China's government was so concerned about the possibility of athlete demonstrations in the Beijing Olympics that it created a list of nine U.S. athletes and one assistant coach it thought might cause trouble at the Games, according to an internal U.S. Olympic Committee e-mail obtained by USA TODAY.
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"This may be the biggest compliment of my life," Wambach, a member of Team Darfur, said in a phone interview when informed of the list. "If they're worried about us, maybe we do have more strength as athletes and as people to speak out. This just gives me more empowerment."
BEIJING WATCH LIST
The 10 Americans on Beijing's watch list, not all of whom were actually Olympians:
Jessica Mendoza, softball.
Jennie Finch, softball.
Natasha Watley, softball.
Amanda Freed, softball.
Karen Johns, softball assistant coach.
Laura Goodwin, golfer.
Abby Wambach, soccer.
Jonathan Page, cyclist.
Jen Howitt, Paralympic basketball.
Cheri Blauwet, Paralympic wheelchair racer
The former high school and college All-American and U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year said her comeback is on schedule for next spring, when the second women's professional league will start. She'll have to wait three more years for the next World Cup. Wambach also conducted two clinics this week in the Albany area and one in Syracuse that attracted about 1,500 children combined.
She flies back to Los Angeles, where she lives and the U.S. team is based, today to resume full-scale rehabilitation about four times a week. The Americans' top scorer the past four years, she has been in upstate New York for about three weeks.
Wambach spent most of the Olympics with her family near Alexandria Bay, where they vacation each summer. That's where she proudly watched her team, cast as underdogs without her, triumph by upsetting Brazil in overtime, 1-0, in the final.
"I'm so proud of them. It was so amazing for me to watch that last game," said the player who scored the winning goal in OT in the 2004 gold-medal match in Athens, Greece.
She flirted with the idea of going to China to root her team on in person and got permission from her coach, Pia Sundhage, but then changed her mind. She also turned down offers from USA Today and TV networks to provide commentary.
"Most people would say for sure, but that's just not me. I didn't want to negatively affect the team. I didn't want to be a distraction," she said. "The truth is I want to be back on that team for a lot more years and when you start criticizing and analyzing your teammates publicly, you cross over into territory that's not suitable to me."
The heart, soul and leading scorer of a young U.S. Women's National Soccer Team will not play in the 2008 Olympic Games.
Wambach will be on crutches for about two weeks and then is expected to face 12 weeks of rehabilitation for what Dr. John Gorczyca, an orthopedic surgeon at Strong Memorial Hospital who is familiar with such injuries, said could be a “career-altering injury.”
“Will she ever be as good as she has been? Perhaps. … It may be that this changes her career,” he said this morning. “Most people with a fracture like hers make a complete recovery. The fact that it’s (the fracture is) midshaft is good. If it’s closer to the knee or ankle we need to be a little more cautious. That’s a favorable prognosis for her to be able to get back to playing soccer more quickly.”
He said about 80 percent of these types of fractures heal in three months, but “the problem is they continue to hurt for more than a year and oftentimes for more than two years, especially with running and jumping and kicking activities, which is what she does.
“How bad will it hurt her? We don’t know. What’s her tolerance for pain? Probably great.”
But Gorczyca added, “I’m a fan of hers. She’s a great thing for Rochester soccer and U.S. soccer.”
Group A: China, Canada, Argentina, Sweden.
Group B: North Korea, Brazil, Nigeria, Germany.
Group C: Norway, Japan, U.S., New Zealand.
Plenty of wrenching decisions, though, lie ahead.
There is goalkeeper Hope Solo and the scars from her much-publicized banishment at the 2007 World Cup last September. Solo and her teammates have worked to mend their tattered relationship, but Solo also has admitted “there are still some people who I realize I may never be close to again.”
There is the fitness level of hefty defender Cat Whitehill, a starter in the 2003 and '07 World Cups and 2004 Olympics. Sundhage has already made a subtle statement by benching Whitehall through most of the Algarve Cup and Olympic qualification.
There is the disposition of 5-foot-11 forward Abby Wambach, who is the team's most gifted player and whose abrasive personality can (and does) rub teammates and coaches the wrong way. She was the focal point in former coach Greg Ryan's bang-it-forward system, but Sundhage's offensive diversification ultimately means fewer touches for the No. 5 scorer in U.S. history.
