USA stunned as Olympic women's football tournament gets underway

Xinhua
21 Jul 2021, 21:35 GMT+10

US women's football team suffered a 3-0 defeat to Sweden in their Tokyo Olympics opening game.

TOKYO, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Title favorite the United States was stunned 3-0 by Sweden as the women's football tournament of the Tokyo Olympics kicked off on Wednesday.

The world champion is seeking revenge against Sweden for its defeat in the quarterfinals five years ago at the Rio Olympics. But the Swedish side made full use of their advantage in the air in all three goals. Two goals from Stina Blackstenius and one from substitute Lina Hurtig handed Sweden a convincing victory.

U.S. head coach Vlatko Andonovski said the defeat was unexcepted but admitted that his team was outperformed by Sweden in many aspects.

"We have put ourselves in a big hole and we could only be the ones to get ourselves out of it," he told a post-match press conference. "We will have to get positive results in the next two games, it's not going to be easy but there's still a chance and I know this team is not going to give up."

In the other match of Group G, Australia scored two first-half goals to beat New Zealand 2-1.

In Group F, both Brazil and the Netherlands claimed landslide victories against their respective opponents. Legendary striker Marta scored twice to help Brazil ease past China 5-0, while World Cup runner-up the Netherlands crushed Zambia 10-3.

In Group E, striker Ellen White scored a brace as Britain defeated Chile 2-0, while host Japan salvaged a late goal against Canada to tie 1-1.

Watch latest videos

News RELEASES

Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Australian Herald.

More Information

null in null

International

Section

Trump hints at DOGE investigation of Musk subsidies

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed Elon Musk's success has been built on government subsidies. Without...

Native leaders, activists oppose detention site on Florida wetlands

EVERGLADES, Florida: Over the weekend, a diverse coalition of environmental activists, Native American leaders, and residents gathered...

Beijing crowds cheer AI-powered robots over real soccer players

BEIJING, China: China's national soccer team may struggle to stir excitement, but its humanoid robots are drawing cheers — and not...

COVID-19 source still unknown, says WHO panel

]LONDON, U.K.: A World Health Organization (WHO) expert group investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic released its final...

Fox faces $787 million lawsuit from Newsom over Trump phone call

DOVER, Delaware: California Governor Gavin Newsom has taken legal aim at Fox News, accusing the network of deliberately distorting...

DeepSeek faces app store ban in Germany over data transfer fears

FRANKFURT, Germany: Germany has become the latest country to challenge Chinese AI firm DeepSeek over its data practices, as pressure...

Sydney

Section