Two Masks

Turns out that Kate Markgraf broke her nose against Sweden on July 5 in Skelleftea. She was out of the game for a few minutes while the USA's athletic trainers stemmed the blood flow and she changed jerseys, and she played the rest of the game with cotton in her nose. It seems she headed the back of a Sweden player's head, exactly like Carli Lloyd did against Brazil in the Peace Queen Cup, and now the USA will have two players wearing protective masks to shield their tender noses for this Sunday's game against Brazil. It's not the first time, or even the second, that Markgraf has broken her nose, so the U.S. co-captain is used to the process. Not like it's easy to play with a mask, though. But Kate is tough. She's from Detroit. Well, a suburb of Detroit. Lloyd will wear her mask for the next two games, but may not have to wear it in the Olympics. Markgraf is game-by-game.