As the USWNT looks ahead to their game against New Zealand and holds their own opening ceremony, midfielder Lindsey Horan has said that the team’s 3-0 loss to Sweden left them “pissed off.”
She then added that “the mentality wasn’t there” to win the game.
Largely considered to be gold medal favorites, the path to get there has gotten more difficult following Wednesday’s loss.
Megan Rapinoe was blunt, saying the team got their “asses kicked.” On Friday, Horan said in a news conference that while Sweden executed their game plan well, the US team has a lot they can improve upon moving forward.
“I think every single player in the field feels like they could’ve done more or they could’ve changed certain mistakes they made or certain decisions they made,” she said. “That falls on every single one of us.
“I think it’s great that we can now look back on playing against such an incredible team like Sweden — one of the best in the world now — and take away every single mistake and decision we made there and look towards this game and what we can do more.”
Head coach Vlatko Andonovski said the team has already turned their focus on New Zealand, who lost 2-1 to Australia.
“We’re already in the game mode,” he said. “We already have had our game-plan preparation today, and we’re preparing for the game tomorrow. As bad as it was last game, we don’t have too much time to think about it.
“We have to turn our focus to the next game, and we have to win the game.”