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BRASILIA, Brazil -- It wasnt politically correct. But the first words out of Hope Solos mouth after an Olympic quarterfinal against Sweden were undeniably honest and entirely sincere in summing up a days frustrations.The United States dominated possession. It nearly quintupled Swedens shots. It had the first chance and the last chance in open play.The three-time reigning Olympic champion and current World Cup champion is also going home without an Olympic medal of any kind for the first time, eliminated by Sweden 4-3 in a penalty shootout after the teams played to a 1-1 stalemate over 120 minutes of soccer.Cue the goalkeeper who is rarely unwilling to speak her mind, in this case about a team that set out to defend to the last woman.I thought that we played a courageous game, Solo said. I thought that we had many opportunities on goal. I think we showed a lot of heart. We came back from a goal down; Im very proud of this team. I also think we played a bunch of cowards. But, you know, the best team did not win today; I strongly, firmly believe that. I think you saw Americas heart. You saw us give everything that we had today.Unfortunately the better team didnt win.The better team, yes. Almost undeniably. But not the team that best executed its assignment on this day.Which perfectly encapsulates the frustration, if it doesnt excuse the sentiment more suited to a sport with judges. Pragmatism is style in soccer.The United States knew this was coming. Coach Jill Ellis, who rarely shows her hand in the days leading up to games, didnt even offer the pretense evasiveness the day before this one. She used to work for Pia Sundhage, the coach who went home to Sweden after taking the United States to two Olympic gold medals. She knew Sundhage would be pragmatic, especially when it came to the United States. Everyone knew.The United States began Fridays game with a scoreless drought of more than 200 minutes against Sweden, including a scoreless World Cup draw a year ago in Canada. U.S. wunderkind Mallory Pugh was barely in high school the last time the Americans scored against a Swedish team.Sweden is not a minnow in womens soccer, not with players like Lotta Schelin and Caroline Seger. But Sweden and its coach are also not novices ready to run pell-mell into the breach. Certainly not after they were exposed by Brazil earlier in this tournament in a 5-1 loss.They had to do what they had to do, said Carli Lloyd, more measured than her teammate. They had to sit back. They sat back as we expected them to do. They werent confident in their abilities to open up because they opened up against Brazil, and the score sheet was not so great. So yeah, they sat back, they waited for that one moment to counterattack.That moment came in the 61st minute, not as some lumbering stroke of luck, but as the product of some nice interplay around midfield, short passes that set up an open look at a long ball toward Stina Blackstenius. The Swedish player got inside U.S. defender Julie Johnston, gathered the ball and beat Solo with a quality shot to the far post.It was fortunate, but it wasnt lucky. No luckier than the long balls Leicester City sent to Jamie Vardy en route to a Premier League title last season. Soaking up possession and hitting back with a lightning bolt is all the rage.The thing is, while the Swedes were committed and organized in their defending to the end, they werent exactly stopping the Americans in their tracks. The United States didnt play poorly. It wasnt precise enough. It didnt finish well enough; at least one missed chance likely will haunt each of the attacking players who were on the field. Maybe Crystal Dunn could have come on sooner. Maybe the gamble on Megan Rapinoe, a sub who had to be subbed when the game went to overtime, didnt work out. But the United States moved the ball. It had ample opportunity to deliver crosses into the box, to let Pugh slip into space in the middle of the field and play in Morgan, to set up set pieces.It has played worse and won on many occasions.Inside 18 yards, when theres 20 people in the box, it is tough, Ellis said. I dont care what level you play. It is really hard for an organized attack to break down an organized defense. Its really, really hard. So we knew we had a massive challenge. But in terms of what we tried to do, and how we tried to play, I actually thought today [was as well as the team had played] -- especially the first half, for sure, and part of the second half. We tried to play.The U.S. equalizer came in the 77th minute, and more luck was involved in it than in the Swedish goal. Before Alex Morgan could slide home the goal with a composed finish, the ball first had to reach her by way of a ricochet off a Swedish players head after a Dunn header.Surely that was the breakthrough, as a late goal has so often been in major tournaments, and especially those since 2011. But as much as the U.S. women pressed in the final 13 minutes, Dunns presence adding a different energy to the attack, the only ball that found the back of the net was Lloyds header that was incorrectly negated for offside (as was a Schelin goal seconds later).I felt like we were going to score again and win within regular time, Morgan said. But the time just kept going on, and they kept defending well. It never went in the back of the net. I was really optimistic. I didnt even anticipate it going into penalties, either. But it just wasnt our day today.Unfortunately, that means it was the last day in a major tournament until the 2019 World Cup, qualification willing.In the end, the real frustration wasnt from what Sweden did, but what the United States couldnt do to finish what it started -- what it started Friday, and what it started with the World Cup title a year ago.Even just a few minutes more removed from the field, at the end of the questioning that began with her harshest words, Solo modified her stance ever so slightly when asked if it would be acceptable for some teams to play the way Sweden played.Youve got to take your hat off to them because they beat us, Solo said. So theyre going on, like I said, and were going home. They dont have as quality of players as the American team does or as Brazil does, so they have to play a way thats going to give them hope to beat a team like Brazil or the USA. And I think thats part of the tactical side of things. And Pia is somewhat of a tactician, so she dropped her team into a 50 and tried to hit long balls. They could only really score on the opportunity for a long ball or on set pieces.So I guess you can say its smart, but I dont think its respectful to the game.But no matter how strongly some feel otherwise, nowhere more than in the U.S., where the game is part athletics and part art, the game also is set up to produce an outcome.Solos words were a reflection of the frustration inherent in that.What they missed is that Sweden showed its heart, too, right down to Lisa Dahlkvists clincher in the shootout that beat Solo after the keeper delayed the proceedings to fix what she said was a faulty strap on her glove.It would be hard to eliminate the United States without courage.It might well have been a different outcome on another day. Maybe most days. Just not this day. Custom NHL Jerseys . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. Winchester, who was not penalized for the hit, appeared to make contact with Kellys head early in the first period of Thursdays game in Boston. Wholesale NHL Jerseys China . It was hard for Luck to pull off another comeback, or even get into the end zone, while standing on the sideline. Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. https://www.chinanhljerseys.us/ .C. -- Al Jefferson joked that he feels he can score from anywhere on the court. Discount NHL Jerseys . He was followed closely by David Clarkson, donning red, seconds later. Clarksons actions one night earlier, leaping off the bench in defence of Kessel during a pre-season game against the Buffalo Sabres, will cost him the first 10 games of the regular season. Fake NHL Jerseys . There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. MEXICO CITY, Mexico -- Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says he would support his former colleague Ross Brawn returning to Formula One in a rule-making position.In a recent interview with the Daily Telegraph, Brawn said he would consider coming back to the sport at the top level if he was given a three- to five-year window for change. The idea was first put forward publically by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner last year and gained momentum earlier this season when F1 was struggling to finalise its new rules for 2017.Brawns last position in the sport was as Mercedes team principal, but he was edged out of the role by the arrival of Wolff, Mercedes chairman Niki Lauda and current technical boss Paddy Lowe. In his recently published book, Total Competition, Brawn wrote that he could not trust Wolff and Lauda and decided to leave following the appointment of Lowe in 2013.Despite Brawns recent comments, Wolff insists the relationship is still good with his former colleague and said he would happily welcome him back to F1.First of all, there was a lot of controversy around the book he has written, but ssuccess and transition is never easy and it is a delicate matter, Wolff said.ddddddddddddSo for me this is no problem and actually we have been in touch and he has said some quite nice things about us not dropping the ball, and the relationship is intact.Ross is hugely experienced and has the right personality and technical knowledge to potentially play a big part in Formula One going forward. He has been there forever and he has the right distance from being away for a couple of years. If I need to underwrite Ross coming back in a leadership function in Formula One, then he has my vote.Brawn was the architect behind Mercedes current success in Formula One after the German manufacturer took over Brawn GP in 2010. Prior to winning the title with Brawn GP, the 61-year-old engineer had been central to Michael Schumachers success at Ferrari and Benetton. The most recent round of speculation about his future in F1 coincides with the release of his first book this month. ' ' '