Related Articles U.S. WNT Arrives in Portugal as Wednesday's Algarve Cup Opener vs. China Approaches WNT Head Coach Greg Ryan Names 20-Player Roster for 2007 Algarve Cup U.S. Women Kick Off Algarve Cup Preparations at The Home Depot Center

CHICAGO (February 12, 2007) – Coming off a championship at the 2007 Four Nations Tournament in China at the end of January, the U.S. Women’s National Team returns to training on Wednesday with a 28-player camp running from Feb. 14-21 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

Following the camp, U.S. head coach Greg Ryan will name 20 players that will travel to the 14th annual Algarve Cup, to be played from March 7-14, 2007, in southern Portugal.

To open the Algarve Cup on March 7, the USA will play China for the second time in a row this year, with just 36 days separating the matches. The two teams last met in the final match of the Four Nations Tournament on Jan. 30 in Guangzhou, China, a 2-0 U.S. win that clinched the tournament title.

The Americans, who have been drawn into Group B at the prestigious Algarve Cup, will also face Finland on March 9 and finish first-round play against Sweden on March 12. All three of the USA’s first round matches will be played at 4:15 p.m. local time / 11:15 a.m. ET. All the first round games are played at small venues spread out over the Algarve region on the southern coast of the country with all of the placement matches taking place on March 14. Fans can follow the USA’s grueling schedule of four games in eight days online with ussoccer.com's MatchTracker.

Group A features defending Algarve Cup champions Germany, as well as Norway, France and Denmark. Six of the eight teams in Groups A and B will be participating in the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup in China come September, with only France and Finland missing out. Group C features Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Iceland.

Since the expansion from eight to 12 teams in 2002, the Algarve Cup format has been as follows: The tournament will feature four match days – March 7, 9, 12 and 14 – with six matches each day. The teams in Group A and B will compete for the title as the group winners will play in the championship game on Wednesday, March 14, at the beautiful Stadium Algarve, built for the 2004 European Championships. The two second-place finishers in Groups A and B will play for third place while the third-place finishers will play for fifth. The Group C teams will be competing for a chance to play for spots 7-11 as the winner of Group C will play the best fourth place team from Groups A and B. The second place team in Group C will play worst fourth place team from Groups A or B and the third and fourth place teams in Group C will play each other for a second time.

This will be the 12th trip to the Algarve Cup for the U.S. who, from 2003-2005, won an unprecedented three straight championships at what has become the world’s most competitive women’s international event outside of the Women's World Cup, the Olympics and the European Championship. At last year’s Algarve Cup, the USA advanced to the championship game, but fell in penalty kicks to Germany to break its hold on the tournament.

The USA ended a streak of four Algarve tournaments without a title in 2000 when they defeated Norway, 1-0, in the championship game. Including that first title, the USA has now won four of the last seven Algarve Cups. The USA defeated China, 2-0, in the 2003 championship game. In 2004, the USA put together a resounding 4-1 victory over Norway as Abby Wambach pounded in three goals. In 2005, the USA held off a talented German side for a 1-0 win in the title game.

The USA, which did not participate in the tournament 1996 or 1997, carries a 27-9-7 all-time Algarve Cup record into this year’s competition. The U.S. Women’s National Team has lost just 50 total games in its 22-year history, meaning almost 20 percent of those losses have come at the Algarve Cup, a stat representative of the difficulty of this competition.

Five veterans who did not travel to China in January for the Four Nations Tournament return to the U.S. team for training camp in forwards Kristine Lilly and Abby Wambach, midfielder Aly Wagner, defender Christie Rampone and midfielder Shannon Boxx, who will see her first full action in training since major knee surgery last July.

Eighteen of the 20 players who combined to win the Four Nations Tournament will be in camp, with the exception of defenders Kate Markgraf and Stephanie Lopez. Lopez has school commitments while Markgraf, who captained the team in China, will not attend this training camp to rest and recuperate some minor injuries. She could be available for selection to the Algarve Cup roster.

While Boxx is the most notable return to the U.S. roster, as she has been cleared for full participation after not having played for the USA since May 9, 2006, against Japan, Ryan has also called back two other players who participated in Residency Training Camp in 2006. Goalkeeper Jenni Branam, who spent some time recovering from a back injury and illness, will join Hope Solo and Briana Scurry in the U.S. goalkeeping corps, while forward Danielle Fotopoulous, owner of 16 international goals, is a little more than a year removed from ACL surgery.

Ryan also continues to invest in numerous young players, including uncapped defenders Rachel Buehler and Keeley Dowling, both starters on the U.S. team that won the 2002 FIFA Under-19 Women’s World Championship in Canada. Ryan also called back midfielder Yael Averbuch and forward Casey Nogueira, both of whom got their first caps at the Four Nations Tournament, and forward Kacey White, who debuted at the Peace Queen Cup in South Korea last November.

