Sweden ended the United States' 44-game unbeaten run with a 3-0 win in the Olympics group stage on Wednesday and Megan Rapinoe hailed them as one of the best European sides ever.
Strikes either side of the half-time whistle from Stina Blackstenius and a goal by Lina Hurtig proved the difference as Sweden claimed a famous triumph over their heavyweight rivals, who they defeated on penalties in the 2016 quarter-finals.
The world champions enjoyed a two-year spell without losing before the Group G opener but will quickly have to bounce back if they are to follow up their France 2019 success with Olympic gold.
Rapinoe found it hard to defend the USA's performance as she credited Sweden's hard-working display.
"We did not play a very good game and that is to take nothing away from Sweden, they played a great game," the attacking midfielder said after the match.
"This is the highest level and these are the best teams in the world. Sweden are one of the best ever in Europe and the world. If we don't play well we don’t win these games.
"We want to be a lot better, we played a bit tight and hurt ourselves a lot. You can't say one thing specifically.
"I can't remember the last time we gave up a goal, so to give up three is not great but we know what we need to do to win these games, get out of the group and go from there."
Head coach Vlatko Andonovski refused to panic and is keen to see a response against New Zealand on Saturday.
"It has put us in a big hole and we are the only ones who can get ourselves out of it," he said. "It is not going to be easy. We have to get good results in the next two games, but I know this team will not give up.
"I don’t remember this team losing 3-0 in recent history so it is a bit of a shock, but everyone is positive. We still have games ahead of us. We have got to bounce back. We have to forget this game and focus on the next one."
In contrast, Blackstenius, whose brace sealed a remarkable victory, spoke glowingly of her team, who were without Chelsea captain Magdalena Eriksson for the win.
"I'm very happy about the goals - of course I'm happy to score. The team helped me very much and I think I could have scored at least two more but I don't want to focus on that. I'm just happy and proud of the team", the forward said.
“We developed our game and our play. It's very good and we have so much quality in every player. Every player is also very different from the other. We have so many players that can do good stuff and as a team we are very good. Every player is very happy about going very attacking."
Hedvig Lindahl, though, maintained that Sweden's win was simply a starting point and that Peter Gerhardsson's side had not achieved what they had come to the Games for yet.
"It's just the first group game, we haven't won anything yet. We need to keep going," the veteran goalkeeper said. "If you have one high into lows in the group then this means nothing. But to win against the USA, it's something we can take some confidence from.
"You can go very far in a tournament even if you lose to the USA or whoever you play in the first game, so I don't know how much it means, but we showed the world and ourselves that we can play good against a team like the US and any team."
T&T's Head coach Eve believes Soca Warriors on path to success; urges support from local fans for next month's fixture
Well aware that many football enthusiasts are not fond of his leadership, Trinidad and Tobago’s Head Coach Angus Eve has encouraged the public’s continued support for the players, despite personal feelings of him.
Eve’s side recently secured two crucial victories over Curacao and El Salvador in their Concacaf Nations League campaign, and the strength of those performances has resulted in a climb up the latest FIFA World Rankings.
Trinidad and Tobago, who currently head Group A of League A on six points, jumped back into the top 100 on the world rankings after sometime away.
They will be aiming to make further inroads during the October window when they engage Guatemala and Curacao and Eve believes they deserve every bit of support.
“(The fans) may not come out and support Angus Eve because they may have an issue with Angus Eve, but let's support these players who are trying to do something positive for their country and nation. It's extremely important that people come out and support and understand that this is a new beginning,” Eve said at a media briefing recently.
"The campaign has started like a house on fire. It's a new beginning. There is a lot more work to be done, but we are well-placed and we have a good platform to build on.
"Our country is in a state where we're losing young people every day through violence and gun violence and to see young people do something positive for the country (is great). They go out and give their hearts to their country. It may be a case where we need to come out and support that," he added.
Given their current position, Eve knows that a win against Guatemala at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on October 13, would book Trinidad and Tobago a spot in the Concacaf Nations League quarter-finals where they will meet one of the four seeded Concacaf nations –Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico or the US.
As such, he stressed the significance of the 12th man to give players an extra lift when the time comes.
"Any team at home is dangerous. Some places don't think home advantage means anything, but we need to capitalise on home advantage and we need to capitalise on this start we have gotten. Hopefully, the fans will come out and celebrate these kids and push them forward so they can continue to achieve excellence,” the tactician said.
On that note, the 51-year-old Eve pointed out that though unexpected by many, the start to the Nations League is confirmation that his players are focused.
"We believe in ourselves and we believe that if we go out and do the work we can do, and match these teams' intensity, we can compete at this level,” he reasoned.
"Our first inclination would have been trying to stay in (Nations League) A, just like any team who (has been promoted) to the Premier League. We have to take it one game at a time. If we get a point, we are guaranteed a spot in the Nations League A. If we get three points, then who knows, the sky's the limit for us,” Eve ended.
