USA WOMEN'S NEWS, RESULTS

[Frank Cunha]

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2. U.S. SOCCER: April Heinrichs chooses six collegians for Four Nations roster

All six college players in the U.S. women's national team training camp in Carson, Calif., have been selected for the squad that will play Sweden, China and Canada at the annual Four Nations tournament in Shenzhen, China.

Two of the sextet -- defender Catherine Reddick and forward Heather O'Reilly -- are a national-team regulars, but their University of North Carolina teammates Lori Chalupny and Lindsay Tarpley, as well as Santa Clara midfielder Leslie Osborne and Arizona State defender Amy LePeilbet are relative newcomers to the team.

O'Reilly is making her return to the U.S. squad after suffering a broken leg in a World Cup warmup last June against Ireland.

LePeilbet, in her first camp with the full national team, and Osborne have yet to make their first international appearance for the national team.

Midfielder Stacey Tullock, another Arizona State product who played two seasons with the WUSA's Philadelphia Charge, is the other uncapped player on the 22-woman Four Nations roster.

Not selected for the roster were forwards Mia Hamm and Cindy Parlow and defender Brandi Chastain.

Hamm was permitted to miss the tournament so she could train in Arizona with husband Nomar Garciaparra, the star shortstop for the Boston Red Sox. Hamm and Garciaparra also trained together before their 2002 and 2003 seasons, and the work they've done in Arizona is considered a prime reason for Hamm's resurgence on the soccer field.

Chastain, who signed this week with the WPSL's California Storm, is still recuperating from a broken foot sustained during the Women's World Cup. She says she's at about 75 percent of her capabilities.

Parlow has been cleared to play but is still affected by the head injury she suffered during the World Cup. Coach April Heinrichs said she didn't feel comfortable taking Parlow to China.

The other players who participated in the U.S. women's training camp at the National Training Center at the Home Depot Center but were not chosen for the Four Nations roster were goalkeepers Jenni Branam and Kristen Luckenbill.

The Americans will meet Sweden on Jan. 30, China on Feb. 1 and Canada on Feb. 3.

Reddick and LePeilbet, both standouts with the U.S. under-21 women's team, have exhausted their college eligibility. Osborne will be a senior next fall, Chalupny (who has five caps) and Tarpley (who has seven) will be juniors, and O'Reilly (18 caps) will be a sophomore.

Sweden and Canada also have announced their rosters. The Swedes are without injured goalkeeper Caroline Jonsson and midfielder Malin Andersson. Canada is missing injured forward Christine Latham and midfielder Kara Lang.

The U.S. roster (with final WUSA teams or college affiliations and caps/goals):

GOALKEEPERS
Briana Scurry (Atlanta Beat), 127/0
Siri Mullinix (Washington Freedom), 41/0

DEFENDERS
Kylie Bivens (Atlanta Beat), 16/0
Joy Fawcett (San Diego Spirit), 224/26
Kate Markgraf (Boston Breakers), 104/0
Heather Mitts (Philadelphia Charge), 5/0
Amy LePeilbet (Arizona State University), 0/0
Christie Rampone (New York Power), 108/4
Catherine Reddick (University of North Carolina), 34/3

MIDFIELDERS
Shannon Boxx (New York Power), 9/4
Lori Chalupny (University of North Carolina), 4/0
Julie Foudy (San Diego Spirit), 239/42
Angela Hucles (San Diego Spirit), 24/1
Kristine Lilly (Boston Breakers), 263/93
Leslie Osborne (Santa Clara University), 0/0
Tiffany Roberts (Carolina Courage)105/7
Lindsay Tarpley (University of North Carolina), 7/0
Stacey Tullock (Philadelphia Charge), 0/0
Aly Wagner (Boston Breakers), 53/12

FORWARDS
Shannon MacMillan (San Diego Spirit), 159/59
Heather O'Reilly (University of North Carolina), 18/3
Abby Wambach (Washington Freedom), 22/14

FOUR NATIONS CUP SCHEDULE
Jan. 30: United States vs. Sweden, Canada vs. China
Feb. 1: United States vs. China, Canada vs. Sweden
Feb. 3: United States vs. Canada, China vs. Sweden

OTHER ROSTERS:
http://www.socceramerica.com/article.asp?Art_ID=562134259

[Frank Cunha]

U.S. Kick Off Four Nations Against Sweden 29/01/04

The United States Women’s National Team kick off their Four Nations Tournament in Shenzhen, China early on Friday morning, 3:30 am ET to be exact, with the goal of evaluating some young players, improving the team attack and possession from the World Cup.

