Kashima, Japan — The United States has done what it takes to move forward at the Tokyo Olympics. It wasn’t the aggressive Jaguar notebook of high-flying cars that Americans were famous for.
After a 0-0 draw with Australia on Tuesday, American women, with the exception of a group of Japanese schoolchildren, advanced to the quarterfinals of women’s soccer tournaments, mostly in empty stadiums.
Americans are about to win their fifth Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. They also aim to be the first team to win the Olympics following the World Cup title.
But they afflicted themselves at the Tokyo Olympics. They lost to Sweden 3-0 in the opening round, scoring 44 undefeated streak wins and then rebounding 6-1 against New Zealand.
In the draw with Australia, the United States came in second in Group G after Sweden by goal difference. Americans will face Group F’s top finisher Netherlands in Yokohama on Friday. This game is a rematch of the 2019 World Cup final, where the United States won 2-0.
“It is a tactical decision to allow (Director Vratko Andnovsky) to shift defensively, shift a little more conservatively, really impatient, play together and return it to us. “I did,” said US forward Alex Morgan. “In the end, it feels like both teams are sitting. Playing a professional game and moving on was a problem.”
The United States has made five lineup changes since its last match against New Zealand, which was not unexpected given the tight competition schedule. Morgan has replaced Carli Lloyd and Megan Rapinoe has replaced Tobin Heath. Captain Becky Sourbrunn and Defender Kelli O’Hara have also returned to the starting lineup.
Morgan left early in the match, but her hard shot was stopped by Australian goalkeeper Teagan Micah.
Morgan’s header was not allowed offside in the 30th minute. This call was confirmed in a video review. The United States also had four goals called back for offside in the first half of the victory over New Zealand.
Overall, Americans once again looked out of kind. Australia controlled ownership for most of the game. Megan Rapinoe’s free kick on the 57th failed O’Hara’s pass and Morgan’s shot went beyond the goal, but the Americans were offside again.
“In this game, the idea was that the first goal was to win the game and the second goal was to have good professional performance and not be scored,” Andnovsky said. Told. “Obviously we didn’t achieve the first one, but we did the second one. It was very important because we finally put us in the same place.”
Australia lost to Sweden 4-2 after defeating New Zealand in the opening round.
Australia coach Tony Gustavsson said it was clear from the beginning that the United States would change its tactics based on its formation.
“From our point of view, what I’m happy about is that I felt controlled at many moments in the game, with or without the ball, and I like it.” Gustafsson said. “After the Swedish match, I was asked how to approach the US match,” “We will be loyal to who we are, and hopefully our A game. That’s enough to play. “
Australia replaced Caitlin Foord with Mary Fowler and made late changes to the starting lineup. Foord had a leg problem during the warm-up and decided to offer her as a precautionary measure.
Approximately 67,000 children from schools around Kashima, a coastal town, participated in the game, and some had signs. They politely applauded when Rapinoe took off in the second half and when she passed by.
Matildas will also advance as the group’s third-place winner and will face Britain in the quarterfinals at Kashima on Friday.
Gustafsson and his coach staff were watching the second half of the match in Kashima between Canada and England in anticipation of the match in the knockout round. Britain took the lead in Group E with a one-on-one draw with the Canadians.
Twelve teams participated in the tournament, and the top two players from each of the three groups advanced to the knockout stage with the top two third-place winners.
Ann M. Peterson