Tales of the Tournaments

August 6, 2023

Sweden vs. USWNT

Sofia Jakobsson was, to put it mildly, bored.

Well. That wasn't all she was at the moment.

She was angry. And frustrated. And had been sitting on the bench for nearly an hour, half-watching as nothing got done.

"Why doesn't Coach want to put me in?" she had asked Caro, who raised her eyebrows.

"Do you really want to start? Potentially against your lillasyster?"

"What's the likelihood she gets the start?" Sofia asked, and Caro shrugged.

"We'll see, won't we? But do you want to risk it?"

Sighing, Sofia had shaken her head. "I'll be good, Caro."

"There's my girl. I'm sure you'll be off the bench at some point."

Sofia had nodded, then, and obediently sat down next to Caro with the other substitutes, on the Swedish bench. 

Where she'd now been for the entire first half. It was boring, and she'd been daydreaming of all the things she'd still like to do here with her lillasyster. I'll ask Caro if we can keep AT, if we win, she thought, though part of her knew it was impossible.

Then she heard a shriek, amplified by the scream of the ref's whistle across the field, jerking Sofia out of a nice daydream about walking on the beach with AT, having ice cream and watching the seagulls. 

Her gaze snapped to where the ref stood. 

All thoughts of pleasant daydreams vanished. "Jonna?" she yelped, starting to stand until Caro pulled her back. 

"Yes, Jonna," Caro said grimly, "and I'll have to deal with her later."

"What did Jonna do?" Sofia protested. "Look, she's bleeding!"

Caro silently pointed to the replay, and Sofia watched in horror as Jonna latched onto Trinity Rodman from behind, getting an elbow to the face for her trouble. "She should have been carded for that - both of them should have," Sofia added, mouth open.

"And yet they weren't," Caro remarked. "Maybe the ref thought they cancelled each other out."

"What do you think?" Sofia asked.

"I think for now, it's Kosse's business, but I'm keeping an eye on it just in case," Caro replied. "I'll speak to her after we're done, at least."

Sofia nodded. 

When the whistle blew for halftime, she went to check on Jonna. "Are you alright?" she asked the younger girl, and Jonna grimaced.

"It's not bleeding anymore, but Kosse looks ready to take my head off."

"She won't," Sofia promised, giving Jonna a quick hug. "I need to go check on my lillasyster."

"Fraternising with the enemy?" Jonna raised an eyebrow.

Sofia snorted. "She's not the enemy, she's AT," she replied matter-of-factly, and Jonna nodded.

"I know. Alright, go on, I'll just...stay out of Kosse's way until she decides not to kill me."

"Good luck with that." Sofia slipped away, heading across the tunnel to the American side.

She hadn't expected to be immediately confronted by Kelley O'Hara, but the feisty American defender, one and a half years her senior, seemed intent on showing Sofia her place. Luckily Alex Morgan stepped in, and so she could focus on AT, as she had meant to do. 

Still, halftime wasn't nearly enough time to spend with AT, especially as time ticked down to the match's inevitable conclusion - as the announcers kept making clear, one of them would be leaving tomorrow.

Leaving the other behind.

Heading back to the bench for the second half, Sofia tried to come up with a plan. 

If the Americans won, she would respectfully ask Alex if she could have some time with AT during the party. If Alex didn't invite her right out, anyway, being her San Diego captain and one of the members of the Preath extended family.

If the Swedes won, she would approach Alex for permission to invite AT to their side. She was well aware, of course, that Alyssa was on notice, with the promise of a serious punishment looming whenever she inevitably went home.

If that was tomorrow, surely Alex wouldn't object to AT being allowed one last night of fun to soothe her nerves, one last bright spot before the reckoning started. Even if it was just for a short while, she hoped Alex would agree.

The second half started fairly well, with the US and Sweden still on relatively equal footing.

Then, just a few minutes in, a move from Kosse swept Julie Ertz' legs from under her.

The blonde American star went down, and Sofia saw a struggle at the American bench - she could just hear AT's shriek of Tia JJ! and see the teen's tries to get off the bench and go to her Angel City teammate, but the scuffle didn't last long, and Julie was soon on her feet again anyway, exchanging friendly smiles with Kosse.

