US women look ahead to Olympics

Associated Press

FRANKFURT, Germany

Once the Americans get over the disappointment of coming up just short at the Women’s World Cup, they’ll find plenty of reasons for optimism.

The U.S. team pulled together amid a series of challenges that, just a few years ago, would have broken it apart. And while the careers of captain Christie Rampone, Shannon Boxx and maybe Abby Wambach are nearing their end, Lauren Cheney, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe proved in Germany they are more than able successors.

There’s also another major title to be won at next summer’s London Olympics, and qualifying starts in just a few months.

“It’s just unfortunate, just a bummer,” Carli Lloyd said after the Americans lost to Japan on Sunday night, losing 3-1 in penalty kicks after twice blowing leads in a 2-2 tie. “But there’s another World Cup in four years.”

For some. The majority of the team will remain intact through London, but Rampone (36) and Boxx (34) are likely to call it quits after that. Wambach said it’s too early to say what she’ll do, but she is 31, and her body is showing the wear and tear from the fearless playing style that has earned her third place on the all-time World Cup scoring list with 13 goals.

Part of what has always made the U.S. so strong is the smooth transition from one generation to another, and the U.S. might have its most promise since the days of Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain.

Solo, winner of the Golden Glove as the tournament’s top goalkeeper, is in the prime of her career at 29. Morgan and Cheney, both just 22, each finished the tournament with two goals. Cheney also had three assists while Morgan had one. Rapinoe displayed the accuracy and touch on the flanks so critical in coach Pia Sundhage’s desire for a possession-based offense, and has the energy to shoulder the burden of being the face of the team behind Wambach.

That’s not to say there aren’t issues. As entertaining as they may be, the Americans have been making things harder on themselves than they need to be for almost a year now.

They were upset by Mexico in regional qualifying, forced to beat Italy in a playoff to get the very last spot in Germany. They dropped their first game of the season, to Sweden, then lost to England for the first time in 22 years. After winning their first two games in Germany handily, they lost to Sweden, the first U.S. loss ever in World Cup group play.

Sundhage wants the U.S. to play a possession-oriented style similar to the one Japan and France worked to near perfection in Germany, saying the traditional American gameplan of grinding opponents down on defense and sending long balls up to the forwards is too predictable.

The style also helps on defense. Opponents can’t score when the Americans are keeping the ball for large chunks of the game.

“I think of it as a nice hybrid of the way the U.S. national team used to play and the way that the game is evolving into much like the men’s game, a possession, Barcelona-esque style,” Wambach said. “It hasn’t been without troubles. It’s sometimes gotten the best of us because we have some players, like myself, who are old school and like to get the ball in a more physical, direct style. And when things aren’t going well, I like to go back to what I know.”

But they were done in by an inability to finish that’s plagued them all year long. If the Americans had converted only a handful of the chances they squandered, that Brazil thriller wouldn’t have been nearly as dramatic and they, not the Japanese, would have been celebrating Sunday.

“I don’t blame anybody,” Wambach said. “We had so many chances.”