LYON, France _ With the Netherlands beating Italy and Sweden upsetting No. 2 Germany on Saturday, the Women's World Cup final four is set. And with the exception of the U.S., which will play England in the first semifinal Tuesday, the teams are all from Europe.
That's happened once before, in 1991, when the U.S. won over a semifinal field that included Norway, Sweden and Germany.
But U.S. coach Jill Ellis said how a team plays is more important than where the players live.
"When you look at the top 10 teams in the world, you don't really think about where their home base is. It's more about the style for the team that you're going to play," she said.
"We're obviously the only non-European team left. But in terms of how we're approaching this, how we feel, we're just excited to be continuing in the tournament."
As it turns out, the U.S. coaching staff is more European than the semifinal field.
Ellis was born in England, as was goalkeeper coach Graeme Abel and high-performance coach Dawn Scott. Assistant Tony Gustavsson is from Sweden.
U.S. captain Alex Morgan said there's no concern their loyalties will be split.
"They've adopted an American mentality," she said.
