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 NEW GROUND: The Next Phase for the WNT |
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With the storybook run to the 2004 Olympic gold medal behind them, and the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup in China still off in the distance, 2005 is a chance for new stars to emerge on the U.S. Women’s National Team. It is also a chance for the current crop of veteran players to take over the leadership of the most successful women’s soccer team in history.
In 2005, the U.S. women have entered what can be described as one of the first “transition” years in the history of the program as legendary stars Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett have all retired. Their moving on, though, gives way to a new generation of players who will be charged with keeping the USA at the top of the women’s international game.
With the U.S. U-20 and U-21 National Teams constantly giving the top young players in the country a chance to perform for the national team, new U.S. head coach and technical director Greg Ryan will be challenged to develop a new-look team to compete with the ever-improving soccer powers around the world.
Currently sitting atop the FIFA Women’s World Rankings tied with Germany, the U.S. Women’s National Team will play several matches during the spring and fall, giving Ryan the opportunity to watch numerous players while the core of the team that will attempt to qualify for the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup begins to take shape.
The USA’s schedule in 2005 kicked off with the annual Algarve Cup in March in Portugal, with the Americans winning for the third time in a row, this time most impressively. Ryan led the team to four consecutive wins, and for the first time in Algarve history, the team did not allow a goal, while defeating Germany, 1-0, in the championship game. |
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| GLOW STILL GOLDEN FOR U.S. WOMEN |
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The U.S. Women’s National Team is coming off one of the greatest years in the 20-year history of the program, compiling a record of 28-2-4 that included an Olympic Gold medal and the perfect send-off for veteran players participating in their final world championship. Former U.S. head coach April Heinrichs used 27 players in 34 international matches in 2004 (the second-most ever in a calendar year) while playing 18 matches before the Olympics, six games in Greece and 10 games on the 2004 “Fan Celebration Tour.” The U.S. team played its 34 matches on three continents, in five countries, in 16 U.S. states and in 27 cities in the USA and around the world.
The USA won all four tournaments it entered in 2004, taking top honors at the Four Nations Tournament in China in January, the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in February, the Algarve Cup in Portugal in March and the 2004 Olympics in August. The only losses in 2004 came to Sweden and Denmark, but the USA also beat the Swedes in the first match of the year and defeated Denmark at the 2004 Algarve Cup. The U.S. broke its record for wins in a calendar year against Ireland on Oct. 23 when the team notched its 27th win in just 31 matches, breaking the record of 26 it set in 2000. It took the team 40 matches in 2000 to win 26 games.
The USA navigated its way to the gold medal through the unusual 10-team Olympic tournament format, playing three first-round matches as opposed to the two games played by five of the other seven quarterfinalists. The USA defeated Greece, 3-0, in its opening Olympic match, overcame a poor first half to defeat Brazil, 2-0, in the second group match and then tied Australia, 1-1, to end first round play, but that draw was good enough to give the USA the group title. In the quarterfinals, the USA was playing on just two days rest while facing a Japanese team with five days between games. Nevertheless, the USA prevailed 2-1 on goals by Kristine Lilly and Abby Wambach to set up an epic meeting with Germany in the semifinals. The USA got a regulation goal from Lilly, but was forced to overtime by a stoppage time goal from Germany, only to see Hamm connect to 19-year-old Heather O’Reilly for the game-winning score to send the Americans to the gold medal match. In Athens, the USA held off a flamboyantly talented Brazil team to win 2-1 on a Wambach goal in overtime. The thrilling score came just eight minutes from the end of the match after Lilly lofted a corner kick into the penalty area that Wambach powered under the cross bar, off the head of a Brazilian defender and into the roof of the net.
The USA went 14-1-3 in 2004 against teams that participated in the Olympics. Of the top 10 teams in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings at the end of the year, the U.S. WNT defeated seven, and did not face North Korea or Italy. The WNT scored 104 goals in 2004, only the fourth time in the 20 years of the program that the team broke 100 goals. The 104 goals were also the fourth-most ever scored in a calendar year as the team averaged three goals a game.
It was a remarkable individual year for Wambach as well, as she racked up one of the one of the greatest scoring years in U.S. WNT history. Wambach scored 31 goals in the final 30 matches she played in 2004. It was the second highest goal total in a calendar year by a U.S. player and became one of only five players to score 20 or more goals in a year, joining Hamm, Michelle Akers, Lilly and Tiffeny Milbrett. Wambach’s 31 goals and 13 assists (for 75 points) marked just the seventh time a U.S. player recorded double figures in goals and assists in a calendar year and was the second highest point total in U.S. history.
Lilly also achieved a milestone in 2004, becoming the fifth player in history to score 100 career international goals when she tallied Oct. 3 vs. New Zealand. Her 101 goals ranks her fifth all-time in the world history, but she has a good chance to move past Michelle Akers (105), Carolina Morace (105) and Elisabetta Vignotta to becoming second only to Mia Hamm (158). Lilly also extended her world record for caps to 291.
The U.S. team played in front of 304,812 fans in 2004, including 156,134 on the “Fan Celebration Tour.” Sixteen different U.S. players scored a goal in 2004 and Lori Chalupny, Heather Mitts and Lindsay Tarpley scored their first career international goals while Nicole Barnhart, Amy LePeilbet, Kristin Luckenbill and Leslie Osborne earned their first career caps.
Tarpley scored eight goals with three assists while playing only six minutes in one FCT game due to her commitments to her college team, but it was still the third-best scoring performance for a 20-year-old in U.S. history, but just one point behind a then 20-year-old Foudy and nine points behind a then 20-year-old Lilly.
Last year marked the third cycle of an Olympics after a Women’s World Cup. In 1995, the USA finished third at the WWC and then won the Olympics. In 1999, the USA won the WWC, then finished second at the Olympics. In 2003, the USA finished third at the WWC, perhaps a positive foreshadowing for the gold medal run in Athens
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| NEXT GENERATION LOOKS TOWARD CHINA ’07 |
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The 2004 Olympics, and the residency camp that preceded it, provided a grand stage and fertile breeding ground for the next generation of U.S. stars to assert themselves at the international level. Players like O’Reilly, Tarpley, Hope Solo, Angela Hucles, Christie Welsh, LePeilbet, Osborne, and Chalupny among others, stamped their presence on the national team and showed they can contribute to the team’s success in 2005 heading towards the FIFA Women’s World Cup in China in 2007.
With three years between FIFA events, and with numerous veterans stepping aside after brilliant careers, the makeup of the roster that will compete for a spot in China could be radically different than the one that stepped on the podium in Athens, on Aug. 26, 2004, to receive their gold medals.
Although the U.S. team is young – the 2005 Algarve roster averaged 23.4 years of age – there is still a great core of veteran players that will lead the USA towards China. Still going strong is the new team captain, Lilly. One of the most remarkable players in the history of women’s soccer, Lilly will likely surpass 300 caps in 2005 and is certainly holds true to the pedigree of the previous legendary captains, which included Carla Overbeck, Foudy, Heinrichs and Akers. Defenders Kate Markgraf and Christie Rampone, both of whom have been on the USA’s last four world championship rosters, bring tremendous experience and hardness to the U.S. back line, although Rampone will take 2005 off to have her first child.
Young players like Wambach, Cat Reddick, Aly Wagner and Shannon Boxx may also be cast as veterans now, with their cap totals rising and multiple world championships on their resumes. |
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| TALENT, YOUTH AT EVERY POSITION |
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How do you replace Mia Hamm? Answer: you don’t. But the qualities the legendary forward brought to the position – the clinical finishing, unselfish passing, never-ending work rate and slashing dribbling – can be seen in the next generation of U.S. forwards.
Leading the way is Wambach, a physical presence like none other in the women’s game. The towering Cindy Parlow, who at age 27 is the ninth all-time leader in caps and fifth all time leader in scoring, still has some more goals in her legs. The speedy O’Reilly, not yet 21, who scored such an important goal in the Olympic semifinal against Germany is still improving, while the powerful Welsh gave notice to the soccer world with a five-goal performance at the 2005 Algarve Cup. Still in the picture as well is Shannon MacMillan, one of the most productive scorers in U.S. history, who did not make the 2004 Olympic Team, but who will be looking to regain the form that made her the 2002 U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year. Kelly Schmedes (who as Kelly Wilson won the Bronze Ball at the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship) is also looking to show the form that has made her one of the top players in the world at the youth international level. In addition, the return of Milbrett, one of the top goal scorers in the history and an established big game scorer, could help immensely in the U.S. attack.
In the midfield, the USA features two players widely considered among the best in the world at their positions in flank player Lilly and defensive midfielder Boxx. The USA is deep in the midfield with veteran Wagner and the 21-year-old Tarpley, both world-class attackers. At such a young age, Tarpley has already scored two of the most important goals in U.S. history, tallying the winning score in the 2002 U-19 Women’s World Championship Final and scoring the opening goal in the 2004 Olympic Gold Medal game. Angela Hucles, Tiffany Roberts and Lorrie Fair haven proven to be versatile and solid role players, while up-and-comers Osborne, Chalupny, Carli Lloyd and Joanna Lohman work to break into the mix.
In the back, the USA will have to replace the legendary Joy Fawcett, but still have great depth with Reddick, Markgraf, Heather Mitts and Rampone all having played in big time matches. Ryan will be looking for several young players to emerge on defense, including the oft injured but super talented Nandi Pryce and 2004 Olympic Residency Camp participant LePeilbet. Chalupny, who showed she could play in the back at the highest level by having a stellar Algarve Cup at left back, may have found a home in the U.S. starting 11.
In goal, the USA may have the most radical change, as long-time starter Briana Scurry steps back and opens a position which she has held as her own for almost all of the last decade. Youngsters Hope Solo and Barnhart both had breakout tournaments at the Algarve Cup in Portugal and should be the front-runners to claim the No. 1 job, but don’t count out Olympic back-up Kristen Luckenbill, 2004 Olympic Residency Camp participant Jen Branam or the super-talented Ashlyn Harris, who started for the U.S. U-19s at the last two FIFA youth women’s world championships and will be a freshman at UNC this year.
With the level of play in women’s international soccer rising each year, the next two years will be exciting times as the USA looks to introduce a whole new generation of stars to their fans in America and around the world. |
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2005 Overview
U.S. Women’s National Team 
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