The USWNT at the Olympics so far: listless, passive and in danger of an early exit

The aggression that has made the US women's team great is lacking at Tokyo 2020. But they have come back from slow starts before and prospered

Perfection has long been the standard for the United States women's soccer team, a burden embraced through the years. By that measure, the Americans were a shadow of themselves through the group stage of the Tokyo Olympics, losing their opener 3-0 to Sweden, and playing Australia to a dull, scoreless draw on Tuesday to advance to the knockout stage.

A cliche more grounded in realism, however, is one which US players have recited at past major tournaments: the group stage is just about getting through, and the second' tournament begins in the knockouts. The Americans are at phase two now, as they always are, but their gold-medal aspirations look far less certain than they did a week ago.