Still, Kosse was shown the yellow card.

It was over half an hour before Sofia was called off the bench, having to watch the two sides battle back and forth without being able to make a difference. She took off her warmup top, leaving the jersey underneath, and swapped places with Johanna Kaneryd. Beside her, Lina Hurtig was coming on for Kosse, who sat down next to Caro on the bench, in the spot Sofia had vacated.

It was the eighty-second minute. Sofia could only just imagine what sort of conversations Caro would be having with Kosse on the bench, but right now that didn't matter.

Right now the match mattered. She dove right in, and after only a couple minutes, she got the chance to make a shot on goal, when Stina of all people passed the ball to her.

She lined up the kick and arced it right toward the goal - into Alyssa Naeher's hands.

Sofia didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It would have been a perfect shot, if only her lillasyster's Big Alyssa hadn't anticipated it.

So they were still scoreless, as the second half limped toward its close.

On the other hand, she supposed AT couldn't feel any more discouraged than she surely would if Sofia had been the one to pull Sweden ahead and break the deadlock.

Sofia noticed Stina elbowing the USWNT's Sophia Smith out of her way, and knocking the younger girl -only a couple years older than AT - to the ground. While Sophia was back on her feet again before long, it wasn't long enough for Stina, Sophia, or anyone else to make a difference for their teams.

The end of the second half was whistled for, and that meant extra time.

It was only a few minutes into extra time when Filippa Angeldahl went down, knocked down by the USWNT's Andi Sullivan. 

Sullivan wasn't carded, but Sofia figured she'd be dealt with, anyway, and lingered nearby as Filippa was given medical attention. The twenty-six-year-old midfielder was practically a child compared to some of their teammates, fourth youngest on the team, and Sofia felt anxious about her teammate.

In the end, Filippa was subbed off in favor of Hanna Bennison.

"Great, let's bring the infant on," Sofia muttered, which wasn't quite fair, but at twenty, Hanna was one of the team youngests. She did seem to have found more than her share of trouble lately. Was it too much to ask for her to behave in this match? 

The one comfort Sofia had on that count was that there really couldn't be much left to this match. The only other trouble Sweden had was when Stina Blackstenius was brought down by two USWNT players at once, one of them Emily Sonnett.

"She played in Sweden, she should know better," Sofia fumed to herself, shaking her head  as the ref declined to use the yellow card. Alyssa Naeher had blocked the goal kick that Sweden were awarded, and the first half of extra time ended without further trouble, though Sofia still wanted to teach Sonnett a lesson.

When the second half of extra time began, she got her chance to tangle with Emily, almost immediately. Her kick was a little higher than strictly necessary, but on the other hand Emily seemed to practically be leaning into it as their bodies connected, as if Sonnett wanted the collision.

Sofia wondered if she could get away with telling the captains that Sonnett had been asking for it. Probably not.

The match continued with the ball rocketing back and forth between a handful of the Americans, though none of them got it anywhere near the goal, not to do any good. Stina was subbed out for Rebecka Blomqvist, leaving Sofia hoping Stina wasn't hurt, and that Becka could make a difference.

Magda knocked down Sophia Smith - though Smith looked okay, thankfully, and was on her feet again quickly - and then Becka and Lina took down Emily Fox. Foxy, as her team called her, had a history of collisions and concussions, and Sofia hoped, opponent or not, that she'd be alright. It was Sofia's opinion that the girl ought to play wrapped in bubble wrap.

Then, a little while later, Julie Ertz - who Kosse had cut down earlier in the match, without really damaging her - slapped Becka in the face as she ran past. Ertz was yellow carded for it, and Sofia thought it was interesting that she'd been involved in both yellow card incidents. 

The next minute, Foxy and Sonnett were subbed out, Mewis and O'Hara in, and before Sofia knew it, the whistle was blowing to end extra time.

The match was still scoreless. There was only one thing that could be done now.

Penalties.

Sofia joined the other Swedes, waiting, looking at the Americans huddled together.

The USWNT would go first. The Swedish keeper, Zecira Musovic, who had been blocking their shots all night so far, stepped into the goal to await her opponent.

