National Teams Move On

Men Prepare for Canada; Women Back to Camp

March 18, 2008

Fresh off a tournament win at the Algarve Cup, the U.S. women’s soccer team will return to Carson, Calif. Friday for the final training camp before the women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament, set to begin April 2 in Mexico.

Meanwhile, their Under-23 male counterparts began training in Nashville Monday in preparation for Thursday’s Olympic Qualifying semifinal match against Canada.

Freddy Adu

Freddy Adu and the US Under-23 men's national team will play Canada Thursday.(CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

The men finished Group A in first place with a 2-0-1 record and will face their neighbor to the north at LP Field at 7 p.m. ET with a berth to this summer’s Beijing Olympics on the line.

“We're all happy to be here and we're all excited to play in the semifinals,” said US head coach Peter Nowak. “From the beginning, the most important thing was to have 20 players who are ready to go on any given day. We look forward to this game but we have a couple of days to change our mentality in order to think about what's coming ahead. Our first goal was to get to the semifinal and here we are. Our next goal is to advance to the Olympic games and win the final.”

After an undefeated run through the Algarve Cup, the U.S. women return to camp at The Home Depot Center. The women will compete in Group A and will open the tournament on April 4 against Jamaica before facing Mexico on April 6. Both games will be played in the Estadio Olímpico Benito Juarez, which will host all 10 games during the qualifying tournament.

The top two teams from Group A will advance to the semifinals, where they will cross over to face the top two teams from Group B, which includes Canada, Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago. The winners of the April 9 semifinals will qualify for the 2008 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in Beijing.

U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage has called in 26 players to the training camp and will choose a 20-player roster for the qualifying tournament, although just 18 players will suit up for each game. Sundhage can use any of the 20 players during any game of the competition, but must name 18 for each match.

US WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER:

GOALKEEPERS (4): Nicole Barnhart (Gilbertsville, Pa.), Kristin Luckenbill (Paoli, Pa.), Briana Scurry (Dayton, Minn.), Hope Solo (Richland, Wash.)

DEFENDERS (9): Rachel Buehler (Del Mar, Calif.), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis, Mo.), Stephanie Cox (Elk Grove, Calif.), Keeley Dowling (Carmel, Ind.), Kate Markgraf (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Heather Mitts (Cincinnati, Ohio), Christie Rampone (Point Pleasant, N.J.), India Trotter (Plantation, Fla.), Cat Whitehill (Birmingham, Ala.);

MIDFIELDERS (8): Shannon Boxx (Redondo Beach, Calif.), Tobin Heath (Basking Ridge, N.J.), Angela Hucles (Virginia Beach, Va.), Carli Lloyd (Delran, N.J.), Leslie Osborne (Brookfield, Wis.), Lindsay Tarpley (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Kacey White (Arlington, Texas), Angie Woznuk (El Cajon, Calif.)

FORWARDS (5): Lauren Cheney (Indianapolis, Ind.), Natasha Kai (Kahuku, Hawaii), Heather O’Reilly (East Brunswick, N.J.), Amy Rodriguez (Lake Forest, Calif.), Abby Wambach (Rochester, N.Y.).

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