It feels a little bit like 2016 all over again. Oh, sure, some of the principals have moved on, but the feelings engendered by the United States’ loss to Sweden in the quarterfinals of the Rio Olympics bubbled not too far below the surface as the teams prepared to face each other Thursday in the Women’s World Cup.
Players on both sides remember how that game ended, with Hope Solo, the now-former U.S. goalkeeper, calling the Swedes “a bunch of cowards” for a conservative strategy of sitting back and hoping to strike on a counterattack. It worked, yielding a shootout win for Sweden.