It doesn't matter that the U.S. women's soccer team is clearly one of the best — if not the best — in the world. It doesn't matter that the Americans have outscored their opponents by a combined score of 31-0 in Olympics qualifying.
All that truly matters is one game. At least when it comes to getting a trip to London.
The setup of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament puts the onus on today's semifinals — United States vs. Costa Rica and Canada vs. Mexico. The winners are Olympics-bound. The losers are not. Surely there must be a better way.
"We are one of the best teams in the world," U.S. forward Abby Wambach said Thursday. "And if we don't qualify straightaway from our region, there's something wrong. And it might not be the team, it might be the system that's in place."
It's a setup that can certainly go haywire. Roger Clemens was hoping to join the U.S. baseball team and pitch in the 2004 Olympics, but he never had the chance because the Americans didn't qualify. They had one bad day — a loss in a single-elimination quarterfinal against Mexico — and soon the national pastime was out of the Summer Games altogether.
Fourteen months ago, the U.S. women's soccer team lost a semifinal qualifying game to Mexico for a World Cup berth. At least that time there was a backdoor way in — a home-and-away playoff with Italy to get the last spot available. There's no backup plan this time. Everything rides on today's games.
The Americans are heavy favorites. They've beaten Costa Rica every time they've played, outscoring Las Ticas 34-0 in seven meetings.
"All of us are focused," U.S. coach Pia Sundhage said. "And we learned a lesson. You can imagine a team that is winning so much — they did since '91 — it is sometimes a challenge not to take things for granted."
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement