Pia Sundhage coaches U.S. women for last time

After five years, two Olympic gold medals, and an exciting run through the 2011 Women's World Cup, U.S. soccer coach Pia Sundhage is returning home to coach the Swedish women.

Sundhage, 52, who has a career record of 90-6-10 with the national team, coached it one last time Wednesday night as part of the 2012 Olympic victory tour. The U.S. team beat Australia, 6-2, in Commerce City, Colo.

The Americans will continue the tour with two late October matches against Germany. A spokesman for the U.S. Soccer Federation, Neil Buethe, said that up to five more games are planned before the end of the year. An interim head coach for the remainder of the tour has not yet been named.

"This next coach has some big shoes to fill," said Carli Lloyd, the American team's star from Delran.

Sundhage took over in November 2007 and led the U.S. team to the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

"She definitely came in at a crazy time," Lloyd said Wednesday. "She had a big task at hand, coming in only having eight months to prepare. There was a lot of controversy. The team was kind of divided.

"She's been brave enough to transform the game of the American style, which is normally a long-ball game," Lloyd said. "She came in and created a balance."

Sundhage also led the Americans to a second-place finish in the 2011 Women's World Cup. They went undefeated in the 2012 Olympics, something an American team had never done.

In all, Sundhage coached the Americans to 11 tournament titles, including three Algarve Cup championships and two CONCACAF Women's Olympic qualifying tournament crowns.

"Pia's charismatic," Lloyd said. "She's so passionate about the game."

Lloyd has thrived under Sundhage's watch, scoring the winning goal in both Olympic gold-medal games.

"I felt like I finally had a coach that believed in me," Lloyd said.