Following 0-0 draw with Sweden, U.S. women will need to step up play
WINNIPEG, Manitoba – It is just as well that they don't award style points in soccer because the United States' 0-0 draw with Sweden on Friday wasn't pretty, exciting or blessed with the kind of verve you would like to see from an aspiring World Cup champion.
And it didn't matter.
While the U.S. struggled to impress and had the leaping head of diminutive left-back Meghan Klingenberg to thank for avoiding defeat on Friday, their potential run at the title remained firmly on track.
Never mind that as a spectacle, for the first hour at least, this was about as much fun as Mayweather-Pacquiao, although at least it didn't set television viewers back nearly a hundred bucks or those in the arena thousands.
Never mind that the U.S. will need and expect to play far better as it looks toward the latter stages of the tournament. Never mind that goalless draws match drying paint in the must-see stakes.
This was job done on an evening when averting catastrophe was the main objective. Forget about the hype that this was supposed to be the primary slugfest in the Group of Death, a fierce clash between two historic rivals. Former U.S. and current Sweden coach Pia Sundhage fired off in the media. U.S. captain Carli Lloyd vowed vengeance. The Americans were still fired up about losing in 2011. Sweden had it all to play for.
Supposedly.
The U.S. would have probably just about won this on the judges' scorecards, except they don't have need for such things in soccer. That's what goals are for, though you wouldn't have known it from witnessing this.
Not only were there no goals scored, but neither goalkeeper was legitimately threatened until things finally opened up in the closing stages. Both sides should probably have had a penalty kick awarded in their favor in the first half. Neither could claim in decisively deserved more than a point.
And so it sometimes goes. The way World Cup group matches play out are so often a product of necessity, a melting pot of conflicting interests of desperation or resiliency.
This was one of those where, given that a draw was a perfectly acceptable result for both teams, what you saw it what you got.
For Sweden, the risk that throwing players forward in search of a victory would have entailed would have opened up more space at the back and made them more prone to examination from the Americans.
And this was just fine for the U.S. too, one point leaving it top of Group D and meaning that victory over Nigeria in Vancouver on Tuesday will guarantee first place in Group D and a favorable place in the knockout bracket.
Head coach Jill Ellis put on a trio of forwards late on, with Abby Wambach, Amy Rodriguez and Alex Morgan all offering fresh legs, but more the majority of the contest the Americans were also circumspect and somewhat cautious.
Wambach offered enough aerial threat in her brief cameo at the end to suggest that might be the best use for her, while Morgan must surely be edging closer toward a state of fitness where she can start and go a full 90 minutes in the knockout stages.
Sometimes a draw is major setback, sometimes it is a lift for morale. Sometimes it is neither, just an obstacle negotiated and a chance to move on.
Sure, Ellis and her crew would have preferred a position where only a draw was needed against Nigeria to top the group but if the U.S. can't rack up a comfortable win against the African champions it has no right calling itself a meaningful challenger for the title.
Being top of the group with only your weakest opponent left to play is a position that any team would love to be in. Without unfurling anything like their A-game, the U.S. is marching on, in its own way.