She plays the guitar and sings her favorites from Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. That's when Pia Sundhage is laughing and, most of all, relaxed.
"I'm competing every single day in my job. But when I'm playing the guitar, I'm not competing at all; I'm just fooling around, attempting to play songs," said Sundhage.
Her job as head coach for the U.S. national women's soccer team is high-profile, very stressful and, potentially, highly rewarding. However, the last is true only when the team wins, as is the case for all coaches in all sports.
"I am having so much fun; I have the best job in the world," Sundhage said. "Coaching just came [ naturally ] to me.
"I'm a student of the game; I just really love the game. Soccer is more than [ just winning ] the gold medal; soccer is a life that [ one ] chooses."
Sundhage [ pronounced "SUUND-hagh-eh" ] , 50, is a Swedish former pro player who was named head coach of the U.S. national Team Nov. 13, 2007. She played professionally in her native country during the years 1978-1996, including a 146-cap, 71-goal career for the Swedish national team. She started coaching in the early 1990s and, before accepting her current gig, was an assistant with China's national squad.
Sundhage participated for Sweden in the 1991 and 1995 Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA ) Women's World Cup and the 1996 Summer Olympics. She won the 1984 Union of European Football Associations Women's Championship and Sundhage appeared on a Swedish postage stamp in 1988.
In 2000, Sundhage finished sixth in the voting for FIFA Women's Player of the Century.
This past January, on Swedish TV, Sundhage came out.
"There has been no problem for me to be openly gay as head coach in the U.S.," Sundhage said during her coming-out TV interview, and she also revealed at the time that she has a girlfriend named Marie.
"Back in Sweden in 1995 or so, you couldn't be a coach on the women's side [ of the sport ] and be a full-time coach. So, my dream was, at some point, be a full-time coach in the men's game. Eventually, I realized that, yes, you can in fact be a full-time women's coach, and I'm really happy about that.
"The development of women's soccer has allowed me to do what dreamed of: be a coach and do it full-time."
Sundhage leads the U.S. against Germany Saturday, May 22, at Cleveland Browns Stadium ( broadcast on ESPN2 ) , for the team's seventh game of the year. The U.S. twice blanked Mexico in late March with back-to-back shutouts to remain perfect ( 6-0 ) in 2010.
"The U.S. National Women's Soccer Team is different from 2008, when I had the players pretty much all the time. Now, the job is different" because players also compete on Women's Professional Soccer ( WPS ) teams, such as the Chicago Red Stars, she said.
"Coaching is all about communication and the fact is, I'm not around the players all the time, so I need to find a [ different ] way to communicate with the players," Sundhage said. "The challenging thing also is to blend the young generation with the old generation because they are very different.
"Back when I was 15 [ years old, ] I played my first game with the Swedish national team. I looked around and thought, 'What am I doing [ here ] ?' I looked up to the older players; I thought that was the best thing I could do, and I didn't even think I had a choice [ but to listen to them ] . But the players today, they come in, and some of them think it's better to just make choices [ as opposed to asking what to do ] . Today, they aren't just following [ the older players ] . So, I as the coach have to be more clear, crisp and tell them what I expect from them and the consequences when they make a choice.
"I work more with teamwork nowadays than I did, oh, 15 years ago.
"The new players nowadays are very good, very good technically, but they don't read the game as well as you'd think; they just need to play a lot of games, get experience."
The Chicago Red Stars are well represented on the national—and international—level, led by forward Megan Rapinoe, who has four goals in 11 caps. Sundhage also coaches midfielder Casey Nogueira and goalie Jillian Loyden.
The FIFA Women's World Cup 2011, the largest quadrennial international soccer tournament, will be held in Germany, with 16 teams battling for bragging rights.
The host country also is the two-time defending champion.
"All of the WPS teams will play a big part in the 2011 World Cup," Sundhage said. "Megan Rapinoe certainly is a very interesting player. She is a flank player, which intrigues me because that's something that separates Germany from all of the other teams, the fact that they are an attacking team, especially in the flank. So, when I look at the U.S. Team, I try to find flank players who love to challenge other players."
There are plenty of other WPS stars under Sundhage's guidance, such as defender Cat Whitehill ( Washington Freedom ) , midfielder Shannon Boxx ( St. Louis Athletica ) , Kristine Lilly ( Boston Breakers ) and Abby Wamback ( Washington ) . Plus, the U.S. Team also features defender Amy LePeilbet ( Boston ) from Crystal Lake.
"I think the league isn't just good for the U.S., it's good for women's soccer overall," Sundhage said. "The fact that there are so many international players [ in the WPS ] really gives you the chance to improve your game."