“We have 15 players from our World Cup roster here and we are in a position as a team that we are looking at some younger players and have been for the last year or two,” head coach April Heinrichs said on the official U.S. Soccer website.

“We also have some senior players with a great deal of experience and this team will be very similar to the one you saw a year ago (at the Four Nations) and in the World Cup. Our hope is to be improved in our attacking play and possess the ball a little bit better than we did during the World Cup. What you are going to see is four teams matching up and playing differently against each opponent and that’s what so exciting about the evolution of women’s soccer.”

The Red, White and Blue will first face Sweden. The World Cup runners-up will be no push over, having brought 16 players from the World Cup squad. Sweden is without star forward Hanna Ljungberg, who tore her ACL last week, as well as starting goalkeeper Caroline Johnsson and midfielder Malin Andersson, who are back in Sweden recovering from minor injuries.

The USA won the last meeting between the countries in the opening match of the 2003 Women’s World Cup, a rousing 3-1 victory.

Nevertheless, Heinrichs believes Sweden will be no easy match, saying; “One of the most impressive things to me during the World Cup was the play of Sweden. They could play indirectly or directly depending on what they needed to do, so to compete against a team like that was very difficult because they played such a unpredictable style.”

Sweden’s head coach Markia Domanski Lyfors has similar goals to Heinrichs, hoping to prepare young players with an eye on the upcoming Olympics.

“We want to thank the Chinese Federation for inviting us here. It is a great tournament and we are honored to be here among the best teams in the world. I think it will be great matches and a great opportunity to test some young players against the best teams in the world. I think I have a great team, but we also know that we had a lot of luck in the last championship and we know have to be even better, so this tournament is a great way to start preparing for the Olympics.”

2004 FOUR NATIONS TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday, Jan. 30
China vs. Canada 2:15 p.m. local (1:15 a.m. ET)
USA vs. Sweden 4:30 p.m. local (3:30 a.m. ET)

Sunday, Feb. 1
China vs. USA 2:15 p.m. local (1:15 a.m. ET)
Sweden vs. Canada 4:30 p.m. local (3:30 a.m. ET)

Tuesday, Feb. 3
USA vs. Canada 2:15 p.m. local (1:15 a.m. ET)
China vs. Sweden 4:30 p.m. local (3:30 a.m. ET)

Press release courtesy of www.ussoccer.com

[Frank Cunha]

2. U.S. SOCCER: Shannon Boxx, Lindsay Tarpley pace Four Nations romp over Sweden

Shannon Boxx scored one goal and helped set up one of two by Lindsay Tarpley as the U.S. women's national team rocked World Cup runner-up Sweden, 3-0, Friday in the opener of the annual Four Nations tournament in Shenzhen, China.

Teng Wei scored twice as China dominated Canada in a 2-1 victory in the second game of the doubleheader.

Boxx headed home a Kristine Lilly cross in the 13th minute for an early U.S. lead, and Tarpley -- Soccer America's College Women's Player of the Year last fall -- scored her first two international goals, extending the advantage in the second half.

Tarpley, who scored 24 goals for the U.S. under-19 team and has a pair of the U-21 squad, volleyed in her first in the 51st minute after Abby Wambach headed Julie Foudy's long, looping ball onto her path.

She scored her second with a short-range header from a near-post cross by Kate Markgraf on a sequence that began when Boxx rifled a shot from outside the area off the left post.

"It was just a great feeling to score for the national team and contribute to a big win on this level," Tarpley said. "Sweden is a very good team, they are physical and have a really good sense of the game. It was a great team effort to score three goals."

Goalkeeper Briana Scurry dealt well with Sweden's most dangerous chances, snagging a fine cross from World Cup Silver Ball winner Victoria Svensson, then making a diving save of a superb Svensson free kick, both early in the second half.

