The USA women’s national team started the Olympics in Tokyo with a shocking 3-0 loss against Sweden, but midfielder Rose Lavelle insists that it was a “blessing”.
Since the defeat, USWNT came back stronger to defeat New Zealand 6-1 and continue their Olympic journey towards the desired gold. During the match, Lavelle opened the scoring within 10 minutes of the first whistle.
The United States was humiliated by Sweden / Brad Smith / ISI Photos / Getty Images
“I think the first game we knew was one of the things we are proud of [mentality] was missing a lot, Lavelle said at a press conference.
“I think we feel that even if the loss obviously sucks, it’s a bit of a blessing to get the loss early in the tournament and we know we have no room for error. It just gives the same energy we had against New Zealand and raise it even more and keep building and learning and getting ready for the next one. “
At the same press conference, the USA’s female national team coach Vlatko Andonovski expressed joy over the team’s turnover. He was pleased with their performance against New Zealand and hopes to keep pace with the upcoming match against Australia.
“The first day they responded well,” Andonovski said. “We are very happy with the job they did. Of course we came with the mindset to win, with the mindset to score goals and we achieved it but as soon as it [the win against New Zealand] happened we did not have time – or wanted – to celebrate because we wanted to focus on the next match and that has been our main focus since the game ended.
“In terms of the mentality, the players have done an incredible job of re-evaluating the mentality. They have done an incredible job of getting back to our roots, to who we are. Of course, I just do a little bit of that to remind them of what it is and what it is. can look like we are not prepared, if we are not mentally ready for the game. There are things we can do better. There are really small things I would like to see better. We have already addressed it. We have not had much time to work on it but hopefully we can do a little more today Monday. “
