LINKOPING, Sweden — When Pia Sundhage left the United States women’s soccer team in 2012 to become the coach of Sweden’s national team, U.S. Soccer’s news release said she was “returning home” to pursue opportunities. Most news media reports highlighted how she could not turn down the opportunity to lead her homeland’s team. Even Sundhage mentioned this notion of a homecoming to the American players when she told them the news, before serenading them with “Leaving on a Jet Plane.”
But home is a relative concept to Sundhage. Yes, she was born in Sweden. Yes, she is now coaching in Sweden.