USWNT

[keeper]

Good day for US soccer. Men beat Sweden, Women win Four Nations. Reading the posts in another forum of those who watched the game, the US play in the first half like Ryan was coaching again. Abby Wambach only had 2 assists in the entire tournament and was subbed out before Boxx's goal. Do you think this will affect her confidence under Sundhage?

An earlier goal by Tobin Heath was called offside. It doesn't look to me that it was when the ball was served; however, if you watch the replay, the AR's flag was up before the play. Should the goal have been called back?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6A9Vzswn1I

In the first half, they couldn't make an attack happen or even hold the ball long enough to set anything up. They went to a R yan style Long Ball and still couldn't break through China's defense. In the pbp group I watch with, we kept counting the number of players China had on the field, it sure looked like they had more than 10 playing defense. :)

The changes Pia made for the second half made a difference, but creative attacking soccer is still a bit new after the R yan years. Pia says that is just what their going to be working on - that's a nice change.

Women's National Team
Post-Match Quote Sheet: WNT Wins Four Nations Tournament vs. China

Interesting, they're bringing Hope Solo out into every press conference. That save she made in the game with China was simply beautiful. The game with Scurry will probably be her last. It's sad to see someone go out this way, but she should have retired awhile ago.

--- PR Quote Sheet ---

U.S. WNT head coach Pia Sundhage and select players discuss the team's 1-0 win against China, which captured the 2008 Four Nations Tournament ti tle and first-ever ti tle with the U.S. team for Sundhage.

U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage

On the match:

“I am of course very happy for the coaching staff and for the players. It is great to win this tournament. I am also very happy with the way we played. The Chinese team forced us to change the system from the first half to the second half. The defending of the China team was also challenging, which was good, because that is what it is all about. At the end of the day, it was speed (that made the difference). You get tired after a while and the header that Boxx put in the goal was just excellent. It was a good finish for us in this tournament.â€￾

On China’s tactics:

“They played low-pressure and were very compact and we had a hard time penetrating. But we kept possession and I am very happy about our defending because at some points, they had a quick transition. The back four did a great job so I felt pretty nice to sit on the bench and watch how they defended.â€￾

On switching formations at halftime:
“The hardest part is to penetrate and that’s why we changed in the second half and put three up top, played 4-3-3 and tried to get as wide as possible. A player like Tobin Heath on the left side did great, and Heather O’Reilly on the right side also had a good performance. It was nice to see our speed and eventually we got that goal.â€￾

On the players, especially young players, coming off the bench:
“It’s great, because I am telling them over and over again that the bench is important. It’s not about 11 players or one coach, it’s about the team. So the fact that they are coming off the bench and doing a great job to make the difference, that is so important. The games we will go and play, we will need everybody.â€￾

U.S. forward Abby Wambach:

On the USA’s performance in the tournament:

“Pia and I talked about this when she first came on as coach, and all around the field, we are just going to have to be more patient. We’re trying not to play as direct a style as we played in the past, and I think it shows….It’s really great to see some of the younger players show up…I’m thrilled for the younger players and also for Pia, who got her first tournament win under her belt.â€￾

“All the way around, what a great experience in China, maybe the best trip we’ve ever had in China…but there is a lot more to come and hopefully in the future we can keep scoring goals in the run of play and keep our style of play as exciting as we can.â€￾

On the impact for the future on the team of playing well and winning the tournament:

“Coming in and playing a tournament like this, and winning it no less, just keeps building the younger players’ confidence. And that’s what we need. It’s something that we lacked during the World Cup and that’s something we’re trying to build on. When there are 50,000 people in the stands if we come back here after we hopefully qualify for the Olympics in the summer time, the pressures change. You get a bigger situation, you get more pressure and you just have to learn how to deal with that and that’s harder for younger players. This is great experience, coming to China, playing against China having a bit of a hostile environment, learning how to deal with not hearing your teammates so well, just having to play soccer and win the game.â€￾

U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo

On young defense performing well:

“I think everyone enjoyed it very much. We didn’t play with nerves like you would think. It was the first cap for many defenders and they weren’t nervous. I think (Christie Rampone) really led the way because she kept them calm and organized and we went out there and posted plenty of shutouts. It was great.â€￾

On her big save of a Han Duan shot early in the game:

“I thought she caught me off my line. I was reading the through ball so I started to cheat off my line and I swear the forward and I made eye contact. I saw that she was about to chip me so I quickly made it back to my line and made the save.â€￾