That opponent was Andi Sullivan, who'd already been doing plenty to fuck with Sweden and didn't need another chance in Sofia's opinion.

Goal.

"Well, there goes any chance of her getting punished," Stina muttered. Sofia shook her head slightly. 

"I don't think the Captains will ignore what she did earlier."

Then it was Frido's turn to square up against Alyssa Naeher, AT's adored Big Alyssa. Fridolina stepped up and kicked the ball, sending it flying past Alyssa.

Goal.

1-1.

Lindsey Horan stepped up next, the American captain slotting the ball past Zecira Musovic. Sofia could tell Zecira was frustrated, but after all, Alyssa Naeher was having the same run of luck for the moment - Sweden's second ball, too, shot by Rubensson, tied it 2-2.

"Good so far," Sofia observed.

"We need to get ahead," Nathalie scowled. "I'll show that keeper who's boss."

"You do that, little one," Sofia agreed, as Kristie Mewis beat Musovic. 3-2.

Then it was Nathalie's turn, and Sofia held her breath as the confident younger player stepped up. 

Her shot flew over the crossbar. Missed. Still 3-2.

Nathalie covered her face in shame, fleeing back to her place in the line, and Sofia grimaced. The Captains would have to take care of her.

After that, Sofia watched in stunned disbelief as Megan Rapinoe, Becka, and Sophia Smith all missed their shots. It was still 3-2 when Sweden's turn came again and Hanna Bennison stepped up.

"Maybe the infant can be good for something," Sofia muttered.

As though she'd heard that, Hanna pounded the ball past Alyssa Naeher. 3-3.

They were tied again, after five attempts each. That meant another round of penalties, and much to Sofia's surprise, it was Alyssa Naeher herself who stepped up to square off against Musovic.

Goal.

Magda was next, facing Naeher, and tying it up 4-4.

Then Kelley O'Hara came to face Musovic.

Her shot looked perfect - until it connected with the goalpost, causing a dead silence in the stadium.

Sofia stared, mouth slightly open.

Kelley had missed? The goalpost had...

Ironic, Sofia thought, scanning her teammates and seeing Lina Hurtig step forward. A goalpost had been the saving of the US in the group stage against Portugal, where now, if Lina should score....

She held her breath, knowing everyone else must be doing the same.

The ball connected with Alyssa Naeher's chest, bouncing off the keeper. Sofia let out a breath. Saved, then, she thought.

But when the ball hit the ground, it rolled backwards, toward the goal line again.

It stopped on the goal line itself, and Sofia knew she wasn't the only confused one.

"Naeher... did save that, didn't she?" she whispered to Stina. "It hit her, didn't it?"

"Well, if she did, we go again. If she didn't..." Stina raied her eyebrows pointedly. "Isn't that what you should be hoping for, that she didn't?"

Slowly, Sofia nodded. The ball's position was very obviously under review, with communication passing between the referee and the monitor of the goal line technology.

The referee's signal was clear.

Sweden goal.

The Swedes piled on top of each other, screaming, and the joy was infectious, Sofia let herself be swept up in it to a degree. Yet she couldn't help still feeling other things - confusion about the review, worry for her American friends.

Especially, most importantly, her lillasyster.

Sofia looked toward the Americans, and saw to her relief that Pinoe had big Alyssa in her arms, comforting the bewildered keeper. Little Alyssa, AT, was tucked in Alex Morgan's embrace, clinging to her Tia Alex, and Sofia felt a measure of relief. Her San Diego captain would keep AT safe.

As they all headed toward the locker rooms, the Swedes were joined by an Australian with an agenda. Sam Kerr pulled Sofia aside. "You're going to the American side in a minute, aren't you?"

"Yes," Sofia agreed readily. "Going that way yourself?"

"Obviously. I have a girlfriend to take back with me."

"Fair," Sofia agreed. They split off from the Swedes heading to the afterparty, and on the way, crossed paths with Julie Foudy and Carli Lloyd.

"Whatever you do, you're not doing it to Kristie," Sam warned the two former American captains. "I'm taking her with me."

"Fine, Kerr," Carli agreed. “Good luck with everything.”