Megan Rapinoe Explains What Went Fallacious For USWNT At Olympics

The USA ladies’s nationwide soccer staff didn’t carry out as marketed in Tokyo.

The Individuals struggled out of the gate, dropping their Olympic opener to Sweden in relatively gorgeous style. The U.S. nonetheless managed to succeed in the semifinal stage, however its pursuit of a gold medal got here to an finish Monday with a 1-0 loss to Canada. It marked the Individuals’ first loss to their North American neighbor in 20 years.

So, what went incorrect for the U.S. on the Video games? Longtime staff chief Megan Rapinoe put it in rather blunt terms after the loss to Canada.

“If I may simply say one thing, I simply assume the gamers have lots to have a look at ourselves about,” Rapinoe informed reporters, per ESPN. ” It’s not like, ‘Oh, we didn’t play higher,’ and getting on one another, however we have to carry out higher, interval. We don’t have juice as a result of the ball’s banging off our shins and we’re not discovering open passes and doing the easy issues.”

“We will deep-dive into analyzing, and I do know we are going to, however on the finish of the day, there’s all of the preparation you are able to do and all of the techniques, after which there’s all the pieces else, and that’s what we have been lacking. You possibly can’t put a reputation on the ‘all the pieces else,’ but it surely’s simply getting it executed from gamers, from all of us.”

Rapinoe and Co. won’t depart Tokyo empty-handed. They’ll battle Australia on Thursday within the bronze-medal match.