U.S. midfielder Shannon Boxx

On playing against China’s low-pressure:

“We knew that they were a very patient team on the ball, but I think it kind of surprised how far they sat back. So it took a little bit to get used to that…but it is patience. I think we did a really good job of waiting and trying to find the right moment (to attack) because China is very organized defensively. I think by the second half we had them where we knew we had to let (Heather O’Reilly) beat them one-on-one and that’s how we were going to beat them and get them out of shape.â€￾

On the young players on the roster:

“We have a lot of new players that came on this trip. They got a lot of good looks and I think they all did a great job. That will only help this team improve as we move forward to Olympic qualifiers. We now have the month of February to continue to prepare and I think this gave them much more confidence moving to the next step.â€￾

[keeper]

Nice Save!
http://images.ussoccer.com/Images/Ga...080120_012.jpg

[keeper]

Women's National Team
U.S. WNT Wins 2008 Four Nations Tournament With 1-0 Victory Against China

- USA Wins Four Nations Tournament for Third Consecutive Year
- Tarpley is Top Scorer, O'Reilly Wins Best Player
- Sundhage Wins Best Coach, USA Also Wins Fair Play Award





GUANGZHOU, China (January 20, 2008) – The U.S. Women’s National Team scored a 77th minute goal off a header from midfielder Shannon Boxx to earn a 1-0 victory over China and win the 2008 Four Nations Tournament. It was the first tournament title for new U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage.

The U.S. team swept almost all of the tournament awards as midfielder Lindsay Tarpley scored four times to earn the Top Scorer award, forward Heather O’Reilly was named Tournament MVP, Sundhage was named Best Coach and the USA also won the Fair Play Award, going three games without getting a yellow card. Chinese net-minder Zhang Yanru was named Best Goalkeeper.

Boxx’s goal came after defender Lori Chalupny had burst past a defender outside the penalty box on the right side only to be been scythed down, earning a free kick.

The initial service was cleared off a Chinese head, but the ball fell to defender Becky Sauerbrunn on the right wing and she sent a looping service back into the middle. Boxx got a bit of separation from her defender and arched her body to send a looping header over the Chinese goalkeeper into the right corner from 11 yards out. The goal was the 18th of Boxx’s international career. It was Sauerbrunn’s first career assist.

The USA came into the match needing just a draw to win the tournament, but it was China who played the more conservative game, dropping way back into a low-pressure defense, often getting all 11 players behind the halfway line when the U.S. defenders had the ball. The Steel Roses stayed in their 4-5-1 formation until late in the game when they finally tried to push some players forward in search of an equalizer.

The low-pressure tactics forced the Americans into a more patient possession game, as well as a formation change in the second half. The U.S. team moved from a 4-4-2 with O’Reilly playing wide on the left, to a 4-3-3 with Abby Wambach at center forward, O’Reilly coming down the right and halftime substitute Tobin Heath on the left.

The USA out-shot China 12-2 for the match, but the boisterous crowd, seemingly all armed with bang sticks, created an electric atmosphere as they urged their team forward.

China’s most dangerous chance came in the 13th minute when star forward Han Duan evaded U.S. captain Christie Rampone with a masterful juke at the top of the box and lashed a left-footed shot that was brilliantly saved by U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo, who flew backwards to tip the ball over the crossbar.

China created most of its danger off three free kicks from outside shooting range. Solo had to grab two services that skidded into the penalty box and saw one cross flash through the goal mouth and out of bounds.

The U.S. put half of its 12 shots on frame, but dangerous chances were definitely at a premium against the organized and committed Chinese defense.

In the 32nd minute, O’Reilly tore into the penalty area on the left side and chipped a cross through the goal box. Zhang leaped to get a hand to it, changing the trajectory just enough to throw Boxx off-balance and she miss-hit her volley a yard wide right of the open net.

In stoppage time of first half, the USA took a short corner kick and midfielder Carli Lloyd fired a cross in on the ground. In a mad scramble, no U.S. player could get a solid swing at the ball and Zhang was able to corral it.

China definitely got the memo on Tarpley, who had scored twice in the two previous matches, Zhang Tong blanketing her for the entire first half and giving her little space to create. Tarpley was replaced at halftime by Angie Woznuk, who earned her third cap.

Lloyd came close to scoring on a set play three minutes into the second half, but Zhang pushed her 25-yard blast off the cross bar and out for a corner kick.

