U.S. faces talkative Colombia in knockout stage

The heavily favored United States heads into the knockout stage of the Women's World Cup today in a game suddenly dripping with drama the likes of a heavyweight title fight.

In the kind of interest-boosting moment that rarely unfolds at the World Cup, Colombian star forward Lady Andrade held nothing back in a verbal assault on the second-ranked Americans, her opponent in the Round of 16.

"They belittle us," Andrade told USA Today. "They think we're a team they're going to walk all over and it will be an easy game for them. We're going to beat them since they like to talk so much."

Even before Andrade, 23, opened her mouth, the matchup in Edmonton, Alberta, had a back story.

The United States defeated Colombia 3-0 at the 2012 Summer Olympics in a game that is remembered for Andrade getting a two-match suspension for sucker punching Abby Wambach away from the ball.

"I hit her, what else I can say?" Andrade told USA Today. "If you look back at the video, you'll see she hit me too, but we're Colombia so they don't want to review the whole episode."

The Americans probably don't need extra motivation to defeat No. 28 Colombia after getting mediocre reviews for their group-play performance. The United States won the group of death, but many fans are demanding more from a stagnant offense that produced four goals.

The winner today will advance to the quarterfinals against China, which eliminated Cameroon over the weekend.

The Americans tried to downplay Andrade's comments.

"We never started that or said anything in the media," former Cal star Alex Morgan told reporters.

Coach Jill Ellis added that "those are things that you can expect in terms of what an opponent is going to say. Does it derail us? Do we focus on it? No."

The Americans have plenty to focus on with a roster full of professional soccer players, compared with Colombia, which has three U.S. collegians and a starting defender who is a human resource manager for an Atlanta firm. Most of Colombia's players have regular jobs, and the team also won't have starting goalkeeper Sandra Sepulveda, who drew her second yellow card last week.

It is such disparity that leads Alexi Lalas to say American fans should demand greatness.

"That expectation comes from the fact that no one has put more resources, money and focus into the women's team than the U.S.," the former star and current Fox Sports broadcaster said. "If you're a fan out there, you should expect this team to win a World Cup. Anything less, you can consider that failure."

But after a rough-around-the-edges performance in pool play, some are wondering if Ellis' team is up to the challenge.

The question leads to an emotional debate about style of play. The Americans have succeeded in women's soccer by overwhelming opponents physically. No one personifies it more than Wambach, 35, whose ability to score with her head gives the United States a special weapon.

In some corners, Wambach's powerful aerial game is seen as antiquated.

"You watch the Japanese play, they don't put the ball in the air," Santa Clara University coach Jerry Smith said of the reigning World Cup champions. "The Brazilians don't put the ball in the air. Barcelona, they don't put the ball in the air.

"We're falling behind at an alarming pace. Even watching Columbia " they're coming from a place where foot skills are part of their culture. And we need to have that as part of our culture."

Smith has an ally in none other than Andrade.

"Colombia's game is nice to watch, we look for spaces, to use our skill to deceive you," she said. "I think they will have a hard time dealing with this."

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2015 San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)

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