July 3, 2002     

Nordic Cup 2002 schedule and information

Group A

Denmark

Finland

Greece National Team

USA

Group B

Germany

Iceland

Norway

Sweden

July 25, 2002                    

Group A

USA vs. Finland         6:00 pm local time.    11:00 am ET    at  Kaarina   

Greece vs. Denmark    6:00 pm at Paimio 

Group B

Sweden vs. Germany   6:00 pm at Raisio                                        

Iceland vs. Norway      6:00 pm at Turku                          

July 27,

Group A

Finland vs. Greece        6:00 pm at Turku

Denmark vs. USA        6:00 pm  at Kaarina

Group B

Germany vs. Iceland    6:00 pm  at Paimio

Norway vs. Sweden    6:00 pm   at Raisio

July 29, 2002

Group A

Greece vs. USA            5:00 pm local time. 10:00am ET at Turku

Denmark vs. Finland     5:00 pm at Raisio

Group B

Iceland vs. Sweden        5:00 pm at Kaarina

Norway vs. Germany    5:00 pm at Paimio

July 31, 2002            

7th-8th Place             1:00 pm local time.     6:00 am ET at Paimio

5th-6th Place             1:00 pm  at Raisio

3rd-4th Place             1:00 pm  at Kaarina

1st-2nd Place             5:00 pm  at Turku

Matches will be played in Turku and towns around the city 90 miles west of Helsinki. 

Some background

Players born after Jan. 1, 1981, are eligible for this year's Nordic Cup team. Each team is allowed two "overage" spots on its roster for players born after Jan. 1, 1978.  Smith will fill his two "overage" spots with midfielders Aly Wagner and Devvyn Hawkins. Of the 18 players chosen to the roster, just five were on the Nordic Cup team last year.  Nine of the 18 players have earned caps with the full U.S. National Team and seven of the players represented the USA at the 2001 Algarve Cup in Portugal. 

USA won only one before 1997

When former U-21 National Head Coach Lauren Gregg took over the U-21 program in 1997 and won the championship that year, came second in 1998, and won again in 1999 she single-handedly changed the previous USA losing record of only one win and four losses. Jillian Ellis led the USA to a 1-0 victory over host Germany in 2000 to capture the USA's third Nordic Cup title and last year Smith led the team to defeat Sweden, 6-1, in the championship game. 

Last year's Nordic Cup team featured eight players who are playing in the WUSA this season, five players who are on this year's Nordic Cup roster and two players - Jill Oakes and Lori Chalupny - who were unavailable for the U-21s as they are busy with the U.S. U-19 National Team as they prepare for the first-ever FIFA Under-19 Women's World Championship being contested in Canada later this summer.