U.S. women’s soccer avoids distractions during Olympic qualifying in North Texas

A frigid wind whipped across the practice fields of Toyota Stadium in Frisco as the U.S. women’s national soccer team opened practice Friday for the eight-team CONCACAF women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship, hosted by the home venue of FC Dallas.

Off the field, a dispute about the expired collective bargaining agreement between the U.S. Soccer Federation and the players union has heated up. USSF has filed suit in federal court to extend the CBA through December 2016. As a part of that lawsuit, personal information of several of high-profile stars was released before later being redacted — an “egregious error” that “upset” the players, veteran Megan Rapinoe told The New York Times.

But the labor dispute doesn’t threaten the qualifying tournament and isn’t much of a distraction as the national team begins competing for chance to play in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

U.S. coach Jill Ellis offered to let the team’s captains speak to the team about the issue, but they chose not to address it formally, preferring to keep the focus on the tournament.

“It’s honestly been zero percent of a distraction,” U.S. captain Carli Lloyd said. “It’s between our legal team and between attorneys. We really had nothing to do with it. First and foremost, it’s about taking care of business on the field. As a captain, it’s my job to make sure everyone is ready and focused on that.”

What lies ahead for the national team is round-robin group play, matching the United States with Costa Rica, Mexico and Puerto Rico in Group A. Group B features Canada, Guatemala, Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana. All games will be played at Toyota Stadium.

In Houston, the top two teams in Group A and Group B will match up in semifinals, which begin Feb. 19, followed by the championship game Feb. 21, both at BBVA Compass Stadium. The teams that reach the championship match qualify for Rio.

The U.S. is trying to qualify for a sixth consecutive Olympics — and become the CONCACAF champion for the fourth time in a row.

This year, the national team is a target as the reigning World Cup champions after they defeated Japan 5-2 in the final in Vancouver last summer.

“What drives me personally is that I want to better than I was in 2015, and most people would say, ‘How’s that possible?’ ” Lloyd said. “That’s why I go out to work every day, and I’m going to make it possible. I don’t want to go backward. I want to keep getting better. I’ve got a lot of room for improvement.”

Should the U.S. qualify for the Summer Olympics, the task ahead remains daunting. No women’s team in international soccer history has won a World Cup and Olympic gold in back-to-back years.

“It makes it even more motivating to be the first team to do that,” Ellis said. “At this point, nothing happens without taking care of this event.”

Travis L. Brown: tbrown7137@gmail.com, @Travis_L_Brown.

This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 5:29 PM with the headline "U.S. women’s soccer avoids distractions during Olympic qualifying in North Texas."