Midfielder Leslie Osborne and defender Amy LePeilbet made their first appearances with the national team, coming on as second-half substitutes.

The Four Nations continues on Sunday with the Americans meeting China and Canada facing Sweden.

Jan. 30 in Shenzhen, China
United States 3 Sweden 0. Goals: Boxx 13, Tarpley 51, 66.
United States -- Scurry; Markgraf, Fawcett, Reddick (LePeilbet, 69), Rampone (Mitts, 46); Boxx; Foudy (Osborne, 66), Tarpley (Hucles, 75), Lilly; MacMillan (Roberts, 46), Wambach (O'Reilly, 58).
Sweden -- Lundgren; Marklund (Bengtsson, 31), Tornqvist, Westberg, Thunebro; Nordin, Sjogran, Sjostrom (Dahlqvist, 78), Ostberg (Fagerstrom, 63); Svensson (Olsson, 68), Oqvist.
Yellow card : U.S. -- Boxx 56.
Referee: Zhang Dongqing (China).
Att.: 3,500.

Other result:
China 2 (Teng 12, 52) Canada 1 (Maranda 87).

[Frank Cunha]

U.S. Win Four Nations 03/02/04

The U.S. Women's National Team dominated Canada on a cold, wet afternoon at Shenzhen Stadium to record a 2-0 victory, which combined with China's 2-2 tie with Sweden, gave the USA the championship of the 2004 Four Nations Tournament.

The USA did not allow a goal in the tournament, finishing with seven points from two wins and a tie, and won the competition for the second year in a row.

The weather turned sour for the first time during the USA's stay in China as a steady drizzle fell throughout the match and temperatures dropped into the low 40s, but that didn't stop the USA from putting together a classy performance, getting an early goal from 20-year-old Lindsay Tarpley and a late penalty kick from veteran Joy Fawcett after Abby Wambach had been chopped down from behind in the penalty area.

Visit the official U.S. Soccer website for the full match report

"The thing I'm most pleased about is that we got better every game," said U.S. head coach April Heinrichs. "The American teams want to go forward, we attack aggressively and sometimes we lack patience. During the course of this tournament, we showed great patience in picking and choosing the point of attack and as a result we got behind Canada upwards of 20 times tonight. If you can convert that statistic to chances on goal, you're going to win games consistently."

The Four Nations Tournament served as a bit of a coming out party for Tarpley at the full international level. The captain of the USA's 2002 Under-19 World Championship Team was the tournament's leading scorer with three goals and started all three matches.

"The tournament was just a lot of fun," said Tarpley, who scored her first three goals at the senior level. "To play these three teams was a great learning experience for all the young players. The veterans have been great in helping us get adjusted to this level and it gives us confidence to know that we can help the team win in a tournament like this."

In the Sweden-China match, Therese Sjogran opened the scoring in the 31st minute, bending a perfect shot from 19 yards off the right post and in. China tied it in the 38th minute off penalty kick from defender Li Jie. Sweden took the lead in the 82nd minute as substitute forward Josfine Osqvist broke free on a breakaway, rounded the 'keeper and slotted her shot home from 20 yards away. Sweden looked to have a 2-1 win sewed up, but China tied the game in the 90th minute as Han Duan finished a rebound of a rebound, roofing the ball in crowd from eight yards out much to the delight of the Chinese fans. That goal and the tie gave China second place in the tournament with five points. Sweden was third with four points and Canada finished last with zero points.

Scoring Summary:
USA - Lindsay Tarpley (Shannon MacMillan) 13th minute.
USA - Joy Fawcett (Penalty Kick) 81.