O’Reilly had a nice chance in the 54th minute after Wambach won ball at midfield and played her through down the right flank, but with a defender on her left hip, she cut her shot wide of the left post. In the 68th minute, Heath showed some crafty skills, beating her player in the left side of the penalty box and dribbled straight down the goal line to the near post. She cut the ball back to O’Reilly, but she knocked her contested shot over the goal.

In the 83rd minute, O’Reilly set up substitute Amy Rodriguez will a perfect slip pass behind the Chinese defense on a lightning counter-attack. Rodriguez got her shot on frame, but Zhang got a few fingers on it to push it outside the right post.

O’Reilly’s impact in taking players on and creating danger down the flanks during all three matches was so great that she won the tournament MVP award without scoring a goal.

The USA has now won the Four Nations Tournament six out of the seven times it has attended the competition. The USA won in 1998, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008, failing to take top honors only in 2002. The nine goals over the three games were also the most ever scored in a single Four Nations Tournament by the USA, besting its previous high by three.

Veteran U.S. defender Cat Whitehill did not see any action in the Four Nations due to an ankle injury suffered right before the tournament started. Becky Sauerbrunn and Ali Krieger shared minutes next to the ever-steady Rampone in the center of the defense and both performed admirably in their first-ever caps. Sauerbrunn played against China wearing a mask after breaking her nose against Canada in the first match. Rampone played all 270 minutes in the tournament, marshalling a defense that gave up just one goal over three matches.

In the first match of the day, Canada pulled out a last gasp tie with Finland, scoring its first goal of the tournament in the fourth minute of second half stoppage time as Jodi-Ann Robinson fired on a 25-yard blast into the left corner just 30 seconds before the final whistle. Canada earned third-place and Finland finished fourth.

The U.S. team now returns to the United States and will reconvene at the beginning of February for a training camp at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The roster for that camp will be announced in the near future.

U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM GAME REPORT
Match-up: USA vs. China
Competition: 2008 Four Nations Tournament
Venue: Guangdong Olympic Sports Center Stadium; Guangzhou, China.
Date: January 20, 2008; Kickoff – 3:30 p.m. local / 2:30 a.m. ET
Attendance: 3,000
Weather: Hazy, warm – 72 degrees

Scoring Summary:
1 2 F
USA 0 1 1
CHN 0 0 0

USA – Shannon Boxx (Becky Sauerbrunn) 77th minute.

Lineups:
USA: 18-Hope Solo; 14-Stephanie Cox, 3-Christie Rampone – Capt., 27-Becky Sauerbrunn, 17-Lori Chalupny; 7-Shannon Boxx, 11-Carli Lloyd (16-Angela Hucles, 66), 5-Lindsay Tarpley (10-Angie Woznuk, 46), 9-Heather O’Reilly; 8-Lauren Cheney (6-Tobin Heath, 46), 20-Abby Wambach (19-Amy Rodriguez, 76).
Subs not used: 1-Briana Scurry, 4-Cat Whitehill, 12-Leslie Osborne, 25-Tina DiMartino, 26-Ali Krieger.
Head Coach: Pia Sundhage

CHN: 1-Zhang Yanru; 2-Yuan Fan, 3-Li Jie, 4-Wang Kun, 6-Zhang Ying; 20-Zhang Tong, 7-Bi Yan, 8-Zhang Na, 11-Xie Caixia (17-Zhang Cheng, 80), 16-Liu Yali (14-Guo Yue, 69); 9-Han Duan.
Subs not used: 5-Jiang Ying, 10-Zi Jingjing, 12-Qu Feifei, 15-Zhou Gaoping, 18-Weng Xiaojie, 21-Song Xiaoli, 22-Yu Wimin.
Head Coach: Elisabeth Loisel

Statistical Summary:
USA / CHN
Shots: 12 / 2
Shots on Goal: 6 / 1
Saves: 1 / 5
Corner Kicks: 7 / 3
Fouls: 7 / 7
Offside: 4 / 1

Misconduct Summary: None.