There is the leadership void created when Kristine Lilly, the lone remaining link to the 1991 World Cup title, took the year off to start a family.
GOALKEEPERS: Nicole Barnhart (Gilbertsville, Pa.), Hope Solo (Richland, Wash.);
DEFENDERS: Rachel Buehler (Del Mar, Calif.), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis, Mo.), Stephanie Cox (Elk Grove, Calif.), Kate Markgraf (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Christie Rampone (Point Pleasant, N.J.), Cat Whitehill (Birmingham, Ala.);
MIDFIELDERS: 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);
FORWARDS: 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.).
USA Olympic Qualification Schedule – Group A
Date Match-Up Kickoff Local / Pacific Time
April 4 USA vs. Jamaica 7:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. PT
April 6 USA vs. Mexico 1:30 p.m. MT / 12:30 p.m. PT
2008 CONCACAF WOMEN’S OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION SCHEDULE
Group A
Date Match-up Kickoff (Local)
April 2 Mexico vs. Jamaica 7:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. PT
April 4 USA vs. Jamaica 7:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. PT
April 6 Mexico vs. USA 1:30 p.m. MT / 12:30 p.m. PT
Group B
Date Match-up Kickoff (Local)
April 2 Trinidad & Tobago vs. Canada 5 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. PT
April 4 Costa Rica vs. Trinidad & Tobago 5 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. PT
April 6 Canada vs. Costa Rica 11 a.m. MT / 10 a.m. PT
Semifinals Kickoff (Local)
April 9 Winner Group A vs. Runner-up Group B 5 p.m. MT / 4 p.m. PT
April 9 Winner Group B vs. Runner-up Group A 7:30 p.m. MT / 6:30 p.m. PT
Final/Third-place Game Kickoff (Local)
April 12 Third-Place Game 5 p.m. MT / 4:00 p.m. PT
April 12 Championship 7:30 p.m. MT / 6:30 p.m. PT
VILA REAL DE SANTO ANTONIO, Portugal -- Abby Wambach scored her 88th international goal Wednesday to help the United States win the Algarve Cup for a record sixth time with a 2-1 victory over Denmark.
Wambach scored the winning goal in the 49th minute, sprinting down the right flank and breaking two tackles before exchanging passes with Natasha Kai and sending a low drive into the corner.
Kai gave the Americans the lead with a header in the 14th, but Denmark's Cathrine Sorensen scored in the 30th.
CHICAGO (January 7, 2008) – Kristine Lilly, the captain of the U.S. Women’s National Team for the last three years, will not play international soccer in 2008 as she is expecting her first child with husband David Heavey, a firefighter in Brookline, Mass.
The news means that Lilly, who has played in every Women’s World Cup and Olympics ever contested by the United States (eight total tournaments) will not play in the 2008 Olympics should the USA qualify in April. Lilly is due in July.
“I’m not closing any doors as far as soccer,” said Lilly, who has played 340 games for the USA. “I hope to play in the new league and if one day I get the chance to play for (new U.S. head coach) Pia (Sundhage), that would be fantastic. But for now, I’m focusing on becoming a mom for the first time and everything that goes with that experience.”
Not surprisingly [] Sundhage preaches a European-style "total football" approach, where Greg Ryan, her predecessor as U.S. coach, emphasized defense first .
"She's making everybody defend and everybody do the offensive side," said midfielder Shannon Boxx, the former South Torrance High star. "Greg was very much on the defensive side and Pia is very much on the offensive side."
Presumably, that will eliminate the reliance on low-percentage long balls out of the back and then hoping goal-scoring machine Abby Wambach can get on the end of them.
Finesse and tactical awareness will replace brute strength and strategic naivete.
And players will be asked to do more, rather than simply fill a niche and perform a specialized role.
THE FIRST TRAINING CAMP CONDUCTED by recently hired U.S. women's national team camp Pia Sundhage will be brief, but it will be important. She has just eight months to repair the effects of a goalkeeping controversy and a humiliating 4-0 loss to Brazil in the Women's World Cup semifinals before the Americans defend their 2004 Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Games in Beijing.
