Rapinoe reacts after USWNT's poor start to Olympic campaign

The United States women’s national team didn’t look like a contender to win the gold medal in their opener in the women’s Olympic tournament. The USWNT lost 3-0 against Sweden in their first game in Group G and saw their 44-match unbeaten record come to an end on Wednesday.

USWNT looked lost and confused

Stina Blackstenius scored a brace and Lina Hurtig sealed the victory for the Sweden women’s national team to obtain the three points and top the group. After the game the veteran USWNT striker, Megan Rapinoe, said that there was ‘no time to dwell.’

“It is what it is. We got bopped,” said Rapinoe after the game. “We got our asses kicked, didn’t we? I thought we were a little tight, a little nervous, just doing dumb stuff,” she added

The United States women’s national team has won four gold medals and they have more than any other country in the history of the Olympic games. They want to follow up their 2019 FIFA World Cup title with gold, but they have a long way to go after looking confused in their debut.

“It’s obvious we put ourselves in a big hole, but we’re the only ones who can get ourselves out of it,” USWNT Vlatko Andonovski said. “It’s not going to be easy. We’ve got to get positive results in the next two games, but the fact there is still a chance [means] I know this team is not going to give up.”

The United States women’s national team will have to turn the page quickly because they will face New Zealand on Saturday and Australia on 27 July in their final game in the group stage. The coach of the USWNT has little time to fix the defensive problems and change their mentality in order to book their ticket to the quarter-finals.