Officials:
Referee: Carol Anne Chenard (Canada)
AR 1: Liu Hongjuan (China)
AR 2: Liang Jianping (China)
4th Official: Kirsi Savolainene (Finland)

ussoccer.com Woman of the Match: Shannon Boxx

2008 Four Nations Tournament Final Standings
Team W L T Pts GF GA GD
USA 3 0 0 9 9 1 +8
CHN 1 1 1 4 2 1 +1
CAN 0 1 2 2 1 5 -4
FIN 0 2 1 1 2 7 -5

Jan. 16
USA 4, Canada 0
China 2, Finland 0

Jan. 18
China 0, Canada 0
USA 4, Finland 1

Jan. 20
Finland 1, Canada 1
USA 1, China 0

2008 Four Nations Tournament Awards
Best Player: Heather O’Reilly (USA)
Top Scorer: Lindsay Tarpley (USA)
Best Goalkeeper: Zhang Yanru (China)
Best Coach: Pia Sundhage (USA)
Fair Play Award: USA

ussoccer.com is the official website of U.S. Soccer, the governing body of soccer in the United States

Cat Whitehill was the only player that didn't see a single minute of play in the tournament. Was she hurt?

Cat Whitehill was the only player that didn't see a single minute of play in the tournament. Was she hurt?

Yes

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....qa/index.html

First Lady of U.S. soccer
Hamm dishes on Team USA, the new women's league
Posted: Friday January 18, 2008 11:59AM; Updated: Friday January 18, 2008 2:21PM


Mia Hamm and husband Nomar Garciaparra will participate in a charity event later this month for bone-marrow transplant patients.


When the logo for Women's Professional Soccer -- the new top-flight league starting in 2009 -- was unveiled this week, the player silhouette in the middle was unmistakable.

It's Mia Hamm. (Jerry West now has some company as The Logo.)

But the grand dame of women's soccer is doing more these days than just posing for logos. The proud (and happily retired) mother of nine-month-old twins, Ava and Grace, Hamm is teaming up with her husband, Nomar Garciaparra, to host a cel ebrity soccer challenge at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., at 1 p.m. on Jan. 26.

All proceeds from the event (which features Hamm, Garciaparra, Landon Donovan, Kristine Lilly, Abby Wambach, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain and others) will benefit funds set up at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and donations from the Cel ebrity Soccer Challenge will benefit bone-marrow transplant patients and their families.

It's a subject that's close to Hamm's heart: Her brother, Garrett, died in 1997 from a bone-marrow disease.

Hamm rarely gives interviews anymore, but this week SI.com spoke to her about her event as well as her thoughts on the state of the U.S. women's national team, the Hope Solo World Cup controversy, the new women's league and Hamm's role on the committee that hired new coach Pia Sundhage.

SI.com: Tell me a little bit about your charity event.

Hamm: We're really excited about it. It was something that started in 1997 in Milwaukee and we're bringing it back here to the L.A. area. I'm so grateful and thrilled that Nomar wants to be a part of it. I think this is a great area for it.

To give you some brief history, it started in '97 with five families [in Milwaukee] that had brought me into their club to do a clinic for their girls' team. It was a week after I'd found out my brother had to have a bone-marrow transplant. Financially, we weren't sure if insurance was going to cover the procedure. The initial findings were that it was going to be hard to find him a full match, so all these things were happening at once. I went up there with some leaflets and a pickle jar basically begging people for money and giving them information about getting registered in the National Bone Marrow Registry.

Two weeks later, I got a call from them saying we have an idea to help raise more money for your brother and hopefully get the word out there. So we held an indoor game in Milwaukee with women's national-team players against an all-star team of college seniors from the Milwaukee-Chicago area. We did that for four or five years, but with the league [WUSA] and national-team commitments the game kind of went away.

So last year, we got to talking about how we'd love to bring the game back. It was called the Garrett Game before in honor of my brother, and we thought L.A. would be a great area with the rich soccer tradition here and the cele brity aspect. We moved it outdoors to the Home Depot Center, and it's going to be half-field, small-sided 6-on-6. We've got a lot of great past and present players, both male and female, and some celebrities who are going to lace 'em up and have some fun and hopefully raise some money. Money is extremely important to these families, but so is awareness. There will be a booth set up doing bone-marrow typings to put them into the marrow bank, which to me is just as important if not more so than the money we raise.

SI.com: Is there anything else that's good to know?

Hamm: For me, besides playing again and seeing everyone out there celebrating a game I love, at halftime we get to reunite marrow recipients with their non-related donors for the first time. That's a special and poignant moment. The first time I ever witnessed it, it had a huge impact on me. It's the highlight of this game for sure.

SI.com: You were recently on the committee that interviewed candidates and hired Sundhage. What was that role like from your perspective?

