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U.S. women's soccer team ready for vital second leg
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By Martin Rogers
November 29, 2010 • Share
Chicago, IL – Thanksgiving took a different twist than was expected for the U.S. women’s national soccer team.
Instead of peaceful holidays with their families, the recently beleaguered Olympic champions were left to give thanks for a shot at redemption, while remaining wary of becoming festive turkeys.
The U.S. takes on Italy at Toyota Park just outside Chicago on Saturday, the second leg of a two-part playoff that will send the winner to the Women’s World Cup in Germany next year. A late winner from Alex Morgan sealed a 1-0 win in Padova, Italy, last weekend, but there is still precious little wiggle room.
For the world’s No. 1 team, qualification should have been a formality. But a shock defeat to Mexico in regional play thrust the U.S. team into a do-or-die predicament, ruining a bunch of holiday plans.
Instead of scattering to hometowns across the nation, coach Pia Sundhage and her players had Thanksgiving dinner together on Thursday, with the feast spiced up by the lurking threat of disaster.
“We know we are fortunate to have this second chance and are very aware of the need to make the most of it,” forward Abby Wambach said. “Having Thanksgiving together as a team is not anything new for us. It has happened many times in the past.
“Of course this is not the kind of situation we would have wanted, but we have to deal with it and handle this successfully. Most of us had plans in place, but that’s gone now and we have a job to do.”
Failure to complete that job doesn’t bare too much thought for the Americans, who have dominated women’s soccer for most of the last two decades but have recently been challenged by a number of fast-improving nations.
Despite having won the last two Olympics, the U.S. will not be the favorite to win the World Cup, assuming it gets past the plucky Italians. That honor belongs to Germany, the defending World Cup champion and tournament host next summer.
“We have to be there,” veteran midfielder Kristine Lilly said. “We definitely don’t want to look past Italy, but of course we want to be at the World Cup and try to win the World Cup. We don’t want to be second best and we know we are capable of great things because we have shown it time after time.”
Missing out on the World Cup would be a catastrophe for the U.S., and there will undoubtedly be plenty of nerves Saturday. Bringing a one-goal advantage home makes the Americans a heavy favorite, but Italy showed fight and courage in the first leg and travels well, having won a European playoff in Ukraine.
Even with a booked passage to Germany, now might be a good time for the U.S. to evaluate its approach. Women’s soccer is making great strides internationally, with the level of talent and sophistication increasing year after year.
The U.S. has always been on top largely due to its outstanding work rate and athletic ability. The Americans have a huge pool of top-level athletes who have come through the college system to call upon.
Such an approach may need some modification in the near future, with a grassroots push to improve technical skills perhaps necessary to boost the likelihood of future domination.
For now, though, there is a game to win, a potential embarrassment to avoid and a World Cup to reach. For the U.S., the tournament starts effective now.
• Soccer, World Cup News Archive Index
2010, 2009
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