Hope Solo

Carli Lloyd scored in the sixth minute of extra time as the United States won their second straight Olympic women’s soccer gold medal with a 1-0 victory over Brazil on Thursday.

Since women’s soccer first featured at the Olympics in 1996, the USA have now claimed three gold and one silver medal, while Brazil won their second silver.

But while Lloyd scored the winning goal on Thursday, the hero for the Americans was goalkeeper Hope Solo, an ironic twist after last year’s controversy at the World Cup.
 

After losing to the US in the gold-medal match in the Athens Olympics, Brazil exacted revenge on Team USA at the 2007 World Cup, snapping their 51-match winning streak with a humiliating 4-0 triumph in the semi-finals.

The loss was highly controversial for the US as Solo was benched in favour of veteran Briana Scurry by then-coach Greg Ryan, who was promptly fired following the Americans’ third-place finish.

Solo, who made a number of comments suggesting that she should have started in net and would have made the saves, came up big for the Americans against the favoured Brazilians on Thursday.

Brazil controlled most of the possession but were unable to generate too many chances as the United States focused on keeping things tight early on.

Leading scorers Cristiane and Marta dazzled with the ball down the sidelines but could not get anything going down the middle of the field as the US forced long-distance shots or ambitious crosses from the wings which Solo was able to deal with.

Solo made the best save of the match in the 72nd minute when Marta worked herself free on the left side of the penalty area and fired a hard left-footed shot from close range that the US goalkeeper just got a right hand on before the ball was cleared away.

Angela Hucles had the Americans’ best chance in normal time, blasting a shot from 20 yards away that was stopped by Brazil’s sprawling goalkeeper Barbara in the 86th minute.

After the match went to extra time, Lloyd put the US on top as she received a pass on the left side of the 18-yard box and her left-footed shot beat Barbara and found the back of the net just inside the right post.

Brazil, who had 13 corner kicks in the game, supplied heavy pressure over most of the game’s final 24 minutes but attempted too many individual moves against multiple defenders to generate a clear opportunity.

With time winding down, Marta made a run down the right wing and delivered a dangerous cross into the box, but Solo was there to deflect the ball away from danger with oncoming Brazilian forwards in the area.

In the bronze-medal match, Fatmire Bajramaj scored a pair of goals as two-time defending World Cup champions Germany beat Japan, 2-0.

Bajramaj put Germany on top in the 69th minute, knocking home a rebound from a tough angle on the left side of the six-yard box. She scored again in the 87th minute to give the Germans some insurance.

Japan were denied their first-ever medal in the event, while Germany have now earned the bronze in three consecutive Olympics.

Pia Sundhage is still finding her way. Although she was about to board a flight Thursday to attend the NCAA Division I women’s soccer championship, the Swede wasn’t sure of her destination’s whereabouts.

“This country is big so I have to learn,” says the U.S. women’s national team’s first foreign coach, en route to College Station, Texas.

The Americans, however, have a lot to learn from Sundhage — the all-time leading scorer in Swedish national team history — and will get their first crash course. She’s only been in the country for a week and has scheduled a five-day training camp starting this weekend.

“It’s been absolutely wonderful. It helps that I’ve been around this game for so long,” says Sundhage, 47, who also served as a scout for the U.S. team (2004), coached the Boston Breakers of the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA, 2003), and most recently was an assistant coach for China (2007).

The minicamp marks the run-up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where the Americans hope to redeem themselves after a disappointing third-place finish at the 2007 World Cup.

First, they must get through the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Final Round qualifying tournament, being held April 2-13 in Chihuahua, Mexico. Two countries from the six-team tournament will advance.

U.S. players will gather Saturday through Wednesday at Home Depot Center outside Los Angeles to prepare for the Four Nations tournament in China next month.

“It will be nice to meet them face-to-face. I want them to know how I want to run the drills,” Sundhage says.

The 24-player minicamp roster includes 16 players from the World Cup squad. Goalkeepers Hope Solo and Briana Scurry, both of whom were at the center of a media firestorm at the World Cup that contributed to the firing of then-coach Greg Ryan, are on the roster, too.

“It is a little difficult to relive that. Mentally, I was full of all sorts of emotions,” Solo told AP, referring to her fiery comments after the U.S. lost 4-0 to Brazil in the semifinals when she was benched in favor of Scurry. “The World Cup was the only thing that kept me together after the death of my father (in June), kept me fighting and together and dedicated to the game.…

“I know I have some friendships to rebuild and teammates to rebuild relationships with. But there is nothing I can go back and do. Never did I intend to put down a teammate, and that is the thing that hurts the most. I always have respected and will respect Bri.”

Kristine Lilly, the 36-year-old captain who has yet to decide if she will retire, will not be at camp.

“I talked to people who know these players very well and got their input,” Sundhage says. “I have a little bit of a game plan where I find the right players.”

Some of those voices she’ll rely on include former national coaches April Heinrichs and Ryan.

“Pia is a fantastic person,” says Ryan, who was on Heinrichs’ 2004 Olympic staff. “I’m going to do anything I can to help her out as she gets started with the team. She’ll bring some great qualities and a different approach on and off the field. The players will probably thrive under Pia’s leadership.”

Sundhage, still putting together her staff, considers all roster spots open. She wants the team to take a more cerebral approach.

“You always want to run at people and score goals,” Sundhage says. “I want to tweak that a little bit and be smarter to find a better moment and a better chance.

“Attacking soccer is rhythm. You actually slow down the game a little bit. It takes a while. You have to be patient.”

“Decision-making is crucial if you want to keep your position.”

New coach selects both goalkeepers in preparation for Olympic qualifying

Goalkeepers Hope Solo and Briana Scurry, who were at the center of a World Cup firestorm, were invited to the U.S. women’s national team training camp by new coach Pia Sundhage.

The camp marks the beginning of the run to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The United States plays in the CONCACAF finals for Olympic qualifying April 2-13 in Chihuahua, Mexico. Two countries from the six-team tournament will advance to China.

It was in China where Solo was benched for the World Cup semifinals by then-coach Greg Ryan, who started veteran Scurry instead. The Americans played poorly, Scurry was beaten four times in a shutout loss to Brazil, and Solo bitterly criticized Ryan for the move.

Solo then was dismissed from the team, which won its third-place game.

Ryan subsequently was replaced by Sundhage, who invited 24 players to the training camp Dec. 8-12. The first games under Sundhage will be at the Four Nations Tournament in China early next year.

The minicamp roster features 16 players from the 2007 Women’s World Cup squad, along with seven players who recently finished their collegiate seasons. Defender Heather Mitts returns from a torn knee ligament last May that required surgery and caused her to miss the World Cup.

Longtime star and recent captain Kristine Lilly was not on the roster; Lilly has yet to decide if she will continue playing next year.

“It’s a short camp, but it will be valuable time spent together as a team and a unique moment for me to have a chance to work with the best players in the United States for the first time,” Sundhage said. “It will give us the chance to get to know them as players a little bit more, they’ll get the chance to learn my style and I’ll also get the chance to get to know them off the field. It will be a good start to something new.”

The roster:

GOALKEEPERS: Nicole Barnhart, Briana Scurry, Hope Solo.

DEFENDERS: Rachel Buehler, Marian Dalmy, Kate Markgraf, Heather Mitts, Christie Rampone, Cat Whitehill.
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