Hamm: Out of respect for the process and for the great candidates that we had, I'm not going to say I voted this way or that way, because it's not fair, not even going forward. But with regard to being part of the process, I felt it was important to have a player involved. It's a little bit harder for a current player to have a voice, but it was important to have someone who's been inside the lines, so to speak.

My focus was on representing the players, so a lot of my due diligence was talking to the players who played the last three years and really listening to them about going forward. I didn't just talk to veteran players. I talked to players who'd been there a long time, players who'd been there for maybe eight years, and players who'd just joined the team. Just to get their perspective. Then going outside and talking to coaches in America and abroad and saying, What do you see happening with this program? When you see the U.S. play, what are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? And then trying to make the best decision that I possibly could.

SI.com: So this sounds like it wasn't just a ceremonial position for you. You put in some serious time?

Hamm: Oh yeah. I took it very seriously. It was very emotional for me. You could ask Nomar. I spent a lot of time on it.

SI.com: What's your sense of the state of the U.S. women's soccer team right now?

Hamm: I haven't been out to training since Pia's been there. I saw the World Cup and talked to some players afterward, and they felt that they didn't play up to their potential. And watching the games, I felt for them. They're a great and extremely talented group of women who've worked so hard, and I'd go out to practices and see how hard they worked. I think the passion is there and the work ethic, but for some reason things didn't work out.

But it's also getting so much more competitive. You have to play your best every single match, and almost every single minute of every single match. I know in talking to them they're committed to first and foremost qualifying for the Olympics and playing better and achieving what they feel they can achieve, and that's a gold medal.

In watching them play, I didn't sit there for one minute and say I wasn't proud of them. I'm extremely proud of them. I love this game, I love that team, and I still have a lot of players on that team that I trained with, whether for a week or two years, and I'll always be cheering for them to do well. I'll do whatever they ask me to do to help them, whether it's being on the [coach] selection committee or talking to players or just watching from wherever I am.

SI.com: During the U.S. team's current tournament in China, Solo is back starting in goal. What's your sense of what happened involving her at the World Cup and where that is now that she's back with the team and playing?

Hamm: I heard things that probably you heard and read. Hope's a very talented goalkeeper. I saw the interview after the game. It's not something I would have done, and I've read things from Hope saying that she apologized, she's moving forward, and for her it's about proving herself every single day. I think we all had that approach when we were with the national team.

She obviously has a lot to prove to her teammates, and I think she's committed to doing that. I have so much confidence in Pia and how she's going to handle that situation, and it looks as if Hope's committed to that. But at the same time, it's like anything. Just as a team sits there and says we want to qualify and win the Olympic gold medal, you can't just say it once. You have to commit yourself to it every single day. I think Hope understands that, and I hope for her sake and the sake of the team -- because she is such a good goalkeeper -- that she does that.

SI.com: The news is out this week about the name of the new pro league, WPS (Women's Professional Soccer), and its launch in seven cities in '09. What are your feelings about the launch?

Hamm: I'm so excited about it for so many reasons. One is for all the players out there and young girls who want to play professionally to bring this back and give them the opportunity. I think it's going to strengthen the game in this country and the national team.

SI.com: I have to ask: With a league starting up again, do you have any interest in playing in the league?

Hamm: Noooooooo, Grant, I do not.

SI.com: Just thought I'd check.

Hamm: I don't. I'll help in other ways if they come and ask me to, but playing is not one of them.

SI.com: So how do you like this new life you have with Nomar and your twins out in the L.A. area?

Hamm: I'm very blessed, that's for sure. Nomar and I marvel at the girls every single day and feel so lucky. He is an amazing father, which I'm not surprised about. I don't know, everyone says it'll change your life, but I never realized how wonderful it would be. They make us laugh every single day.

Note: Hamm says tickets ($20) are still available for her charity event through Ticketmaster or the Home Depot Center box office.

SI.com: During the U.S. team's current tournament in China, Solo is back starting in goal. What's your sense of what happened involving her at the World Cup and where that is now that she's back with the team and playing?

Hamm: I heard things that probably you heard and read. Hope's a very talented goalkeeper. I saw the interview after the game. It's not something I would have done, and I've read things from Hope saying that she apologized, she's moving forward, and for her it's about proving herself every single day. I think we all had that approach when we were with the national team.

