 |
|||||
|
|||||
|
US National Team coach Pia Sundhage, shown here with the Boston Breakers, will open camp Jan. 3. |
Canada, Finland and host China round out the field for the annual competition to be played less than seven months before Beijing hosts the 2008 Olympics. The USA opens the competition against Canada on Jan. 16 before facing Finland on Jan. 18 and China on Jan. 20. These will mark the first-ever matches under Sundhage, who was hired in late November.
This will be the ninth trip to China for the U.S. women since 1998 and serves as continuing preparation for the 2008 Olympics, for which the Americans will have to qualify from the CONCACAF Final Women’s Olympic Qualifying tournament being held April 2-13 in Mexico.
“This is an exciting tournament as they will be the first games with the new coaching staff,” said Sundhage. “”We want to continue to play with passion and start our change in attacking style. We want to try to dictate the tempo of the matches in the attack and while staying true to the principles in defending. The injuries we have to some veterans will most likely give some young players a chance (during the Four Nations), and it's important to find a good mix of young inspiration with experience.”
This will be the seventh time the USA has participated in the Four Nations Tournament in China. The U.S. team also traveled to China for a pair of matches against China in 2001 when the tournament was not held. Should the USA qualify for the Olympics, this Four Nations Tournament will be the final time the team will travel to China before heading back to Beijing in August.
Sundhage has called in 16 members of the USA’s 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup Team including Abby Wambach, who was recently named 2007 U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year. Defenders Kate Markgraf and Heather Mitts, and midfielder Aly Wagner were not named to the training camp roster as they continue to rehabilitate injuries. Lilly has not yet decided if she will pursue a spot on the roster for what would be her fourth Olympic games.
The additional 11 invitees range from numerous players with extensive Youth National Team experience to players getting their first-ever call-ups to the full National Team as Sundhage continues to evaluate the player pool.
Sundhage called in seven players who recently finished their college seasons, including former University of Portland defender Stephanie Cox, a starter for the USA at the 2007 Women’s World Cup who missed the mini-camp in December, in part due to her wedding (she was formerly Stephanie Lopez).
Also called in were 2007 U.S. Soccer Young Female Athlete of the Year Lauren Cheney and midfielder Tina DiMartino, both from UCLA, as well as forward Amy Rodriguez from the newly minted NCAA champion University of Southern California. Rodriguez, who scored twice in the NCAA semifinal, played for the USA at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship in Thailand, and along with Cheney, DiMartino and Tobin Heath, at the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Championship in Russia. Rodriguez has five senior team caps, but did not play for the USA in 2007.
This is the first call-up to the full National Team for DiMartino, while Cheney participated in Residency Training Camp last year and has two caps and one goal. Heath will be participating in her third full National Team training camp.
Blink
Del.icio.us
Digg
Furl
Google
Simpy
Spurl
Technorati
Y! MyWebReturn to top