Flying elbows and lots of fun

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This article was published 13/06/2015 (4081 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s well and good to end these games with a “handshake for peace” as the trite little sign they trot out onto the pitch reads, but thank the soccer gods for finally bringing in some heat Friday.

Missed fouls, flying elbows, colliding skulls and an energized crowd made for a fantastic day of soccer and set the stage for heightened action when the games resume early next week.

Nothing is decided and all eight teams that will see action in Winnipeg during the qualifying round remain eligible to move on. Group of Death? Right now it’s the Group of Life. Hope springs eternal in Winnipeg, don’t you know?

Intrigue

Monday’s matches at Investors Group Field were solid, but Friday’s finally had some juice. Intrigue, anger and yes, more than a little violence left the 32,716 in attendance wanting more.

Edmonton may have gotten Team Canada for its opening round of games, but Winnipeg got the best grouping of teams, including three former World Cup champions in Germany, Japan and the U.S.

Winnipeg is also host to five of the world’s top 10 teams in the city’s set of seven games and the matches are becoming more important and being contested in anger.

Friday’s marque matchup between Sweden and the U.S. had three days to marinate in a sweaty week in our prairie town and the media started spitting hot darts.

Swedish coach Pia Sundhage is considered the best in the women’s game, mostly for her time at the helm of Team USA, where she led the Yanks to a pair of Olympic gold medals. She’s also a master of the mind games and she poked at American superstar Abby Wambach and her new coach Jill Ellis earlier in the week, saying if she was still coaching the U.S., the aging sniper would now be a sub.

When news broke out of the U.S. camp early Friday Wambach would indeed be left off the starting lineup (she entered the game late in the second half) there was lots of tongue wagging among the assembled media. Did Sundhage goad Ellis, who most certainly lives in the shadow of her predecessor, into making the switch? Would the legendary Wambach pout?

Chastising

The Americans also awoke to headlines in USA Today chastising USA Soccer and comparing goalie Hope Solo, still facing a charge of domestic abuse after an incident left her sister and nephew battered, to NFL pariah Ray Rice.

“The renowned U.S. women’s national soccer team, which has historically stood for what is best in sports, and the best of us, is now protecting — even promoting — an alleged domestic abuser,” wrote Christine Brennan.

When Solo punched a ball out of a crowd in Friday’s 0-0 draw with Sweden, there were more than a few snide remarks in the pressbox.

Sundhage now owns a record of one win and two draws against Ellis-led U.S. teams since returning to her native Sweden.

After the game, when quizzed about potentially facing the mighty Germans later in the tournament, and if she feared the world No. 1 squad, Sundhage let her personality shine through.

“I don’t do fear,” she said with a chuckle. “It’s not my cup of tea.”

Sundhage drew up a sharp defensive plan for the U.S. Friday, keeping as many as nine players back at times.

Sundhage drew up a sharp defensive plan for the U.S. keeping as many as nine players back at times.

Nigeria fell 2-0 to the Australians in the opener on a pair of goals from Kyah Simon. The match featured a vicious elbow when Nigeria’s Ugo Njoku levelled Samantha Kerr and left her sprawled on the turn.

Nigerian coach Edwin Okun said the blow was not deliberate but it was hard to read it as anything else watching replays.

Okun was incensed when extra time was announced as four minutes over the loudspeaker and then inexplicably whistled down and game over less than a minute later. The coach hopped up and down on the pitch and initially didn’t want to shake hands with the Aussie team and coaches.

Referee Sachiko Yamagishi missed a pair of clear fouls early in the game, a tackle by Sweden’s Nilla Fischer on American Christen Press that should have resulted in a penalty kick and a handball in the box by Sydney Leroux.

The Swedes held a territorial edge early but the U.S. pushed late in the game but neither Solo or her Swedish counterpart Hedvig Lindahl could be beaten.

Two games of soccer, two goals and only one winner on the day isn’t a postscript for a day of action. But it was lively and pushy and tense. It lived up to the hype.

Bring on Monday. Winnipeg, and the world, want so see what happens next.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @garylawless