Sweden Recap

The U.S. Women's National Team traveled to Sweden for a nine-day training camp ahead of the Volvo Winners Cup, in which they faced Sweden on June 16 and Japan on June 18. The U.S. came away victorious, beating Sweden 3-1 and Japan 4-1.

The first game against Sweden was a bit sloppy and the 3-1 score line does not accurately tell the story of the match. The USWNT did not possess the ball well and were not connecting their passes. The back line looked unorganized and like a real weakness to this team. However, they were able to put away three goals. Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach both scored, which is a big positive from this game. This striker duo is the most lethal in women's soccer and will need to continue to be so for the USWNT to do well in the Olympics. Both goals were truly spectacular. Wambach hit a volley over the keeper from well outside the 30-yard box. Morgan out-ran and out-muscled the defense to impose her will to score. Tobin Heath also tallied one after coming off the bench. The USWNT has great depth in the midfield and Heath showed that in this game. Overall, not the best game for the U.S., but they still won and were able to score three goals.

The match against Japan was much more the team we are used to seeing. The U.S. was attacking and looked dangerous. They actually possessed the ball very well against a team known for their possession. Recently, the USWNT has looked slow at the beginning of their matches, but they were clicking right from the start of the whistle against Japan. Morgan scored in the 3rd minute off an assist from Heath and then in the 10th minute Wambach scored off an assist from Megan Rapinoe. Japan got one back in the 28th minute and the defense looked unstable during this play. Morgan got on the board again in the second half, which put the U.S. back to a comfortable lead, but head coach Pia Sundhage made an interesting substitution in the 81st minute. She took left-back Kelley O'Hara off to put forward Sydney Leroux on, which changed the formation from a 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3. This showed that the USWNT will not stop until the last second and will continue to push for goals. That is what they did and Wambach scored in the second minute of stoppage time. This is a confidence building result for the USWNT heading to London, since they had not beaten Japan in their last three attempts.

Another positive from the USWNT's trip to Sweden, the matches were televised. Universal Sports Network aired both matched on TV and live-streamed them. U.S. Soccer found a way to give their fans what they want and that is a chance to see their team play. It seems this was a last-minute effort from U.S. Soccer to get the games broadcasted because it was announced only three days before the first match that Universal Sports Network had picked the games up. The games being broadcasted and two wins add to the good momentum building towards the Olympic Games.