Hilfestellungen » Byron learned that the hard way i

BRASILIA, Brazil -- There will be no fourth straight gold medal for the United States.The hopes of becoming the first team to win the Olympics following a World Cup are also dashed.Instead, the favored U.S. womens soccer team heads home from Brazil without an Olympic medal for the first time.Alex Morgans eyes were red from tears following a quarterfinal loss to Sweden, which won 4-3 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw on Friday. And goalkeeper Hope Solo was seething over Swedens tactics, calling the team a bunch of cowards.I was really optimistic. I didnt even anticipate it going into penalties, said Morgan, who scored the lone goal for the Americans but missed in the shootout. But it just wasnt our day.Sweden heads into a semifinal match against host Brazil in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday. Canada, the bronze medalists from London in 2012, will play Germany in Belo Horizonte.The Germans defeated China 1-0 in Salvador, while the Canadians upset France 1-0 in Sao Paulo. The night was capped by Brazils 7-6 penalty shootout win after a scoreless draw against Australia in Belo Horizonte.But there was no bigger upset -- in a long time -- than the U.S. loss to Sweden.Solo, who had already been taunted mercilessly by the Brazilian fans over social media posts about the Zika virus, caused another stir in the aftermath of the loss by criticizing Swedens defensive stand against the top-ranked Americans.I think we showed a lot of heart. We came back from a goal down. Im very proud of this team, said Solo, considered one of the best goalkeepers ever in the womens game. I also think we played a bunch of cowards. The best team did not win today. I strongly and firmly believe that.Asked to clarify, she said: Sweden dropped off. They didnt want to open play, Solo said. They didnt want to pass the ball. They didnt want to play great soccer.Sweden coach Pia Sundhage, who coached the U.S. for five years and led the team to gold medals at both the Beijing and London Olympics, quipped: Its OK to be a coward if you win.Later, Solo went to Twitter with a mea culpa of sorts: Losing sucks. Im really bad at it.It was the first Olympic womens match ever to go to penalties. The sport joined the Olympics at the 1996 Atlanta Games, with the U.S. winning the first gold medal. Only Norway has been able to stop the U.S. string of golds, winning at the 2000 Sydney Games. The Americans won the silver that year.Tied after three rounds in the shootout of Fridays match, Sweden captain Caroline Seger shot past Solo. U.S. forward Christen Press attempt then went over Hedvig Lindahls net. And with the next kick, Lisa Dahlkvist beat an outstretched Solo for the win.The game is the game, so I think tactically thats the coachs prerogative, the coachs choice, U.S. coach Jill Ellis said about Swedens defensive approach. They look at their personnel and they determine a game plan based on that. And I think to take us to penalty kicks is probably a good strategy, because then it becomes a crapshoot, right?Can I criticize or knock someone for their tactics? No, thats their choice.Sweden had won outright in only five prior matches against the United States. At last years World Cup, the two teams played to a scoreless draw. The last time the two teams met in the Olympics was at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Sundhage was a player on the Sweden team that fell 2-1 to the Americans.The United States returns home now with two friendly matches set for September, the first against Thailand in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 15, followed by a meeting with the Netherlands in Atlanta on Sept. 18.After Fridays match, a reporter asked Morgan how big a failure the loss was.A big one, Morgan bluntly replied before quietly walking away.Kyle Tucker Jersey . Kuznetsov, who was selected by the Capitals in the first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, has been playing for his hometown team Chelyabinsk Traktor of the KHL. Cesar Cedeno Jersey . The team said Saturday that Lopez was hurt during its 121-120 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Friday. The Nets said they would issue another update next week after consultation with their doctors. https://www.cheapastros.com/1403o-jeff-kent-jersey-astros.html . No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday. Framber Valdez Astros Jersey . Jon Montgomerys gold medal in skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre and his subsequent auctioning off of a pitcher of beer in the village square elevated him to folk-hero status. Framber Valdez Jersey . -- If this was Aaron Gordons final home game at Arizona, and it almost certainly was, then he went out in style.CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- When William Byrons engine exploded less than 10 laps away from his seventh win of the season, his chance to race for the Truck Series championship blew up in a puff of white smoke.It was one of those bad breaks that happen every week at every level in auto racing. But when it happens to the most dominant driver in a series and ruins his title aspirations, it ignites a debate about the fairness -- flaws, maybe? -- of the elimination-style playoffs NASCAR now uses in all three of its series.Brad Keselowski was particularly upset about Byrons misfortune, even though Keselowski fields rival trucks. He described himself as mad and disappointed for Byron, and said the elimination format has effectively traded excellence for entertainment.Keselowski learned how harsh the system can be in 2014, its debut year at the Sprint Cup level. He won six races that year, but one bad day at Martinsville led to his elimination from the playoffs after the third round. Keselowski had been worthy of a spot in the finale, but he didnt earn one of the slots.Same goes Jeff Gordon that first year. He won four times in 2014 and should have raced for the title. Like Keselowski, he was bounced out of the third round.Joey Logano should have made the finale last year but didnt. Same goes for Matt Kenseth, who was two laps away from victory Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway until a caution created a series of events that caused him to crash. He was all but assured of a slot in this weekends finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway one moment, last in the Chase standings the next.There have been arguments about the Chase since it was first introduced in 2004. Fans felt it was contrived and that the traditional season-long point champion was the truest way to decide a title. The format has been tinkered with several times since, but its most radical adjustments came three years ago when NASCAR implemented eliminations. That format this year was brought to both the Xfinity Series and Truck Series for the first time.Every sport has upsets and underdogs. Every sport has a Cinderella story every now and then that drums up interest. NASCAR very much needed that element when it introduced the Chase, and chairman Brian France has long trumpeted the desire to have his sport in a position to creaate Game 7 moments.dddddddddddd.The entire country talked for days about the seventh game of the World Series and the Chicago Cubs dramatic victory. Any leader in their right mind would want that same nail-biting tension for their sport. They want to see crushing defeats, career-defining victories, magical moments.So no matter what longtime fans believe, France did the absolute right thing in creating the Chase. Yes, people claim they stopped watching NASCAR because of the Chase. They blame Brian France for turning to gimmicks over tradition, claim the Chase has ruined the sport they once loved.Well, those people are clinging to a past that is never coming back. NASCAR has plenty of problems and NASCAR does many things incorrectly, but the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship is not one of them.The Chase in its first year had five drivers eligible to win the title. It pitted teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson against each other in one of the fiercest championship battles in NASCAR history. The Chase in 2011 produced a magnificent finale in which Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards ended the championship tied with Stewart getting the trophy on a tiebreaker.The elimination element has raised the pressure and forced drivers to answer the call when the season is on the line. Kevin Harvick twice won must-win races in 2014 on his way to the title, Joey Logano has done it twice this year alone, including Sunday when his victory put him in the finale.It is absolutely true that the final four drivers will not always represent the most deserving teams. Byron learned that the hard way in the Truck Series inaugural Chase. The most dominant teams dont always deliver when the pressure is at its highest; although Harvick had performed time and again when his back was against the wall, Stewart-Haas Racing couldnt come up with the dominating performance it needed Sunday for him to advance.Thats called sports, and theres nothing contrived about it.Its not always fair, but sports are the greatest reality programming out there. Anything can happen -- and did to Kenseth at Phoenix! -- and thats why we watch.---For more AP auto racing coverage: http://racing.ap.org/ ' ' '