Lineups:
USA: 18-Siri Mullinix; 21-Heather Mitts, 14-Joy Fawcett, 29-Amy LePeilbet, 15-Kate Markgraf; 7-Shannon Boxx, 26-Leslie Osborne (19-Angela Hucles, 77), 11-Julie Foudy (20-Abby Wambach, 46), 13-Kristine Lilly, 25-Lindsay Tarpley, 8-Shannon MacMillan (27-Heather O'Reilly, 69).
Subs not used: 1-Briana Scurry, 2-Kylie Bivens, 3-Christie Rampone, 4-Cat Reddick, 5-Tiffany Roberts, 23-Lori Chalupny.
Head Coach: April Heinrichs

CAN: 1-Karina LeBlanc; 2-Marie-Eve Nault, 6-Sharolta Nonen, 10-Charmaine Hooper, 11-Randee Hermus; 5-Andrea Neil (7-Isabelle Morneau, 69), 13-Diana Matheson, 14-Aysha Jamani (3-Carmelina Moscato, 79), 15-Veronique Maranda (17-Tanya Dennis, 79), 16-Brittany Timko; 12-Christine Sinclair.
Subs not used: 4-Sasha Andrews, 8-Isaballe Harvey, 9-Rhian Wilkinson, 22-Erin McLeod, 22-Taryn Swiatek.
Head Coach: Even Pellerud

Misconduct Summary:
None

Officials:
Referee: Zhang Dong Qing (China)
Referee Asst.: Fu Hong Jue (China)
Referee Asst.: Deng Jun Xia (China)
4th Official: Jennifer Bennet (USA

[BethlehemFC]

Nice for the women Nats!!

[Frank Cunha]

Tarpley with 3 goals a name to remember, we need to win a medal in the Olympics

[BethlehemFC]

Agree. I want the US to take Gold in the Olmypics. Help take the sting out of the World Cup performance.

[Soccerdad]

NICE START FOR 2004

[Frank Cunha]

games to be played in Costa Rica starting twomorrow
they in Group B, will play Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti on Friday, and Mexico on Sunday

Group A consists of Canada, Jamaica, Costa Rica
The semi finals will be March 3 and the final March 5

top two teams qualify for the Olympics

[Frank Cunha]

U.S. WNT In Group A at Algarve Cup 24/02/04

The U.S. Women's National Team will have a short turnaround for the 11th Algarve Cup as the team will depart for Europe four days after returning from Costa Rica and the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament. U.S. head coach April Heinrichs will name a 20-player roster for the Algarve Cup after Olympic qualifying is completed and those players will leave for the southern coast of Portugal on March 10.

The USA has been placed in Group A and will face France on March 14, Denmark on March 16 and 2003 Women’s World Cup runner-up Sweden on March 18. The placement matches will be contested on March 20. Group B features Norway, Finland, Canada and China. Group C, which consists of four European lower tier teams, features host Portugal, Wales, Greece and Northern Ireland. The competition will run from March 14-20 with four match days, featuring six matches each day. Venues and match times have not yet been confirmed, but all the games will be played at small venues spread out across the Algarve region.

This marks the ninth trip to the Algarve Cup for the U.S. women, who won the world’s most prestigious invitational women’s tournament last year, defeating China 2-0 in the title game. The Algarve Cup was one of the few missing trophies in a very crowded case as the U.S. women went four straight tournaments without an Algarve title before winning in 2000 behind a Brandi Chastain penalty kick for a 1-0 victory over Norway. The USA has an 18-8-5 all-time record in the Algarve Cup, which is perhaps the world’s most competitive women’s international event outside of the Women's World Cup, the Olympics and the European Championship.

None of the matches will be televised in the United States, but fans can follow the USA’s grueling schedule of four games in seven days online at ussoccer.com's MatchTracker, presented by Philips Electronics.

Since the expansion from eight to 12 teams three years ago, the Algarve Cup format has been as follows. The teams in Group A and B will compete for the title as the group winners will play in the championship game on Saturday, March 20. The two second-place group finishers in Groups A and B will play for third place, while the third-place finishers will play for fifth place. The Group C teams will be competing for a chance to play for spots 7-12 as the winner of Group C will play the fourth place team in Group A, the second place team in Group C will play the fourth place team in Group B, and the third and fourth place finishers in Group C will play each other again.

The USA has not faced Denmark since a hard-fought 3-2 win in the fifth-place match of the 2002 Algarve Cup as Shannon MacMillan registered the only hat trick in U.S. Women’s National Team history that came in a one-goal win. The USA has played France eight times, but it has been almost seven years since the last meeting against the French, who qualified for their first Women’s World Cup in 2003. The USA is developing quite a rivalry with Sweden, meeting in the opening match of the 2003 Women’s World Cup as well as the last five Algarve Cups. The two teams also met on Jan. 30 at the Four Nations Tournament in China, a 3-0 U.S. win.