She obviously has a lot to prove to her teammates, and I think she's committed to doing that. I have so much confidence in Pia and how she's going to handle that situation, and it looks as if Hope's committed to that. But at the same time, it's like anything. Just as a team sits there and says we want to qualify and win the Olympic gold medal, you can't just say it once. You have to commit yourself to it every single day. I think Hope understands that, and I hope for her sake and the sake of the team -- because she is such a good goalkeeper -- that she does that.

When Hamm says that Solo "obviously has a lot to prove," I assume she isn't referring to Solo's proven abilities. What is Solo supposed to do, wear a hair shirt to every practice?

The sooner the old guard gets off the WNT's back, the better!

SI.com: During the U.S. team's current tournament in China, Solo is back starting in goal. What's your sense of what happened involving her at the World Cup and where that is now that she's back with the team and playing?

Hamm: I heard things that probably you heard and read. Hope's a very talented goalkeeper. I saw the interview after the game. It's not something I would have done, and I've read things from Hope saying that she apologized, she's moving forward, and for her it's about proving herself every single day. I think we all had that approach when we were with the national team.

She obviously has a lot to prove to her teammates, and I think she's committed to doing that. I have so much confidence in Pia and how she's going to handle that situation, and it looks as if Hope's committed to that. But at the same time, it's like anything. Just as a team sits there and says we want to qualify and win the Olympic gold medal, you can't just say it once. You have to commit yourself to it every single day. I think Hope understands that, and I hope for her sake and the sake of the team -- because she is such a good goalkeeper -- that she does that.

When Hamm says that Solo "obviously has a lot to prove," I assume she isn't referring to Solo's proven abilities. What is Solo supposed to do, wear a hair shirt to every practice?

The sooner the old guard gets off the WNT's back, the better!

Absolutely!!

SI.com: During the U.S. team's current tournament in China, Solo is back starting in goal. What's your sense of what happened involving her at the World Cup and where that is now that she's back with the team and playing?

Hamm: I heard things that probably you heard and read. Hope's a very talented goalkeeper. I saw the interview after the game. It's not something I would have done, and I've read things from Hope saying that she apologized, she's moving forward, and for her it's about proving herself every single day. I think we all had that approach when we were with the national team.

She obviously has a lot to prove to her teammates, and I think she's committed to doing that. I have so much confidence in Pia and how she's going to handle that situation, and it looks as if Hope's committed to that. But at the same time, it's like anything. Just as a team sits there and says we want to qualify and win the Olympic gold medal, you can't just say it once. You have to commit yourself to it every single day. I think Hope understands that, and I hope for her sake and the sake of the team -- because she is such a good goalkeeper -- that she does that.

When Hamm says that Solo "obviously has a lot to prove," I assume she isn't referring to Solo's proven abilities. What is Solo supposed to do, wear a hair shirt to every practice?

The sooner the old guard gets off the WNT's back, the better!

Hamm is just doing the party line thing, every player has a lot to prove and needs to commit themselves everyday. The days of resting on your lurels and previous history are over. However, she was also very quite as the program was being run into the ground. Pia was the best choice and Mia helped make it finally happen. The younger players can finally step out from the shadow of the old guard and everyone can move ahead.

[reality]

[i]Hamm dishes on Team USA, the new women's league [i]

When I read the headline I assumed that Hamm may have been negative. I was a little shocked. Obviously that was the furthest thing from the truth. I have always admired Mia Hamm. I think she is a very very complex personality who works very hard to protect her sport and her role in that sport. She is also very astute about her continued responsibilities and is unlikely to ever wander too far off the reservation when it comes to answering questions. I think she is a very private person with a very public persona. Hopefully she will always stay involved as she more than anyone is responsible for the success of women's soccer in America.

Hamm says, "[Solo] obviously has a lot to prove to her teammates, and I think she's committed to doing that." What is it that Solo so obviously needs to prove at this point? Certainly not the quality of her play. That she won't fly off the handle to a reporter if Sundhage unexpectedly yanks her before the most important game of the year, and her replacement flounders?

Hamm says, "[Solo] obviously has a lot to prove to her teammates, and I think she's committed to doing that." What is it that Solo so obviously needs to prove at this point? Certainly not the quality of her play. That she won't fly off the handle to a reporter if Sundhage unexpectedly yanks her before the most important game of the year, and her replacement flounders?

