Americans Learn Olympic Draw

Games Begin in August

April 22, 2008

CHICAGO – The U.S. Under-23 Men and Women’s National Teams were drawn into their respective groups for the 2008 Olympic Games during the Final Draw this evening in Beijing, China.

The U.S. Women were drawn in to Group G and will face Norway, Japan and New Zealand in first round play, while the U-23 Men were placed into Group B along with Japan, the Netherlands and Nigeria.

Abby Wambach

US women's soccer striker Abby Wambach. (CHRIS ADUAMA/ aduama.com)

The games this summer will be played from Aug. 6-23 in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao. The 12 teams in the women’s tournament were divided into three groups of four teams each, while the 16-team men’s tournament includes four groups of four. The U.S. Women received a top seed in the tournament along with host China, which will head Group E, and Germany, which will head Group F.

On the men’s side, the U.S. will open against Japan on Aug. 7 at before facing the Netherlands on Aug. 10.

“It’s a difficult group, definitely, but that’s what we expect in a tournament that includes the top 16 teams in the world,” said U.S. Under-23 head coach Peter Nowak. “They are very quality teams we will face and we have to be up to the challenge. This is a great challenge for us and we can gain a lot of experience from these kinds of games and this kind of tournament.”

The U.S. Women will open play on Aug. 6 against Norway in Qinhuangdao at the Olympic Center Stadium.

“I’m very excited about the challenge of the draw overall,” said U.S. Women’s head coach Pia Sundhage. “Group F is certainly the strongest of the three groups, but our group will be very good as well. We will play three very different teams with very different styles of play, which will test our ability to adapt in a world championship tournament with just a few days rest between games.”

In the men’s tournament, the top two finishers in each group will advance to the quarterfinals, while in the 12-team women’s tournament, the top two teams in each of the three groups plus the two best third-place teams after the completion of first-round play will advance to the quarterfinals.

This will be the fourth Olympic soccer competition for women. The WNT has won two gold medals (Atlanta ’96 and Athens ’04) and one silver medal (Sydney ’00) in previous Olympic tournaments.

The U.S. will be participating in its 13th Olympic Games on the men’s side, and their first since 2000 when they finished in fourth place.

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