Following is the complete Algarve Cup schedule:

Group A
Denmark
France
Sweden
USA

Group B
Canada
China
Finland
Norway

Group C
Greece
Northern Ireland
Portugal
Wales

Sunday, March 14
USA vs. France
Denmark vs. Sweden
Norway vs. Finland
Canada vs. China
Portugal vs. Wales
Greece vs. Northern Ireland

Thursday, March 16
Denmark vs. USA
Sweden vs. France
Norway vs. Canada
Finland vs. China
Portugal vs. Greece
Wales vs. Northern Ireland

Thursday, March 18
Sweden vs. USA
Denmark vs. France
Norway vs. China
Finland vs. Canada
Portugal vs. Northern Ireland
Wales vs. Greece

Saturday, March 20
Placement Matches

Press Release courtesy of www.ussoccer.com

[Soccerdad]

we are in a tough group

[Frank Cunha]

Shannon Boxx scored three goals and Mia Hamm added a pair, plus two assists, as the U.S. women's national team destroyed Trinidad & Tobago in its opener Wednesday at the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying opener.

Kristine Lilly and Abby Wambach also tallied in the Americans' 7-0 romp, in which they dominated from start to finish.

The U.S. women outshot the Soca Princesses, 27-1, putting 18 shots on frame while goalkeeper Briana Scurry needed to make only one save. It was 6-0 by halftime and could have been 10-0 or 11-0 if not for several spectacular stops by T&T goalkeeper Nicole Mitchell.

U.S. Soccer announced the crowd at Nacional Stadium in San Jose, Costa Rica, as 750. CONCACAF reported it was 1,500.

Mexico romped past Haiti, 5-0, in its opener as Paty Perez netted a hat trick and Maribel Dominguez and Iris Mora added late goals. The United States meets Haiti on Friday and Mexico on Sunday.

Group A play begins Thursday in Heredia, with Canada meeting Jamaica and host Costa Rica taking on Panama. The winners of the March 3 semifinals qualify for the Aug. 11-26 tournament at the Athens Olympics.

Boxx, a defensive midfielder, scored in the 22nd, 37th and 81st minutes, giving her eight goals in 13 international appearances. Hamm nudged closer to an unprecedented 150 goals, netting her 145th and 146th three minutes apart just before halftime.

The Americans applied heavy pressure from the opening whistle but couldn't score their first until Boxx's first, which bounced inside the left corner from 18 yards off the remains of a corner kick.

Lilly got hers three minutes later, a 30-yard left-footer to the goal's left side, and the U.S. women added four more in an eight-minute span near the end of the first half.

Boxx headed home a Hamm corner kick in the 37th minute to make it 3-0, and Hamm volleyed to the left corner from 18 yards in the 41st after Boxx lofted a ball over the T&T backline.

Wambach nodded in Lilly's corner kick in the 42nd, and Hamm finished from close range in the 44th after Lindsay Tarpley freed Wambach on the left side of the box.

The Americans started a similar lineup as in the Four Nations tournament, except with Hamm attacking from the right instead of Shannon MacMillan.

[Frank Cunha]

U.S. Ladies Defeat Mexico 29/02/04

A Mexico own goal in the 10th minute and an insurance goal by Abby Wambach in the 26th minute were all the U.S. needed to top Mexico 2-0 on Sunday to win Group B of the CONCACAF Final Round Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

The U.S. defense continued to dominate and has not allowed a goal in 2004. The streak, which dates to Nov. 2, 2003, includes 589 minutes of shutout soccer.

With a 2-0 lead going into the second half, the U.S. did not press forward very often and was unable to get a shot off in the entire second half.

The U.S. will play the second place team in Group A on Wednesday, March 3 at Estadio Nacional in San Jose, Costa Rica. The U.S. must win their semifinal match to advance to the Athens Olympics this summer.

[Soccerdad]

beat Mexico......................awsum