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Rapinoe on USWNT: ‘This sucks... We didn’t have that juice’

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Joe Prince-Wright and Andy Edwards look forward to the USWNT's Olympic ambitions and what we can expect from the reigning world champions in Tokyo.

The USWNT lost to Canada in the Olympics semifinals in a huge shock, as their quest for a Gold medal at Tokyo 2020 came up short.

[ MORE: Women’s Olympics hub, watch live info ]

At the final whistle in Kashima veteran USWNT star Megan Rapinoe was emotional, as were most of the U.S. squad, as Canada snuck a 1-0 win thanks to a late penalty kick awarded via VAR.

Canada hasn’t beaten the USWNT in 20 years and although the USWNT dominated large spells of the semifinal, their offense looked off just like it has throughout the whole tournament as they’ve failed to score in three of their five games.

Speaking to NBC Sports’ Marisa Pilla after the game, the USWNT superstar was asked to sum up her feelings as they prepare for a Bronze medal match instead of going for gold.

“It’s terrible,” Rapinoe said. “Obviously not our best game. Not our best tournament. We didn’t have it today. Too many errors from us. I felt like the space was there for us. We just couldn’t get into it.

“We never want to lose to Canada. I don’t think I’ve ever lost to Canada. Still a lot to compete for. That’s what I told the girls. It’s not the color we want but there’s still a medal on the line. It sucks.”

What was the biggest problem?

Scoring goals has been a big issue.

The USWNT had not been shutout in a game in four years heading into the Olympics and were 44 games unbeaten until they were hammered 3-0 by Sweden in their opening group game at Tokyo 2020.

That defeat set the tone for a lackluster Olympics, and Rapinoe did point to intense squad rotation (especially in attack) from head coach Vlatko Andonovski perhaps having a negative impact.

“I feel like we haven’t had our joy a little bit,” Rapinoe said. “It hasn’t flowed for us. it hasn’t been easy. We tried to find it. It’s not for lack of effort. It just didn’t click for us. I don’t know if it’s roster rotation but our roster’s deep as hell. We just didn’t have that juice that we normally do.

“Not even close to our best performances that I’ve seen over the years or even under Vlatko this year. We didn’t expect it to be easy. It’s all the best teams in the world and everything’s on the line. We couldn’t unlock it.”

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