Olympics," Sundhage said. "There are more and more teams good enough to win it, and because of that it will be harder and harder to win anything in the women’s game.
"You can’t take anything for granted," Sundhage said. "There aren’t any weak opponents any longer. We played against New Zealand, for instance, and we won 2-1 and scored in extra time. I don’t think that would have happened five years ago."
Sundhage is correct that the competition at the top of the women’s game is deeper and stronger than ever before, with traditional powers like Germany, Sweden, China and Brazil being joined by reigning champion Japan and fast-rising France.
However, the stiffer competition isn’t diminishing the lofty expectations surrounding a US women’s team that may be the deepest in the program’s storied history. So deep that, while Sundhage won’t call this the toughest coaching job of her career, she does believe she is working with the strongest collection of talent she has ever had at her disposal.
"I don’t think I’ve come across another (USA) team with so many good players,” Sundhage said. “The bench is really good and the soccer we played in the World Cup with 21 players was very good, so cutting down to 18 will be very tough.”
“Pia not only has a tough job having to narrow this down to 18 players, but also deciding on a lineup,” O’Reilly said. “There is a lot of competition among positions. I just think the talent spread is incredible, and the range in player styles is very exciting.”
The nucleus of the US Olympic Team will feature many familiar names such as Hope Solo, Abby Wambach, Christie Rampone, Carli Lloyd, Shannon Boxx and O’Reilly. All except Wambach were part of the 2008 Olympic championship squad (Wambach missed the Olympics with a broken leg. That group was also instrumental in the USA’s run to last summer’s World Cup final.
One of the more exciting young players on the team, and a player who will be making her first Olympic appearance, is Alex Morgan. A super sub at the World Cup, Morgan has emerged this year as a clear-cut starting forward option alongside Wambach. She has scored 12 goals in 12 games this year and has done well to build on her impressive World Cup performances.
"I’m really happy with the way she’s improved her game," Sundhage said of Morgan. "From the way she came off the bench at the World Cup to the way she’s looked in this year’s camps and games she has been pretty impressive.
"She’s still young so she will have her ups and downs," Sundhage said. “I can tell that expectations are higher, from herself and from her teammates as well. I think it’s important to be patient with her, and the fact she’s been in the starting lineup is great.”
Ever careful of the burden of expectations, Sundhage tries to play coy about the role Morgan will play this summer, even though the most casual women’s soccer fan is fully aware that Morgan is a superstar in the making.
"Will she be a key player (at the Olympics)? I don’t know," Sundhage said of Morgan. "I would say we have many key players in that respect. I don’t know if she’ll be in the starting lineups in the Olympics because there are still so many days until the Olympics and anything can happen.
"Right now it looks good for her, but I don’t want to take anything for granted."
The United States team that plays in London this summer won’t feature too many new faces. In fact, there is an outside chance that all 18 players who make the Olympic team will come from the 21-player Women’s World Cup roster.
That isn’t to say Sundhage is opposed to new blood. In fact, she has stated publicly that she is hopeful that new talents emerge to push their way onto the squad.
"I would love to have a new face, but it’s all about the performance at the end of the day, especially when you only have 18 players," Sundhage said. "I would never gamble just because we need a little new blood, they still have to be a good player, so we have to wait and see who does well in the upcoming camps."
Canadian-born striker Sydney LeRoux is enjoying a good run of form in recent national team appearances and is one of the leading candidates to be that new blood Sundhage is referring to. The speedy striker is just 21, but she is clearly seen as competition for veterans such as Amy Rodriguez, who emerged as a surprising star on the 2008 Gold Medal-winning USA team.
Rodriguez is one of the players feeling the effects of the suspension of WPS, the women’s professional league. She is one of the players who has not latched on to a lower-division club, choosing instead to focus on training with the national team.
“The roster is getting smaller and smaller, which can be difficult, but right now I’m focusing on the things the coaching staff want me to focus on, and hoping to improve in the areas that I need to so I can be a part of these Olympics,” Rodriguez said.
The 25-year-old Rodriguez acknowledged that the shutting down of the WPS has hindered her preparation for the Olympics.
"When I wasn't with the national team I would be playing with my pro team, and having that training environment was important for me and my development because I liked that training when I would go home," Rodriguez said. "I had a team to play with, and right now I don’t have that. I would say that some girls are playing in B Leagues, but right now I don’t have that training environment."
Rodriguez is one of 27 players Sundhage has called into a national team camp being held in Florida beginning on April 18th. It is a camp Sundhage is using to help build up fitness, and help offset the lost playing time resulting from the loss of WPS games.
“There’s nothing we can do about it so we try to make the best of it,” Sundhage said of the loss of the WPS. “We’ll have more days together, more time to build a connection as a (national) team.
“At the same time, the fact that the league isn’t up and running, that means players have lost ten games pretty much.”
As we move closer to the Women’s Olympic Soccer Tournament, which kicks off on July 25th, talk of an Olympic gold three-peat will grow, as well as talk of a potential rematch with Japan, the team that beat the USA in the World Cup, and a team the Americans have failed to beat in two attempts since the World Cup.
Neither the players or Sundhage sound overly concerned about earning some measure of revenge on the Japanese for last summer’s World Cup final loss. Their focus is simply on winning the Olympics, and Sundhage continues to remind us that the Olympics will have plenty of good teams besides the United States and Japan.
“Japan won’t be the only great opponent,” Sundhage said. “There will be other teams who play great soccer. Which country wins the Olympics will depend on a lot of things. Who is healthy, who makes the best preparations, the draw, and which teams you wind up playing against.”
