The US Women's Coach, Who Is Swedish, Fires Her Team Up By Occasionally Breaking Into Soft-Rock Song

Neither Hope Solo's ravishing skin nor disappearing nipple has carried the US Women's National Team to one game of the women's World Cup. Rather, the team can credit the musical stylings of its head coach, Pia Sundhage. She sings. And even though she's Swedish, she knows more than Cardigans and Ace of Base.

See, via the New York Times:

When she became coach in 2008, after a contentious third-place finish for the Americans at the 2007 World Cup, Sundhage gathered her players in a meeting and began singing, "The Times They Are A-Changin'." [...] And Sundhage, 51, a native of Sweden and a former star on its national team, is still singing to her players with a philosophy meant to foster composure instead of reckless haste, and encouragement instead of criticism.

"This life is about competition; there is a lot of pressure, a lot of stress," she said at a news conference Friday. "Then I just tell them," - and here she broke into Simon and Garfunkel's "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" - " ‘Slow down, you move too fast/you got to make the morning last/just kicking down the cobblestones/looking for fun and feelin' groovy.' "

Oh, well, that's nice. But watch out for "Waterloo" on Sunday.

A Whole Different Pitch for the U.S. [NYT]