They don't seem to be afraid of letting her talk with the press, shw was dragged to every new conference press conference during this latest trip. Another odd thing about this trip was that in all of the blogs, both official and unofficial, every player is mentioned at one time or other, except Scurry. It's like she wasn't there.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...eref=si_latest

A way of living
New U.S. women's coach Sundhage oozes passion
Posted: Wednesday January 23, 2008 12:37PM; Updated: Wednesday January 23, 2008 1:34PM

Pia Sundhage coached the U.S. women's team to the Four Nations t itle in her first major tournament in charge of the squad.
AP

By Ridge Mahoney, Special to SI.com, Soccer America

She plays guitar. She sings. She named her dog, a boxer, Cruyff Pele Beckenbauer, after her three favorite players. She is so deeply steeped in the game she can't imagine her life without it.

"That's my way of living," she says, "to be around soccer."

Sweden has fielded a women's national team for more than three decades, and Pia Sundhage is so highly regarded in her native country that a postage stamp bearing her image was issued in 1988. It depicts her dueling two opponents, playing a ball that doubles as the second "o" in fotboll, for which no translation is necessary.

Her name doesn't appear on the stamp, but, like the translation, it isn't needed. She debuted for the Swedish team in 1975 against England at the age of 15 and for nearly as long, Sundhage (pronounced Soond-hagah) has been synonymous with fotboll.

"You always respect someone with an illustrious career," says U.S. defender Kate Markgraf, who played the final WUSA season (2003) in Boston with Sundhage as head coach. "She's basically the Mia Hamm or Kristine Lilly of her generation. She just has a wonderful demeanor about her. You learn about soccer but you also learn a lot about attitude, both on and off the field. She played that way, she coaches that way, and she lives her life that way."

Named to replace Greg R yan as U.S. women's national team coach, Sundhage played 146 games and scored 71 goals for Sweden prior to embarking on a coaching career that includes club stints in her native country, a WUSA Coach of the Year award with Boston, and work in '07 for the Chinese national team as an assistant coach to Marika-Domanski Lyfors. Both resigned in late October, and Sundhage's appointment as U.S. coach came three weeks later.

Her stature as a player and experience of coaching all three years of the WUSA's existence -- she spent the '01 and '02 seasons as Mark Krikorian's assistant with the Philadelphia Charge prior to taking the Boston job -- propelled her to the top of the candidates' list to replace R yan, whose switch of goalkeepers and a subsequent 4-0 semifinal thrashing by Brazil prompted his departure.

Yet Sundhage has been hired for the short-term, to correct flaws and shortcomings exposed harshly by Brazil before August, when the '08 Olympic Games are to be staged in Beijing. She'll be retained if the results and progress are deemed sufficient, but if that means an Olympic gold medal, ergo probably beating Brazil and/or Germany, her task is indeed taxing.

"She's coached some of our players in the WUSA, she's played against some of them and she's been a scout for our team during the ['04] Athens Olympics," said U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati, who along with federation CEO and secretary-general Dan Flynn and Hamm made up the search committee. "So, she fits the two most important criteria I had outlined three weeks ago, mainly that she has experience at the highest possible level and that, in this case as both a player and a coach, she has a knowledge of the American game.

"In Pia's case, it's the former which is her greatest strength because she has only been in the U.S. for a few years, but we are quite confident that she has the experience level and the knowledge of our American players and the set-up here to do what needs to get done, especially in the short term, because that is the objective for the next year."

Sundhage began her initial camp, a five-day stint at Home Depot Center in early December, in a manner radically unlike that of her predecessors. Unorthodox, and corny, though it was, it immediately and clearly delivered to the players evidence a new age was about to dawn, and subsequent training sessions confirmed that fact.

"She started off our very first meeting singing a Bob Dylan song, The Times They Are A-Changing," said forward Abby Wambach, who herself has been known to belt out a tune now and again. "No music, just her singing a cappella. Right there and then at that moment, I knew we were going to get along.

"It does take a lot of guts. That's one thing that could embarrass other people or it could backfire, but she's very comfortable inside her skin."

Inside that skin is a zeal that has surprised and impressed the U.S. players, who are accustomed to the more practical and pragmatic approach preached by most American coaches, including R yan; his predecessor, former U.S. international April Heinrichs; and Tony DiCicco, the national-team coach before Heinrichs.

R yan was one of Heinrichs' assistant coaches and took over for her following the '04 Olympics, at which the U.S. won the gold medal. Heinrichs served as an assistant during DiCicco's time as head coach. The hiring of Sundhage has radically altered that line of succession.