Unai Emery urges Aston Villa to adapt quickly to demands of European football
Unai Emery insists Aston Villa must learn how to handle European football and refused to blame his changes after their sloppy 3-2 defeat at Legia Warsaw.
Ernest Muci’s second-half winner clinched a deserved victory for the hosts to ruin Villa’s Europa Conference League debut.
Jhon Duran and Lucas Digne twice levelled for the underwhelming visitors in the first half after Pawel Wszolek and Muci scored for Legia.
It ranked as one of the worst performances in Emery’s 11 months in charge, with the manager making five changes, including giving a debut to Barcelona loanee Clement Lenglet.
He said: “I believe in our squad and our players and we could have lost this game with other players on the pitch.
“Every match away in Europe is difficult and this is a new step where we have to learn.
“We still have the possibility to react again, we are going to play another five matches. It’s not a good result but we have to learn and have to understand how we’re going to face the next matches and this competition.
“We have to build the squad who will play a lot of matches and we will need players in the squad to give them opportunities to play, to use their qualities.
“In the second half we started well but in one click, we concede another opportunity and they score a goal.
“They had a plan, they did good and we couldn’t stop them in some moments.”
Legia struck after just two minutes in the Group E opener when Wszolek converted Patryk Kun’s cross.
Duran levelled four minutes later, though, nodding in after Kacper Tobiasz turned Nicolo Zaniolo’s drive onto the bar.
It should have given Villa a platform but a shoddy, slow, performance continued to undermine their tag as one of the tournament favourites.
Livewire Muci punished them again after 26 minutes when Villa were left floundering on the flanks and he fired in Wszolek’s centre.
But Villa came back, however undeserved, and Digne’s deflected volley ensured they went into the break level.
Parity did not last long, though, when Muci went sent running at Ezri Konsa and Calum Chambers, made fools of them both and found the net off a post.
This time there was no way back and Marc Gual almost added a fourth when Emi Martinez parried Bartosz Slisz’s shot and Chambers cleared.
Jacob Ramsey, Moussa Diaby and Youri Tielemans tried to find an unlikely leveller but victorious Legia held on.
“You should not underestimate the underdogs, Mostar will also be a hot game, a Balkan team with a lot of emotions,” said boss Kosta Runjaic, after Mostar beat AZ Alkmaar 4-3 in the other group game.
“It’s surprise for me but it’s also a surprise we won against Aston Villa, I’m happy about it, this three points in the first game are very important for us. We were lucky in some moments but you need luck.
“We will see how we do in the next game, we will face a very ugly Alkmaar in a couple of weeks.”
Jurgen Klopp plays down value of 50th European win after Liverpool beat LASK
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp played down his record-breaking 50th European win after the 3-1 victory over LASK in Austria.
His side came from behind for the fourth time in six matches as goals from Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and substitute Mohamed Salah secured the German’s 50th European victory for the club – surpassing the record he held with Rafael Benitez.
“Let me say it like this, if I still have 50 after the group stage, then even if I’ve still got the most wins in Europe as a Liverpool manager then everybody will hate that,” he said.
“The highest number of wins but everybody will hate it.
“So it’s nice – we have played a lot of games in Europe, but it is good we have won that many and we have frequently qualified for finals.
“No it’s great but probably because the competition now has so many more games than in the past.”
Klopp made 11 changes from the weekend win over Wolves and that contributed to the disjointed, sluggish start.
LASK, in the biggest game in their history, took full advantage as they flew out of the blocks and scored through Florian Flecker’s expertly taken strike from a well-rehearsed corner.
“Tough start, yes. Obviously the first shot on target after a set-piece and we conceded,” the Reds boss added.
“We had very good moments but I saw the boys didn’t feel that. It was not that we could gain confidence from our good moments – we didn’t seem to think we should do that again.
“So we suffered from the less good moments confidence-wise and frustration grew. It makes no sense. Human, but it makes no
sense anyway.
“We showed them (at half-time) two football situations from the first half where we did pretty well. The boys clearly thought there was nothing good in the first half but that was not true.
“We told them they had to get rid of the frustration getting back into the game again, and then we would have a good chance to turn it around, and that’s what we did eventually.
“I’m really, really happy because I said before I knew it would be really difficult, and it was difficult, even if people didn’t believe me. Well-deserved win in the end and that’s it.
“I know that people expect us to fly through this competition. In the group stage it will not happen, in the knockout it will not happen. We have to dig in, dig into it.”
LASK coach Thomas Sageder was disappointed they could not capitalise on their good start.
“We played very brave, we were aggressive and we had a chance to score the second goal but it was only 1-0 at half-time,” he said.
“In the second half we saw how good a team Liverpool were but we fought to the end.”
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