UNITED STATES WOMEN’S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM
Training Camp Roster
Feb. 14-21, 2007
The Home Depot Center – Carson, California

Player	Pos.	Ht.	DOB	Hometown	College	Caps/Goals
Averbuch, Yael	M	5-10	11/03/86	Upper Montclair, N.J.	UNC	2/0
Boxx, Shannon	M	5-8	06/29/77	Redondo Beach, Calif.	Notre Dame	59/14
Branam, Jenni	GK	5-7	10/08/80	Placentia, Calif.	UNC	6
Buehler, Rachel	D	5-5	08/26/85	Del Mar, Calif.	Stanford	0/0
Chalupny, Lori	D	5-4	01/29/84	St. Louis, Mo.	UNC	32/3
Cheney, Lauren	F	5-8	09/30/87	Indianapolis, Ind.	UCLA	1/0
Dowling, Keeley	D	5-8	02/17/83	Carmel, Ind.	Tennessee	0/0
Frimpong, Tina	D	5-9	05/20/82	Vancouver, Wash.	Washington	19/0
Fotopoulos, Danielle	F	5-11	03/24/76	Altamonte Springs, Fla.	Florida	35/16
Hucles, Angela	M	5-7	07/05/78	Virginia Beach, Va.	Virginia	62/5
Kai, Natasha	F	5-8	05/22/83	Kahuku, Hawaii	Hawaii	20/7
Lilly, Kristine	F	5-4	07/22/71	Wilton, Conn.	UNC	319/117
Lloyd, Carli	M	5-8	07/16/82	Delran, N.J.	Rutgers	24/1
Lohman, Joanna	M	5-5	06/26/82	Silver Spring, Md.	Penn State	9/0
Miller, Marci	M	5-7	12/04/75	St. Charles, Ill.	SMU	14/0
Mitts, Heather	D	5-5	06/09/78	Cincinnati, Ohio	Florida	66/2
Nogueira, Casey	F	5-6	02/23/89	Cedarburg, Wis.	UNC	1/0
O’Reilly, Heather	F	5-5	01/02/85	East Brunswick, N.J.	UNC	54/9
Osborne, Leslie	M	5-8	05/27/83	Brookfield, Wis.	Santa Clara	33/2
Rampone, Christie	D	5-6	06/24/75	Point Pleasant, N.J.	Monmouth	156/4
Scurry, Briana	GK	5-8	09/07/71	Dayton, Minn.	UMass	159
Solo, Hope	GK	5-9	07/30/81	Richland, Wash.	Washington	39
Tarpley, Lindsay	F	5-6	09/22/83	Kalamazoo, Mich.	UNC	61/13
Trotter, India	D	5-8	03/10/85	Plantation, Fla.	Florida State	2/0
Wagner, Aly	M	5-5	08/10/80	San Jose, Calif.	Santa Clara	109/21
Wambach, Abby	F	5-11	06/02/80	Rochester, N.Y.	Florida	84/66
White, Kacey	F	5-4	04/24/84	Arlington, Texas	UNC	2/0
Whitehill, Cat	D	5-5	02/10/82	Birmingham, Ala.	UNC	102/11

GOALKEEPERS (3): Jenni Branam (Placentia, Calif.), Briana Scurry (Dayton, Minn.), Hope Solo (Richland, Wash.);
DEFENDERS (8): Rachel Buehler (Del Mar, Calif.), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis, Mo.), Keeley Dowling (Carmel, Ind.), Tina Frimpong (Vancouver, Wash.), Heather Mitts (Cincinnati, Ohio), Christie Rampone (Point Pleasant, N.J.), India Trotter (Plantation, Fla.), Cat Whitehill (Birmingham, Ala.);
MIDFIELDERS (8): Yael Averbuch (Upper Montclair, N.J.), Shannon Boxx (Redondo Beach, Calif.), Angela Hucles (Virginia Beach, Va.), Carli Lloyd (Delran, N.J.), Joanna Lohman (Silver Spring, Md.), Marci Miller (St. Charles, Ill.), Leslie Osborne (Brookfield, Wis.), Aly Wagner (San Jose, Calif.);
FORWARDS (9): Lauren Cheney (Indianapolis, Ind.), Danielle Fotopoulos (Altamonte Springs, Fla.), Natasha Kai (Kahuku, Hawaii), Kristine Lilly (Wilton, Conn.), Casey Nogueira (Cedarburg, Wis.), Heather O’Reilly (East Brunswick, N.J.), Lindsay Tarpley (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Abby Wambach (Rochester, N.Y.), Kacey White (Arlington, Texas).

14th Annual Algarve Cup - The Algarve, Portugal
Group A
Germany, Norway, France, Denmark
Group B
USA, China, Finland, Sweden
Group C
Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Iceland

March 7
Germany vs. Norway
France vs. Denmark
USA vs. China
Sweden vs. Finland
Iceland vs. Italy
Portugal vs. Ireland

March 9
Norway vs. Denmark
France vs. Germany
USA vs. Finland
Sweden vs. China
Ireland vs. Iceland
Portugal vs. Italy

March 12
Denmark vs. Germany
Norway vs. France
USA vs. Sweden
Finland vs. China
Italy vs. Ireland
Portugal vs. Iceland

March 14
11th Place Match
9th Place Match
7th Place Match
5th Place Match
3rd Place Match
Championship

Team Staff:
Head Coach: Greg Ryan - Colorado Springs, Colo.
Asst. Coach: Bret Hall - St. Charles, Ill.
GK Coach: Phil Wheddon - Monroe, Conn.
Asst. Coach: Billy McNicol - Huntington Beach, Calif.
General Manager: Cheryl Bailey - Redondo Beach, Calif.
Medical Trainer: Greg Banks - Charleston, S.C.
Medical Trainer: Mary Martin - Dawson, Ga.
Massage Therapist: Scott Street - East Troy, Wis.
Massage Therapist: Kara Mirarchi - Long Beach, Calif.
Equipment Manager: Jeanine Avila - West Covina, Calif.
Team Security: Mark Pharris - Atlanta, Ga.
Videographer: Noelle Jouglet - San Diego, Calif.
Press Officer: Aaron Heifetz - Cypress, Calif.