Sundhage gets U.S. women back on track

David Lassen, Scripps Howard News Service

Published July 24, 2008 at 12:09 a.m.
Updated July 24, 2008 at 12:09 a.m.

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Pia Sundhage knew it was a pivotal moment. She didn’t quite know how to express that.

Sundhage had just been named as the coach of the U.S. women’s national soccer team. Coming to a team that had a turbulent experience in the 2007 World Cup — as the first foreign coach in charge — she knew first impressions were important in her initial meeting with her players.

“They had this look,” recalls Sundhage, a veteran player and coach from Sweden, “like they were waiting for something special, I believe. I couldn’t find the English words. So I just sang: 'The times they are a-changing.' "

Not surprisingly, her players, expecting a pep talk or an explanation of a coaching philosophy — anything, perhaps, but the singing of a Bob Dylan song — were a bit stunned.

Most of them, anyway.

“I knew it was coming,” says defender Kate Markgraf, who had played for Sundhage in the defunct women’s professional league, the WUSA, and knew the coach — who once released an album in her homeland — had a tendency to sing when uncomfortable.

“My teammates’ jaws were on the floor. They couldn’t believe a coach would do that. That’s how the meeting ended.”

It was also how Sundhage began breaking down barriers on a team with a few to overcome after taking a bronze at the World Cup and enduring a major internal controversy.

“That tells you about who she is, about her confidence in herself,” says veteran forward Abby Wambach, who broke her leg in the last warm-up match and won’t be able to play in the Olympics," and her ability.

“She is a true leader. You would have figured that out before she finished the last note of the song. ...

“I had tears in my eyes. ... It was the perfect icebreaker. To me it was the beginning of something special.”

At the very least, it’s been the beginning of something successful.

The U.S. women are 21-0-1 under Sundhage, with the tie against Canada in an Olympic qualifying game the U.S. won on penalty kicks.

It certainly appears the team is on the rebound from its World Cup.

After a semifinal loss to Brazil, goalie Hope Solo — who had started every previous game — spoke critically about not playing and was ostracized to the point of not being allowed to fly home with her teammates.

Eventually, coach Greg Ryan was ousted, Solo was allowed to return, and the players say the issue is behind them.

“We worked really hard to get back to a place where the old and new can mix,” Markgraf said.

And Sundhage may well deserve some credit for that.

Once she stopped singing, change was the priority of the 47-year-old Sundhage (the name is pronounced Soond-HAGH-eh). Her playing career in Sweden included two World Cups and one Olympics, and her coaching resume includes stints as head coach of Sweden’s national team and an assistant coach for China.

“I need their hearts,” Sundhage said, explaining the need to sell her team on her approach. “I need all the passion you can get in order to make this happen.

“So we started out with shoring up the defense and working a lot on switching the point of attack, and of course a bunch of drills. And I showed them a lot of video clips. ... We tell them and show them good things, so they remember what they did that was good and do it again.”

Forward Heather O’Reilly says Sundhage’s greatest impact to date “has been an extraordinary meshing of philosophies, because the U.S. has always been about work ethic, competitiveness. She’s bringing a little bit more, I’d say, sophistication and thoughtfulness to our team. ...

“We’re seeing all kinds of new ideas and purposeful drills, things that you’re like, 'Wow, we did need to improve on that, and this is the perfect drill to do that.’ "

While Sundhage felt her English failed her at the moment of that first meeting, for the most part, her communication skills are just fine.

“I don’t think the language barrier is a big deal,” O’Reilly said. “It’s usually just funny and humorous. If she doesn’t know quite how to express herself, she’ll say, 'Hmmmm. Interesting.’ And interesting wasn’t exactly the proper response, but we’ll take it. She usually puts a smile on our face.”

Now she doesn’t even have to sing to do it.

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