United States' World Cup dynasty ends along with myth of supremacy
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[August 07, 2023]
By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The United States came to the Women's World
Cup bullish about their chances of winning an unprecedented third
consecutive title but their round-of-16 exit at the hands of Sweden
showed their campaign was built more on hope than substance.
After back-to-back World Cup triumphs under Jill Ellis in 2015-19,
Vlatko Andonovski's efforts to regenerate the four-times champions
will be judged a failure in the wake of their 5-4 loss on penalties
in Melbourne on Sunday.
The U.S. suffered their earliest elimination at the World Cup by
far, having never failed to reach the semi-finals in all eight
previous tournaments.
Megan Rapinoe's brilliant international career ends on a sour note
and the Sweden loss will sting for other team mates of a golden
generation unlikely to hang on for the next World Cup in another
four years.
The 2019 World Cup in France will now be seen as the high-water mark
for a once peerless team that seemed bigger than the game itself for
much of the decade.
The game has changed irrevocably since the U.S. beat the Netherlands
2-0 in the Lyon final in France, with increased investment in
women's soccer paying dividends in Europe.
The U.S.-based National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is no longer
the most attractive destination for the world's top talent.
Many players now aspire to lucrative contracts with storied European
clubs and the dream of a Champions League trophy in front of
enormous crowds.
Loyal U.S. women have been left in a weakening domestic field and
further dilution can be expected with plans for new teams in coming
years.
Those concerns were buried under a hyperbolic narrative about the
supremacy of American women's football, a myth that endured right up
to the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.
"We don't just play the world's game. We run it," twice World Cup
winner Brandi Chastain said in a pre-World Cup promotion for the
NWSL.
For all the bluster, the cracks have been in plain sight for years.
Under Andonovski, the U.S. went out of the semi-finals at the Tokyo
Olympics and had to rely on veterans Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd to win
them a bronze medal.
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Soccer Football - FIFA Women’s World Cup
Australia and New Zealand 2023 - Round of 16 - Sweden v United
States - Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne, Australia -
August 6, 2023 Megan Rapinoe of the U.S. and teammates look dejected
as the United States are knocked out of the World Cup REUTERS/Asanka
Brendon Ratnayake
They built a long winning streak last year against
a succession of modest opponents but were exposed by European
champions England, with further losses to Spain and Germany to
follow.
Victory at the SheBelieves Cup early this year proved a chimera
rather than evidence of a team back to their best.
Injuries undoubtedly made their World Cup mission tougher, with
captain Becky Sauerbrunn and forward Mallory Swanson ruled out of
the squad.
Yet, the U.S. never looked like World Cup winners when the
tournament kicked off.
Held 1-1 by the Netherlands, they would have been eliminated by
debutantes Portugal in the group phase if the post had not saved
them in the scoreless draw.
The sight of Rapinoe and other players dancing and smiling on the
pitch after the Portugal escape enraged the now-retired Lloyd, who
suggested the team were suffering from denial in her work as a
television analyst.
It was hard to think otherwise when Rapinoe said she had "blind
confidence" in herself and her team mates, and that the U.S. could
only improve.
On Sunday, Rapinoe blazed her spot kick over the bar, one of three
Americans to miss in the shootout.
The World Cup exit leaves U.S. women's soccer at a cross-roads, and
pondering a way out of the mire.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Clare Fallon)
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