DRESDEN, Germany — The United States is the No. 1 team in the world, a two-time World Cup champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist.
Nevertheless, the only number that matters right now is zero. As in, the number of World Cups the current team has won.
“I take it personally that I haven’t won one,” Abby Wambach said yesterday, “and I’ll be heartbroken if we walk away without one.”
The Americans had better get it in gear then. After losing a group stage match for the first time at the World Cup — to Sweden on Wednesday — they must play old foe Brazil in the quarterfinals today. It’s a matchup most had penciled in for next weekend’s final. Lose, and it will be their earliest exit at the World Cup, a tournament they last won in 1999.
“We believe that if we do this together, we can beat anybody,” Wambach said. “We have our hands full. But I still believe, in the end, we have the best chance of winning.”
Go back more than a decade, to the Algarve Cup in 2001, to find the last time the United States lost back-to-back games.
“It doesn’t matter if the U.S. has had some bad results in the last six months,” said Marta, Brazil’s dazzling playmaker. “It’s Brazil-U.S., a big game. It’s special.”