MPR’s Martin Kaste interviews players on the first day of the USA Cup girl’s youth soccer invitational taking place at the National Sports Center in Blaine.
MPR’s Martin Kaste interviews players on the first day of the USA Cup girl’s youth soccer invitational taking place at the National Sports Center in Blaine.
MARTIN KASTE: US women's soccer started with a loss today when the Saint Paul Blackhawks fell 3 to 0 to a semi-pro team of girls from Malmo, Sweden. But the Swedes were very nice about it and didn't rub it in much.
What are your names?
EVA: My name is Eva.
ANNA: I'm Anna.
MARTIN KASTE: What do you think of the American girls who play in this team?
EVA: They're hard. They're very hard.
MARTIN KASTE: What did she say?
EVA: They can't play soccer.
ANNA: She said that. Yeah, they can. They're good. They're good.
MARTIN KASTE: On the opposite side of the field, the Saint Paul Blackhawks didn't let their loss affect their sense of perspective.
SPEAKER 1: I mean, I don't want to say this, but this is a pro team, and they're only beating us 3-0. And were not considered a pro team whatsoever.
MARTIN KASTE: The Saint Paul Blackhawks have played this team before on a tour of Sweden, a tour that brought home to the Americans the difference in European attitudes towards women's soccer.
SPEAKER 1: We had a boys team go with us, too, and they really didn't do that well over there. They really got beat very badly, and we went over there. And were considered about the equal of them. And we did very well. We beat some teams like 10-0.
MARTIN KASTE: I think it says something about their attitudes culturally towards you.
SPEAKER 1: Yes. Yeah, it's the girls' teams. They're not taken us seriously at all.
SPEAKER 2: Uh-oh. It's the guys' team get.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
SPEAKER 2: All the credit, all the sponsors, like everything like that.
SPEAKER 1: All the money.
MARTIN KASTE: You're talking about the States or--
SPEAKER 1: Sweden. Sweden. Here, it's so much better.
SPEAKER 2: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: The girls, I mean you have-- it's almost equal opportunities here.
MARTIN KASTE: Most players agree that the basic reason for US dominance is the fact that American girls are encouraged to play the game at all. That's not true in every country, including soccer powerhouse, Brazil. Barbara leads a team from Rio de Janeiro that just lost to a group of girls from Kansas. She says Brazilians traditionally bar girls from playing soccer.
BARBARA: In the past, it was not good.
MARTIN KASTE: Why? What would people say in the past?
BARBARA: Look like a man.
MARTIN KASTE: Switching to Portuguese, Barbara explains that US players have a more aggressive style of play that her team just isn't used to.
BARBARA: [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE]
MARTIN KASTE: The Americans just keep attacking and running without ever really controlling the ball, Barbara says. The game was ours to lose, and we lost it by letting through one easy shot at the goal. The Brazilians aren't the first ones to remark on what seems to be the Americans endurance style of soccer play. The Swedes, too, say they're not used to the relentless style of the American players.
EVA: They keep going, keep going. They never give up.
MARTIN KASTE: The endurance style of soccer may not be as pretty as the European passing game. But if American women keep dominating the game, as they have been, their foreign competitors may take home a lesson or two about the value of an all-out American-style sprint. From Minnesota Public Radio, I'm Martin Kaste.
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