"Her approach and the way she's going about our practices is much different than anything we've ever done before," says Wambach, a member of the national team since '01. "The two coaches before her, April and Greg, were virtually the same. They had very different styles, but they had the same ideas and the same mentality and the same philosophy of soccer.

"It's not only about soccer. She exudes this passion for the game. She talks about loving it, and being passionate, and learning the game and feeling the game. It's not just about doing, it's about feeling. That's very, very important to the players who have gone to that most elite level, that in their bones they feel it and they see it differently. She's one of those people."

Along with passion, Sundhage teaches poise and possession, which the Americans occasionally flashed during the World Cup but couldn't produce against Brazil. The straightforward approach that rolled over dozens of opponents prior to the World Cup ran aground during the tournament, yet still the Americans won a tough group consisting of North Korea, Sweden and Nigeria, and thumped England, 3-0, in the quarterfinals.

R yan's bizarre switch of goalkeepers prior to the Brazil game, benching Hope Solo in favor of the more experienced Briana Scurry, triggered a frenzy of speculation before the game, and a wildfire of criticism afterward. Solo's bitter postgame comments about R yan and Scurry roiled the turbulence further and masked somewhat the technical deficiencies and overall caliber of play by an American team clearly second-best.

"You know what?" says Markgraf, whose national team career dates back to '98. "We just got killed. It wouldn't have mattered. They were the better team that day."

A friendly at the Meadowlands played three months prior to the World Cup might have revealed that fact, but Brazil -- missing Marta, who would score seven of Brazil's 17 goals at the World Cup and win both the Golden Ball (MVP) and Golden Shoe (top scorer) awards at the tournament -- played tepidly that day in a 2-0 defeat.

Whether or not the Americans can match the flair of the Brazilians, or the skill and tactical acumen of the Germans, Sundhage wants players devoted to the cause. At a very early age, she began a quest that set her apart and has directed her life for the past four decades.


"I grew up in a small village [Marback] and when I was 6 years old, I wasn't allowed to play soccer because I was a girl," she says. "It was a boys' sport. I played every day with boys but not in real games. The coach of the boys team asked me if I wanted to play in a real game, and I said, 'Yeah, of course,' and he said we had to get around [the rules] a little bit.

"So instead of calling me 'Pia', which is a girl's name, they called me, 'Pelle,' a boy's name. They called me a boy's name for two years in order for me to play soccer."

But the battle wasn't won. Far from it. Playing soccer is not the same as excelling at soccer, and the system wasn't set up to satisfy ambitious female players. Fortunately, a tradition of female rights and access to sport and education had already been established.

It's no coincidence that Sweden established a women's league and national team in the early 1970s, more than a decade before the U.S. women's team made its debut. By the time the American women's team had played its first match against Italy in 1985, Sundhage had been an international for a decade.

"Pretty soon, everybody could play," says Sundhage, "but they said, 'The girls could play, women could play, but don't think that you're any good.' This was a big movement because there weren't so many girls and women who wanted to play, but we have a really good club system in Sweden, and they just added girls soccer, so soon we had different kinds of leagues.

"I think this is because we have fought for our rights, and that was my mother, and the women before me. They didn't want to be just a housewife, they wanted to get education and the real job. I think that affects the sport. In the beginning, we didn't have girls playing any kind of team sports. Skating, or track and field, yes, sports like that.

"That's the strength of that system, you have a club, you have a sports house, you know everybody, and first there were boys' teams, then we had mixed teams and finally girls' teams and women's teams."

Fans of the American women's team long believed it would always be the best in the world. It has won two world championships ('91 and '99) and two Olympic gold medals ('96, '04). It has fallen short at the '95, '03 and '07 Women's World Cups and '00 Olympics. No team has been as successful, but the loss to Brazil confirmed the times have changed.

Sundhage has come no closer than a bronze medal, at the '91 Women's World Cup. Sweden hosted the '95 competition, but China knocked out the host in the quarterfinals. She hung on long enough to play in the first Olympic women's soccer competition at the age of 36.

Now 47, her long-term job prospects may hinge on winning a gold medal in Beijing. To accomplish that she first must instill her persona and vision of the game into the character of her team.

"The fact I got a chance to play at the Olympics in 1996 was huge," she says. "I told the players when I was 36 years old and I was so proud to be part of the team that got to play at the Olympics. Soccer, to me, is about much more than gold. For me, soccer is a way of living."

"She started off our very first meeting singing a Bob Dylan song, The Times They Are A-Changing,"

Pia seems to have a good sense of humor.