The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games may be over but in Europe, the football continues.
Since 1994, the Algarve Cup women's football tournament has earned its place among the most prestigious alongside the Olympics and the Women's World Cup. During the past decade, Pia Sundhage's USA Women's National Team has been the most successful, winning the tournament six times.
This year, Abby Wambach and the WNT-consisting entirely of Women's Professional Soccer based players-were intent on taking the crown away from defending title holders Sweden. The end result: four straight wins to start the 2010 schedule.
The USA started group play on Wednesday, February 24 with a 2-0 victory over Iceland. Goalkeeper Hope Solo, a seasoned veteran between the pipes for many of the WNT's campaigns, stopped two crucial penalties. Iceland was unlucky to allow two goals in as many minutes: an own goal by Sif Atladóttir in the 60th minute and a shot from the Boston Breakers' Lauren Cheney in the 61st.
“I saw that their two center-backs had stepped up," Cheney said on her goal, "but there outside backs held, so I just made a little bent run and Lori found me and I stayed composed. It was just me and the goalie.”
“We've only been here a couple of days so the first game is always tough, but I think we picked up the rhythm as the game went on," said Sundhage after the match. “We need to see more from the center mids. It’s not only about [Shannon] Boxx and Carli, but for the team to find the them. We tried to play that big ball and just passed the center mids. If we can get them more involved in the game, it will change the rhythm and will be a bit more unpredictable if they dicate the tempo."
“I’ve never faced two penalty kicks in one ninety-minute game before," said Solo on her stops. “We had a slow start. We had chances at the begining and didn’t put them away. It took a lot of patience to finally get one goal, then the next one came.
"It wasn’t our best game. We had moments of brilliance, but the ground was hard, really bumpy and we had a hard time getting our first touch. It can get better and it will get better in the next game.”
Abby Wambach of the Washington Freedom was the answer. Already one of the game's most prolific scorers with 101, she made it 103 en route to a 2-1 victory over Norway on Friday, February 26.
Sloppy pitch conditions and a string of changes by new manager Eli Landsem in the 2nd half failed to deter the USA from scoring two minutes into stoppage time. A long delivery pass from center back Cat Whitehill found Cheney, who was credited with the Wambach winner.
“The surface was pretty interesting, it doesn’t really play into either one of our hands, but I think we did well with it today," Wambach said after the match. "On a field like this, you really just want to get it as high as possible as soon as possible. Playing on the ground is hit or miss, but obviously at the end to tuck one in is great for our team.”
Sundhage downplayed the pitch conditions. “It is what it is," she said. "You have to adjust your game and I think we did quite well. That’s one of the reasons we put Cat Whitehill on at center back...We could attack in a different way because of her long balls.”
To wrap up group play, the WNT took on Sweden...and got their revenge with a 2-0 victory. Once again, it was Cheney who took the honors, scoring a brace to send the USA to a date with Germany in the final.
In the 56th minute, a well-delivered through ball by Casey Nogueira (Chicago Red Stars) found Cheney, whose finish was untouchable for any of the Swedish defenders to challenge. Cheney would deliver the hammer with a 20-yard strike, facilitated by Lori Lindsey (Philadelphia Independence).
Sundhage chose to go with a 4-3-3 system for the second half, and it paid off.
Heather Mitts (Philadelphia Independence), Rachel Buehler (FC Gold Pride), Amy LePeilbet (Boston Breakers) and Stephanie Cox (Boston Breakers) neutralized Sweden's dangerous tandem of Kosovare Allanni, Jessica Landstrom and Lotta Schelin with excellent one-on-one defending. Solo was sensational, making two saves and a number of stops to earn her second shutout.
“Sweden is so good at finding that run across the back line and our center backs did a great job of making sure they didn’t get behind them," Boxx said after the game. "In the second half...[the 4-3-3] made them have to go around us. I think that stopped them a lot in their attack.”
Cox was also with the consensus in the Yanks camp who felt it was a gamble well spent. "We came out with a little bit different mentality in the second half to dictate how we wanted to defend and not let their attack dictate to us," she said. "The formation (change) really helped having Boxxy sitting there in the middle and cleaning up balls for us."
Birgit Prinz, Inka Grings, Melanie Behringer and the rest of Silvia Neid's German squad were destined to be the USA's main threat to the Algarve Cup, but it was the Stars and Stripes who struck first blood with two goals in four minutes.
In the 19th minute, it was Carli Lloyd (Sky Blue FC) who delivered a blistering 22yard strike past keeper Nadine Angerer. Sundhage's ladies made Germany pay for a foul on Cheney in the 22nd minute to make the score 2-0. Buehler wasted no time delivering the subsequents free kick to Sky Blue FC's Heather O'Reilly, setting up an Abby Wambach header.
Grings made it 2-1 with four minutes to go in the first half, but in the 70th minute, Cheney took advantage of a botched save by Angerer to make it 3-1 USA.
Down the finish, Grings-who will certainly end the 2010 Algarve Cup as the tournament's leading scorer-got the brace in the 75th minute thanks to excellent ball handling by Behringer.
With a possible rally by Neid's team forthcoming, it was up to Solo, Buehler and LePeilbet to perform some key sweeping on a pitch compromised by Mother Nature and intense action in the group stage.
Alexandra Popp had a solid chance to bring home the equalizer in the 89th but it was called offside. Another attempt by Celia Okiyino da Mbabi in stoppage time went wide left.
In the end, it was none other than Solo who bailed the USA out of danger and saved the day. A miscommunication between Buehler and LePeilbet almost resulted in an embarrassing own goal for the Yanks.
However, the St. Louis Athletica keeper instinctively dived on the loose
ball to effectively secure the USA their seventh Algarve Cup.
The next match for the USA Women's National Team will be on Sunday, March 28 against Mexico. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. PT at Torero Stadium in San Diego, Calif.