Sundhage named a squad of 23 - including 16 players from the WWC roster - for five days of training at Home Depot Center starting this Saturday.
Captain Kristine Lilly is among the absentees; goalkeepers Briana Scurry and Hope Solo, who were swept up in a media firestorm when former coach Greg Ryan switched Solo for Scurry as the starter prior to the semifinal, have both been summoned.
Defender Heather Mitts, who suffered a knee injury May 12 that knocked her off the WWC roster, has been invited to the camp. Also selected were seven collegiate players, only two of whom - Casey Nogueira and Angie Woznuk - have been capped for the senior national team.
Sundhage's roster for the five-day training camp reflects her stated desire to play a more possession-oriented style. On it are USDHS alum Angie Woznuk, a talented central midfielder who recently finished her career at Portland, and North Carolina sophomore forward Casey Nogueira, the daughter of former Sockers goalkeeper Victor Nogueira.
Below is the mini-camp roster by position:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Nicole Barnhart (Gilbertsville, Pa.), Briana Scurry (Dayton, Minn.), Hope Solo (Richland, Wash.).
DEFENDERS (6): Rachel Buehler (Del Mar, Calif.), Marian Dalmy (Lakewood, Colo.), Kate Markgraf (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Heather Mitts (Cincinnati, Ohio), Christie Rampone (Point Pleasant, N.J.), Cat Whitehill (Birmingham, Ala.).
MIDFIELDERS (9): Yael Averbuch (Upper Montclair, N.J.), Shannon Boxx (Redondo Beach, Calif.), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis, Mo.), Tobin Heath (Basking Ridge, N.J.), Carli Lloyd (Delran, N.J.), Leslie Osborne (Brookfield, Wis.), Aly Wagner (San Jose, Calif.), Nikki Washington (Mesquite, Texas), Angie Woznuk (El Cajon, Calif.).
FORWARDS (6): Michelle Enyeart (Hemet, Calif.), Natasha Kai (Kahuku, Hawaii), Casey Nogueira (Raleigh, N.C.), Heather O'Reilly (East Brunswick, N.J.), Lindsay Tarpley (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Abby Wambach (Rochester, N.Y.).
Lilly, in her record 327th international game, scored her 123rd goal for the national team. The 35-year-old player in her 20th year on the squad sent a left-footed free kick from the corner of the box that soared into the far upper corner of the net over goalkeeper Andrea. The shot almost certainly would have beaten any male keeper, too.
Title IX turns 35 this month and the bad gals have officially won. Sex quotas in sports under the anti-discrimination law are de rigeur on college campuses. And the Bush administration's failure to even challenge this perversion of the law — concocted, for the most part, by and during the Clinton administration — means that eliminating men's sports opportunities in the name of "creating" opportunities for women now has bipartisan blessing.
Apart from issuing toothless guidance on using student surveys to comply with Title IX in 2005, the Bush administration has been a crushing disappointment to supporters of endangered men's sports.
CARSON, Calif. — The U.S. women's soccer team extended its record unbeaten streak and earned its third CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup title Sunday night — barely.
Kristine Lilly converted a penalty kick in the final minute of overtime to give the USA a 2-1 victory over Canada in front of 6,749 at the Home Depot Center.
The USA received the penalty kick after Canada's Robyn Gale fouled Carli Lloyd in the penalty area in the 120th minute.
Lilly, the tournament MVP, scored her 117th international goal in her 319th game by placing the ball to the right of goalkeeper Erin McLeod. The victory extended the USA's record unbeaten streak to 32 games.
"Health comes first, and I don't want to risk health," Totti told Italian news agency ANSA on Monday. "I strongly want (to play in) the World Cup ... but this is a hope more than a promise. I'll go only if I'm fully recovered."
Ghana's midfield did suffer a severe blow, however, when Laryea Kingston clashed – rather innocuously it must be said – with Senegal's Habib Beye in their group clash on Jan 27th and both players were sent off.
Kingston, a dynamo who plays his football in Russia for Lokomotiv Moscow and is one of Ghana's most potent attacking aces, received a stinging four-match ban which means he will miss their group games in Germany and can only return for the knockout stages.
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